Bratislava

Ever since Oystein bought his espresso machine, we'd been looking for the right cups to have. If you have such fancy things, you can't have just any cups as accessories! The stores around here don't have the perfect ones so we held out for Ikea - where we also bought a number of other cookies items (rolling pin, strainer, measuring cups....), two blankets, pillows, mirrors, a lamp (seen in the corner of our new room) and of course some coffee cups and saucers, glasses for lattes and the correct cup thing to steam milk in. We could have bought most of that store I think. It was only the second time I'd ever been in Ikea, so I enjoyed it. It made me wonder if I'll ever have an apartment or house to decorate all for myself....

Luckily we thought ahead and he brought a humongous bag to carry the 40 lbs of stuff we bought back to Martin.  It was a quick trip but I liked spending some time in the capital. It was neat to see such a big city!! So THIS is where all the 4 lane streets are? And big buildings....and English speaking Slovaks?! Walking down the big, main street, I had to explain to Oystein what a talent it is to be able to hold a conversation while cars noisily race by you; you just have to have good timing! At that point, he noted that I'm definitely a city girl.

We basically went there to shop for stuff. There are neat museums and castles to be seen, but maybe next time. There is also a huge park that I'd definitely take the time to enjoy when it's not buried in snow. Oh, and it was nice to see some non-freezing temperatures too! Between the two of us, we were on the look-out for new shoes (him), an arts & crafts store, a second-hand (or regular) musical instrument store, a sports store (I was interested in a slack line and he was looking at tennis rackets - in case he takes that up - and climbing gear), sushi, and if we happened across some good markets or second hand stores, I wouldn't have complained. It was too cold for outdoor markets; we didn't look too hard for thrift stores; apparently people in that city to go Vienna for sushi; and no craft store - just a store selling artsy stuff.

We found a street filled with music stores, which was neat. We found the biggest mall in Slovakia, which was absolutely packed and borderline overwhelming. We found many sports stores, and some with climbing gear that really got his attention. That, by the way, is a hobby I want to pick up. On our walk around the city, we strolled along the Danube River and made some mini snow men. WHICH actually, a random Slovak pedestrian walked by and took our picture on his phone since he was so impressed. haha, see below; they really were not that impressive:

We also had lunch on Saturday with Dasa, a Slovak I met a while back who is from Martin, but living in Bratislava. That was fun and the traditional Slovak lunch was good, but - as usual - heavy.  Also noteworthy - I saw my only 10 minutes of the Austrailian Open in the sports bar of our hotel after we checked in.

Here are some other pics of the city as well: one of the bridges over the Danube and a random statue around the city...there are many of them as a part of some strange art project a few years back. I liked this one.