Bratislava – the Little Big City
Hello friends,
After telling you about my journey to London, about traditions and beliefs in Slovakia during December and before wishing all the best for the coming year I would like to write about Slovakia’s capital city, Bratislava or Pozsony, as the Hungarians say.
Bratislava is not too big and is not too small… I think it is the reason why the town is called the Little Big City. If you compare Bratislava with the overcrowded neighbouring capital cities- Prague, Vienna and Budapest- you can still have a small town feeling there.
I do not want to tell you facts or numbers because it is so easy to surf on the internet and find links, data and dates about Bratislava or look at here or here if you are interested to learn more. You might remember that I have taken English course in Bratislava and I thought, you might like seeing some photos that I took there at the beginning of December. The British Council Slovakia is situated in the medieval Old Town. I think that this part of Bratislava is one of the most beautiful ones. The Old Town is quite small, but it is packed with historic sights, luxury shops, pubs, cafes, hotels and there is the National Theatre nearby too. Well, here are my pictures:
Rubberneck – he looks happily and calmly out from the sewerage hatch on the corner of two streets
Shöner Náci – waves his cylinder at the passers by. There are still people living in Bratislava who remember the dandy in his tailcoats, who visited the town for several decades and entertained the ordinary people
Paparazzi – as if alive, inquisitively looking around the corner in front of the restaurant of the same name
Old Town Hall – the City Museum is located here, the oldest in Bratislava
St. Michael’s Gate – it is one of the symbols of the town. A tourist attraction beneath St. Michael’s tower is the “zero kilometre” listing the distances of 29 world capitals from Bratislava
Slovak National Theatre – the building is the seat of the Slovak National Theatre opera and ballet ensembles
Of course, there are many others historical buildings and monuments in Bratislava but I wanted to show you the ones I saw on my way to the learning centre of the British Council Slovakia.
Oh, one more thing. We will say “Good Bye Koruna, Welcome Euro!” as Slovakia will adopt the euro on 1st January, becoming the 16th EU country to do. Slovakia will adopt the currency at a rate of 30.1260 SKK/EUR.
The local authorities in Bratislava are promising grand New Year's Eve celebrations in Bratislava and the midnight fireworks will take place by the Danube River.
OK, it is time to leave you. I should go get some things done. I need to make lunch. Looking forward to hearing from you. Take care,
Anita
Comments
Hi Anita! I’ve sent my comment on your previous blog but it hasn’t been appeared yet. So I have decided to add another writing and send it again. I think the time has come to say goodbye to you and your family. it has been a great pleasure to correspond with you. I will one day visit Slovakia with my family and some of your entries will be in my hand. I am sure they will be very handy and make our trip much easier as great travellers say you can see as much as what you know about when you go sightseeing. It sounds you have had a whale of a time with your beautiful family. Thank you again and see you around.xx I can fully understand your exhaustion after three days cook in a row. How interesting you put fresh sweet bread - brioche, fruit, seeds (beans, pear, poppy seeds, corn etc), garlic, onion, and money. They also have a good reason to be placed. I’d love to introduce the tradition to my family next Christmas, but you have to remind me of it next year as nowadays my memory looks like a sieve. What we did at Christmas was that I cooked a turkey with lots of stuffing for my family and one of my cousin’s couple who stayed for 3 night with us, but shamefully I bought Christmas pudding in a store as I don’t know how to make it. The cooking time took about 5 hours and the turkey was juicy and I prepared roast potatoes, vegetables like parsnip, sprout and so on. My son refused to eat sprout, as he believes it causes to break wind a lot. What a fussy boy! After the meal we had some games and watched telly and went for a walk. It was as good time as I wished for. You asked me about making child talk two different languages. That is a good question and also tricky one to answer. Yes! I do speak to our son in Korean but a big problem is nobody to speak Korean anywhere except only mum speaking the alien language to him. So sometimes he refuses to talk or listen to Korean and tends to ignore or forget it. The most amazing thing is whenever we go back to Korea he picks up the language so quickly and says it fluently. So my answer is it depends on where your brother’s family lives , and when your nephew starts to go school if he is in your country he will learn Hungarian soon and won’t never stop talking in Hungarian. Anita, I can see what you are really concern about, but don’t be cross with your brother! When your nephew is ready your brother will teach him the wonderful language. Thank a lot for everything you have done for us like letters, pictures and sharing your precious experiences. The feast time is nearly over but I am already looking for next one with great friends like you. take carexx
Hi Anita! Thanks for the virtual journey. Because of the Euro have the prices gone up in your country? Best wishes for the forthcoming year.
Hi Anita, Batislavia seems to be a very interesting place. The pictures are very nice.I love visiting cultural places. See you, Cris
Hi Anita, Happy new year. Nice to meet you here, I read HYOSHIL's comment, it's wonderful. See you around, and best wishes, James.
Hi Anita this places is wonderful, and happy new year for all Hungarian.
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