Quirky Bratislava

31/7/12

1656 (localtime)

Bratislava, Slovakia

Written on a Train travelling from Bratislava to Kostice (Spis Castle) listening to Pearl Jam!

Arriving into Bratislava on the 29^th of July I had absolutely no idea about the country at all. I had no idea to the extent what currency they used, was it the Kroner like in Czech Republic, or maybe something else! Like I said I had no idea, and sometimes if you go in like that, as in with no expectations often it can end up being quite a pleasant experience.

Anyway, so I arrived by bus from Vienna in an absolute mega thunderstorm, I had booked a hostel/hotel for only 11 euros, which was the cheapest in Bratislava, but the directions they gave me to get there were absolutely rubbish. So I ended up having the bus drop me at the last stop, the airport.

Like I said it was a thunderstorm, so it was pissing it down with rain! Once I got undercover I started to put on my jacket and put the waterproof cover over my bag and also finding out what currency Slovakia use, luckily it was Euros, as I still had some spare and as I was doing this I got chatting to a 65 – 70 year old Slovakian guy! I asking him if he spoke English, fortunately for me he did, I then proceeded to ask him how to get to my hostel; I had some rough directions, of suburbs and trolley buses I should take, he was fantastic, he made sense of it all and I eventually made it to the hostel and was given my key to dump my stuff.

I made my way up to the room, and it was something out of a movie. Super sketchy place, with “White Power” stickers over the walls and doors, I dumped my stuff, and headed into town to check it out.

It was a Sunday Dusk and nobody was around, so I wandered the streets seeing everything at night, it was really nice taking some cool photos of the city all lit up!

Once I got back to my hostel, I pretty much passed out and tried not to think of someone breaking through my door with an axe screaming “here’s Johnny”.

I was woken pretty early the next morning, as the sun was shining right into my eyes at 8.30, time to get up then I suppose!

Had a quick shower and again headed into town. It would have been only about 3 hours of walking until I realised that I had explored the entire city, Bratislava as a city is quite small. It’s such a bizarre city, very quirky! Every corner you turn there is something different happening! For example, I turned one corner and there is a copper statue of a guy coming out of a man hole in the ground, every step you take you have to be careful because the pavement in Bratislava is very uneven and a twisted ankle can be a trip ender.

 Bratislava as a city was very bizarre and very weird! But still, quite enjoyable! Check out the photos!

I found a nice little coffee shop where I saw some English looking guys watching the Synchronized diving, I got chatty with them, and they told me that in 30 minutes they were off to the Cinemas to watch the new Spiderman! I pretty much invited myself along, as it was the first time I’d been to the Cinemas in about 2.5 – 3 years! And with the price of 4.50 euros, it was a Bargain!

The movie was awesome, as some of you already know I think Spiderman is pretty cool, and I’ve been reading the comics recently so its great to see it on the big screen.

Afterwards we walked back into town checking out all the beautiful Slovak girls along the strip, we grabbed some beers and walked up to the top of the castle and kinda watched the sun go down. It was a great way to see my time in Bratislava off.

So now I’m on a train to Kosice to check out some Castle called the Spis Castle – again I don’t really have any idea what it is about, but I’m staying with a couch surfer guy, so hopefully ill get a rough idea off him about what is happening!

See you next time!

Steve – GO THE AUSSIES!

I think this  is the Parliament Building

so many crazy quirky statues where tourists posed with.

Apparently this statue is placed here to honor a guy who used to walk around like this humming WW2 songs giving flowers to women...

I have no idea what the deal is with this...

Bratislava at night... low shutter speed.

nice photo, see the moon in the top.

this is the UFO tower.

Slovakia flag with effect!

Bratislava Castle

Weird Statue...

The River Danube

Water Ramps, Golf and Burnt Ribs - Vienna!

--continued from the post from prague--

29/7/12

1637 (localtime)

Prague, Czech Republic

Vienna, Austria

Written on a bus from Vienna to Bratislava - listening to Deep Purple \m/

It was my day to leave Prague, so it was a slow start, I had booked my ticket for this day (25^th of July) to head back to Vienna, to join the boys on that super awesome water ramp that I spoke about in my last post.

I got back pretty late to Vienna, so I crashed at Mitch’s place. The next day I spent just cruising around the city, it was really nice. I found a nice little park that overlooks a beautiful gothic cathedral, I may have had a 15 minute power nap with the sun on my face.

That night, I introduced Mitch to Absinthe. Unfortunately neither of us remember the night, but we have sworn never to drink that ever again. The Absinthe fairy disallowed us to function at 100% for the next day.

But being elite athletes like we are, we forced our bodies outside and we met Rusty and Bernie at the WATER RAMP!

We got in some super old sketchy wetsuits, grabbed our sled, and sent ourselves full power down this water ramp! It was SO FUN!

I loved it, please check out the photos!

How Sick Are These Wetsuits!
from left to right - Me, Rusty, Mitch, Bernie

The Water Ramp - FULL POWER

Send it rusty!

Voll Geil

SO GEILL

a concentrating steve...

Head First!

Steve going for a backkie!

After all of our bodies were completely broken, we bought some Ribs meat, potatoes and profiteroles – oh and I cant forget some great coats. Whilst the meat was cooking we engaged in some extreme backyard golf.

Check the photos!

The Awesome 5-some

Tom going at it "FOUR"

Providing encouragement!

Mitch assessing the situation!

mmm hmm!

RIBS!

First Place!

Unfortunately the golf got a little bit too extreme, and we kinda forgot about the ribs, and we ended up burning them. Didn’t matter with enough sauce we ate them anyway.

We kept the night relatively early, as we pretty much called it a night after the London 2012 Opening Ceremony! I thought it was completely crazy, and was nothing like any opening ceremony I’d ever seen. But it looked like a great party, and everyone was having a good time.

The next day was spent taking it easy in Mitch’s flat, I was planning my trip whilst watching the Olympics, it was a nice day, and that night was spent at Tom and Eva’s place eating lovely homemade pizza’s and I was cheering on the girls who won the 4x100 Individual Medley! It was an awesome evening!

And that, finally bring us to today where im sitting on this metal tube with wheels as I watch this massive storm rolling through, with lightening and rain… feels kinda dangerous!

Next up

Bratislava and Slovakia – A country that I know absolutely nothing about! Cant Wait!

Take care!

PS: Massive thanks to Mitch and the boys for looking after me! You are absolute legends! Thanks again!

Vienna & Podersdorf!

23/7/12

1757 (localtime)

Vienna, Austria

Written on a bus from Vienna to Prague

I was honestly a little sceptical about Vienna, being a city and all! But it hasn’t disappointed at all. On my first night I was planning on meeting Alex Syess, who is a windsurfer that I met in Austria. Unfortunately Alex was off to Mauritius in 2 days so he had to get ready and packed so I didn’t get to see all that much of him! But what we did manage to do was go out of drinks with his mates at a local place! It was awesome, drinking wine-spritizers all night! Went straight to my head!

For the next day (Saturday) I was going to catch up with Flo at a Red Bull beach hockey event on the river Danub. I met Flo down in Worthersee when I competed in the Gravity Games, so when he found out that I was in Vienna he invited me to this event.

It was absolutely mental, I play hockey in Australia but the Austrians are crazy! There are absolutely no rules at all. No Mouth Guards, No Pads, No Shoes, No Rules… sounds like a great mix!

That night, I had a few beers with Flo, and then crashed on his floor for the night! Perfect!

The next day I was planning on catching up with Mitch, (another windsurfer that I met in Dahab) so we could head to a Big Water Ramp Event! It was amazing, these kids were sending them selves down on sleds and doing double backflips! It was carnage!

After the big ramp, they organised a Slackline battle! It was amusing! After all the events we headed back to one of Mitch’s mates, Rusty and had an amazing BBQ! I loved it! All the guys and girls are awesome, super friendly and always wanting to speak English!

The next day was a Sunday, and rumour has it that there was wind forecasted on Podersdorf Lake. The home of the Austrian PWA event! I was super psyched to check it out and go windsurfing for the first time in 3 months! I knew that id be rusty but I was really excited.

I was fortunate enough to borrow Tom’s custom freestyle board that he built himself. So rigged up his kit and went sailing.

I didn’t do so bad considering! Throwing down flakas and forwards on kit that I had never used before, it wasn’t that bad!

But after 2.5 hours I was knackered! My hands were so red and sore, and my muscles were aching from all the crashes! But it was definitely worth it. Eventually Tom arrived down to the beach, so I gave his kit back and let him go for a sail. In the mean time, I taught Tom’s girlfriend Eva how to beach start and water-start! It was great to do a bit of teaching again, and she really appreciated it.

That night we again, went back to Rusty’s house and cooked some hamburgers on the Weber and for desert had chocolate banana’s that Tom cooked up! It was a great bit of feed!

My plan was for the next day (Monday 23^rd) to head to Prague first thing in the morning, so I got up super early from Mitch’s house and headed down to the bus station, only to be told that there were no more seats!

I was kinda bummed out, as the next available bus wasn’t until 6pm! But not to worry, I headed into Vienna city, and had a hour sleep in the park, and then just cruised around the city the whole day. It was really nice checking out all the beautiful buildings that Vienna has to offer. I even went to a museum. Honestly it wasn’t that bad, it was the Natural History Museum and I found it really interesting. Lots of stuff on Dinosaurs and Evolution it was pretty awesome.

Eventually the time ticked on by, and 6pm started to creep up, so I jumped on the metro and headed on to the bus station to catch my bus to Prague! Funnily enough, I have met another Aussie guy on the bus, so we are hanging out telling stories, its pretty sweet!

Next Stop PRAHA!

Peace guys!

Figjam OUT!

The lovely chapel!

and all of a sudden a massive thunderstorm hits! SO MUCH RAIN!

The Rathaus!

a beautiful sky, wonky horizon!

This is the red bull beach hockey tournament 

one of the many parks! I had a nap here in the sun, it was perfect!

I think... this is the Art Museum, the Natural History Museum look exactly the same!

Everyone likes a good dino!

Podersdorf, Austria

Mitch throwin down a flaka!

Cana-Brava Style!

Eva almost planing!

Podersdorf!

THE END!