Bratislava: An Interesting Adventure

   Since we technically run on a Trimester schedule here at Bogi, I had a week-long break last week and had to come up with a trip fast. I've reached the point in my year abroad where I've accomplished all the important things or will achieve them soon. I've done Italy twice, I have a school tour coming up for Greece, Norway is simply not in the cards for winter travel, Turkey is something I want to wait to do until I can dedicate more time and finances to it, and Scotland must wait because I won't do it without my sister. Those are the major destinations in the "area", so since all of those are accounted for in some way, shape, or form, I'm content to just go wherever with whoever, whenever.  

   So me, Keegan, Keith, and Karis headed to Slovakia. Bratislava was a really cute city, but very small, so we struggled a bit to fill our time. We wanted to take some trips to castles in the surrounding countryside, but our plans fell through because there was a lack of affordable transportation. Honestly, it was a nice change of pace to take it slow, and I enjoyed the quality time with my friends. We visited a couple of castles, froze our fingers off, ate some good food, and did some shopping. 

Having curly hair is nice, but it's a lot of work to take care of. 
I really didn't want to worry about it in Slovaki, so my friend
straightened it before I left. It was soooo convenient. 

   The first castle we visited was called Devin Castle. It was absolutely magnificent, set on the top of a craggy cliff overlooking the Danube, but it was so windy and cold. We didn't stay very long. 

I don't think I found anything interesting inside, but it was worth a shot.

We had a pass that got us into museums for free, so we took advantage of that 
and visited the old town hall. 

Attempting to see what it would feel like to use the shackles
in the old town dungeon. 

I was too cold to smile in this photo

    Do you ever have days where you feel like you did so much but accomplished so little? That was how our second day in Bratislava felt. We visited a cathedral, the town wall, two castles, and ate dinner, but somehow still saw and did virtually nothing. One of the castles had been converted into a museum, but there was nothing inside, so we just walked around aimlessly, trying to find things to entertain ourselves. The second castle we visited was "forty" minutes outside of town. However, forty minutes was actually two hours by bus. We spent two hours getting out to the castle, only to find out it was closed. Of course, we could still look around and admire it from the outside, but there was a catch. The buses ran every two hours. So, we could either catch the bus that came in three minutes or the one that came in two hours. It was snowy and cold, and the sun was getting ready to set, so we opted to leave with the next bus. We ran across a field, snapped a few bad pictures, and ran back to the bus station as the bus was pulling in. Two hours each way for a three-minute visit. After our grueling journey, we were all very hungry and had chosen a pizza place to eat at. We had seen it earlier and had set our hearts on it, but when we got there, they were booked out, so we walked around looking for another place to eat. When we finally did find a place to eat, we had to be put on a wait list anyways, but honestly, the restaurant we chose was really delicious, so it worked out. 

This was in the first castle. 
I had a pack of blueberries in my pocket while we were visiting, 
and they fell out and scattered across the floor. It was a silent, four-person 
blueberry manhunt, trying to find all of the berries before the docent walked in.

An amazing photo of the castle we travelled two hours to see.

   The trip to the castle was really beautiful but also chaotic. It was up in the Carpathian mountains, and as we climbed higher, a light dusting of snow covered the forests. It was really quite beautiful. At one point, I fell asleep with Keith sitting across from me. While I was asleep, he changed seats. So, when I woke up, he was gone, and I thought I'd been left on the bus. Like I said, after arriving at the castle, we crossed the field to see the castle. Then, the bus pulled up, and we had to run back to the bus stop, but I'd injured my leg snowshoeing a week before, and I was in a lot of pain. I couldn't run. Instead, I limped frantically down through the field, screaming at everyone to not leave me. The whole experience was really hilarious, and we could only laugh at ourselves that evening. 

   The day after, we went shopping in the morning and then spent the rest of the day in our airBNB relaxing and having a movie marathon.

A mocktail I bought. We tried pierogis at this restaurant, and they
weren't as good as the ones I've had in America. 

Keegan and I ran off to the local bookstore, and he convinced me to buy a
new book. Too bad.

   Slovakia was definitely an adventure, and I made a lot of memories that were different from the ones I've made before. I think if I were to go back, I would like to have a car so I could see more of the countryside, but it was a lot of fun regardless.