Back In The USSR

I barely got any sleep last night and struggled to get up by 9:00am. I took a very quick shower and packed my things before meeting Mary in the lobby fifteen minutes later. We called an Uber and rode out to the airport to get our rental car from Sixt. There, I checked in and got an Opel Grandland to drive. It wasn’t quite what I was hoping for, but given how inexpensive it was, I think I did okay.

We began our three hour drive to Bratislava at 10:30am from the airport. It took me a minute to adjust to driving a manual again, but I quickly got into the groove. On the way, I played my music and talked with Mary. About two hours in, she dozed off and let her rest. We both needed it, and I was fine staying awake for the time being.

We got to the center of Bratislava around 2:00pm and found a parking garage to park. We were both so hungry after skipping breakfast. The hotel under which we had a delicious looking beer and burger place called Kubica. It had a great atmosphere, and we settled on it immediately. We both order burgers and fries that we scarfed down with our beers. Even though we ended up being stuff, we finished off with an Oreo cheesecake for dessert.

Leaving lunch, we walking to a nearby park and saw what we assumed to be the presidential palace. There we took a couple pictures before walking to the communist monument overlooking the city. About halfway up the hill, we realized that we should have driven. We got to the top and admired the struggles of the Red Army. When we got done, we walked twenty minutes back to the car to explore some more.

The main highlight of Bratislava was the castle, originally built in the 9th century. We parked underneath the castle in a parking garage and walked up to and around the gardens. Then we found a side entrance to the inside of the castle that we entered for free. We explored the whole castle with almost no other tourists around. It was a really cool set up as they had the excavations under the castle open to explore while the rest of it was recently renovated to look brand new. Mary started getting tired, but I insisted that she join me in climbing up and down all the staircases we could find. We even climbed to the top of one of the towers for an overlook of the city. I was traveling with the viewpoint that I don’t know when I’ll be back, so I might as well take advantage of my time there. We explore every nook and cranny of that castle over the course of two hours. What started as a bleak trip to a foreign city turned into a fun adventure with the right attitude.