The Missing Egg

I guess I sent people on an egg hunt today, quite unintentionally. 

I know you all know that my day job gets in the way of my bloggy life, so I don't usually remind everyone. But this is an instance where it was more apparent than usual. 

I did the blog post last weekend before taking off on yet another week on the road. I scheduled it to post today, but completely forgot that I meant to get a picture of the hand-painted egg up on my Pinterest board. Doh!

I meant to. Honestly. It just got pushed to the bottom of the 'to do' list. 

So if you are just reading this post and have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about? Read the previous post (and perhaps a few comments from 'egg hunters'). And if you were looking for it? Well, here it is. Or it is over here, on Pinterest.

Slovakia :: Visiting Family

Bratislavský hrad (Bratislava Castle)

One of the places that we were anxious to visit was Slovakia. My husband's father was Slovak, and so Dave grew up with stories of 'the old country.'  Above our fireplace is a hand carved panel of the Bratislava Castle that was given to him by his father. 

When Dave was in high school he toured Europe one summer with a group called People to People. They visited Slovakia that summer, and at the time the country was still communist. It was rather bleak and he was looking forward to seeing how much it had changed since the 80s.

After spending 8-9 days in Germany and then Austria, there was a very distinct difference as we drove to Bratislava. Only an hour away from Vienna mind you, but a world apart. I talked a bit about it a few posts back, how people in Vienna believe it is a waste of time to head East out of town. You could feel it on the roads. Driving in to Vienna (from Munich) the roads were packed and over run, but driving East to Bratislava the roads were nearly empty. And most of the license plates shifted to Romania, Hungry, Poland, Czech Republic and of course Slovakia. It quickly shifted from a feel of Western Europe to Eastern by driving that 1 hour East of Austria.

Bratislava, Slovak National Theatre

We absolutely loved our short time in Slovakia. Probably the best hotel we stayed at for the entire trip was in Bratislava. At a place called Marrol's. It was a beautiful old boutique hotel right in the heart of the old town. We stepped out onto the narrow, old cobble-stone streets, and it was like we had stepped back in time. It had such a different feel to it. Lots of cafes with street-side seating where locals were simply hanging out watching the day go by. It didn't have that Western tourism rush to buy every tsotski you could find. That was the other thing we realized once we were home that we had bought next to no souvenirs on our trip. Which I am completely good with --- my house is full enough. 

There was a wonderful local craftmans' area set up in stalls just in front of the National Theatre in Hlavne Namestie (or the main square). It is one of the only places I did buy something to bring home. I picked up a beautiful hand painted egg to hang on the Christmas tree and remember our trip. 

Family Plot Borský Svätý Jur, Slovakia

After our stay in Bratislava we headed North toward Prague. But stopped off in a small, very small little town along the main highway. The town of Borský Svätý Jur. A small village where my father-in-law's family is from. Thank God for GPS, or we would never have found this place. The village dates back to the 1300s, established around a church built in the main square. 

Borský Svätý Jur Medieval Cross

It was in disrepair, and a new one has replaced it. A highlight (as strange as this sounds) was the graveyard. You can see the medieval influences in the gravestones and statuary. It is central to town, just off the main square. And holds the stories of the families who lived in Borsky Svaty Jur through the ages. My husband was wandering through the rows, and stumbled upon the family plot. There was much excitement and snapping of pictures. The headstone is actually the plural of the family name (the ending "ovi") since husband and wife are buried here. 

I think one of the coolest things was hearing locals pronounce our last name. It has been anglicized through the generations and is no longer pronounced in the Slovak way. And while my brother-in-laws will swear it is pronounce in a guttural way (saying that is the 'old country' pronunciation), they are wrong. It actually has a much softer sound when pronounced by a local. And it was fun to see their face light up when they saw our last name on the registry, asking "oh, you are a Slovak?" You just don't get asked that every day in the US. All the rest of the Slovakia pictures are over on Pinterest including the hand painted egg.

People Watching, Dogs, Bikes and Street Musicians

Fussen, Germany Boy in Lederhosen

Fussen, Germany Medieval Band

Nothing like getting out on foot to explore a city. Central Europe with its old medieval town squares is a perfect place to do just that. Along with some fantastic people watching, a little dog watching and plenty of street performers to throw in a little ambiance. 

One of my favorite pictures from our trip was this one of a young boy fully decked out in Lederhosen complete with suspenders. The pants are long, heavy leather (not the traditional shorts). You can see by how he stands that he was feeling quite proud of his outfit. I love how Dad is left holding the pack back because it just didn't go with the assemble. 

Fussen, German Bike Scene

So what was the boy and the rest of the crowd so intensely watching? Why a German medieval band of course. They were really rocking out with a very rhythmic beat getting lots of people in the crowd clapping along. In every city we walked there was music. Whether traditional, medieval, classical or otherwise. It was lively and festive and I so enjoyed it as we explored the streets of Europe. 

Accordion Player in Fussen

Notice all the bikes piled up there off to the side of the band? That was a curiosity as well. It would seem that Germans really, really (I could probably throw in another 'really' here) like their bikes. We saw groups on bikes, families on bikes, vacationers on bikes and well pretty much everyone seemed to have them packed on top or in back of their cars. I suppose with all the narrow streets it probably makes sense. 

Harp Player in Bratislava, Slovakia

At one point in our trip we were traveling from the Rhine River Valley up through a pass to the other side to the Moselle Valley on our way to Castle Burg Eltz (blog post on Burg Eltz). As we were cresting the pass and coming down into the Mosselle Valley an older German man was biking toward us and promptly jumped off his bike and starting to wave his hands at us up over his head. A universal sign for STOP. Which we did. Only to find out that he spoke only German, understandably since we were in fact in Germany. But he was speaking quickly and very loudly. Apparently he believed if he increased the volume it would help us understand him better. It didn't. After roughly 15 minutes of this we decided to roll up the window and continue on. As we started the steep decline into the Moselle Valley we realized that the road was completely washed out. Oh! That is what he was screaming about. However the road had narrowed to slightly more than a single lane of switchbacks with absolutely no shoulder to speak of. That makes for an impossible situation to 'K Turn' to head back the way we came. So what do you do? We put it into low drive and slowly, slowly back your way up through switchbacks backwards. The look of satisfaction on the German man's face as we passed him again spoke volumes.

Violins in Vienna, Austria

Fussen, Germany Dog Scene

We thought we were being very smart to bring our own GPS with us to Europe downloaded ahead of time with all the local maps. And it was incredibly helpful to have directions given to us (in English) along our drive. But it failed us when it came to all the local construction on the German roads. We lost several hours on this back tracking, but it was a beautiful place to get stuck!

One other thing we noticed was that dogs are very prevalent everywhere we went. People bring them out to pubs, to walk the city even in to restaurants. We would see waiters slip water bowls under the table for the dog curled up at the owners feet. That is one thing we always found difficult traveling around the US is that it is very hard to bring your loved dog with you on a family vacation. Not the case in Europe!

My Obsession with Doors

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague Church of St. Joseph

I was really captured by all the architecture throughout our trip this last August. I keep taking random pictures of doors, statues and ceilings. Thankfully the hubby was pretty patient through most of it. But by the time we hit our last town, he was just starting to walk away. 

For me, it was just and endless smorgasbord of old world beauty to photograph. And I was happily snapping away lost in the moment. It seemed like every time we turned a corner there was a row of new doors, arches, columns and statues to explore. I forget just how new our country is until I visit some other place. Honestly, pretty much anywhere in Europe or Asia is much, much older than the US. And I fall in love with the detail, the tooling, the weathering of the ages and the patina left behind. I have an extensive collection of doors from around the world over on Pinterest. Yes, I am obsessed. If you want proof, just click the link. I can't help it. I love to wonder about the stories of who lived behind the doors. 

At the end of our trip, my husband and I were going through our photos and Dave said "our pictures are so different from each other." He has a tendency to want to pull back and get the full landscape shot, where I want to get up close and study the character of a building. I do just love the detail. The nicks and stories of who was there before me. 

I am still trying to get all our photos uploaded over on Pinterest. Combined we have a pretty nice collection of our whirlwind trek through central Europe. But I will spare you all reading the blog of the massive amount of pictures we took. If you want more doors, just click over to Pinterest.

Slovakia :: Street Art

Cumil: The Watcher

Bratislava was a surprise for me. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had heard for years how Slovakia had been depressed by Soviet control. My husband is Slovak, and visited when he was young while it was still communist. And he had painted a rather bleak view of the place.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a rather wonderful revitalization of an old world city. The split from Soviet Rule was in 1989 and called the Velvet Revolution (so named due to its peaceful separation). Four years later Czechoslovakia split again into separate countries, also known as the Velvet Divorce: where Slovakia and the Czech Republic went their separate ways. 

In the years that followed, Prague was an up and coming tourist destination and Western influence flooded into the country. Not so for Slovakia, still considered an off-the-beaten track destination. While we were in Vienna our hotel concierge gave us a quizzical look when we told him we were heading for Bratislava next. His reply was, "it'll be quick, you can see it all inside of 2 hours." I disagree, and wish we had more time while we were there. It was charming and still had its authentic character in much of the old town, the people and the shops we visited. One of the things I loved were all the quirky statues about town. There seems to have been a revival in the old town (called Korzo) to shed the greyness of the Communist era by repainting buildings and enlivening the old town with interesting sculptures.

Papparazzi

Schoner Naci

Cumil is one of the bronze statues in a series called 'Men at Work.' He is known by several names like the plumber or the watcher. The locals say that he is a symbol of a good man who is spending his time watching people and the life of Korzo. Others have more mischievous things to say about him like that he is looking up the women's skirts.

There are several other statues in the series called the Papparazzi and Schoner Naci. This last statue is the only one with a Bratislava legend. He is said to be a man named Ignac Lamar, son of a shoemaker. He was known as a gentleman wearing a black suit with tails and a top hat. He was smooth with the ladies greeting them with "I kiss your hand" in German, Hungarian and Slovak.

The thing that strikes me most about this quirky statue series is that it is a celebration of the common people who represent the country. Usually the statues are of the dictators, the scholars, the famous composers or memorials of some horror. But here in Bratislava it is the celebration of the people. And that in my book makes it unique and down right fun. I was taken with the response I saw on Lonely Planet from a local called Peter who took the time to translate and explain the meaning behind these statues. His final words were "Thank you for visiting our country." I found Bratislava to be a very friendly place to visit and worth the diversion off the beaten track.