Travel log part 2

08-11-2007

Guess what! Sofia is not the worst city in Europe! I don’t say Bratislava is worse than Sofia but it is no better either. Maybe it’s a bit cleaner…maybe. Lots of old buildings from the early 20^th century not exactly left to ruin but still dirty and in pretty bad condition. Trams and buses made me feel at home. OK, I have to admit that it is a lot easier for a tourist to get around in Bratislava than in Sofia. On every tram and bus you get information on the current and next stop. Nevertheless it took me over 30 minutes to finally guess the right direction to get my tram to the Main Train station.

I wouldn’t say people here are friendly. Almost no one speaks English, even teenagers. The only convenience is that Slovakian has similarities with Bulgarian which helps me not to feel like being stranded on a desert island.

I have real troubles to find proper food here! All I see are restaurants and pizza bars! Thank god for big supermarkets. The TESCO offers all I need to survive: fruits, dairy products and scary wide variety of mineral water. Try to pick one by reading a label in a language you don’t speak…Once again I’m spending money only on food, water, coffee and internet. Shopping? Me?!

My lunch today-latte and apple pie. Perfect combination!

Two of my Saturday coffee mates called me this morning to ask if we were to meet today and I said: I’d loved to but I’m even not in Bulgaria! But it was so warming to hear familiar voices!

The concert is tomorrow; it’s about time to start seeing people in NIИ T-shirts. I throw a hungry glance at every black T-shirt that gets in my sight. But no; not this time either. I wonder if anyone will recognize me since every time I post a comment on the tour blog page my picture appears. I swear, I spotted a few thorough looks pointed at me.

My verdict: Bratislava has nothing on Sofia…except one thing: a NIИ concert.

I’ve been told once that the reason NIИ have been avoiding Bulgaria could be that no one hasn’t invited them to come. How…I mean…WTF?!?!

I’ve been busy today:

- went to the Main Train station by a tram (over 5 actually until I got on the right one in the right direction);
- took the bus to the airport;
- got back to the Main Train station on the same bus and had some sightseeing on the way;
- from there went back on another bus to Aupark (Bratislava’s shopping centre) that is right across Incheba hotel (it might be right across but it doesn’t mean you can reach it easily);
- walked around Aupark for a couple of hours just looking at shops;
- visited the Bratislava Tourist centre, got a good city map and the location of the nearest internet club;
- an hour later I gave that map to an American tourist that seemed helplessly lost ( “- Do you speak English?” “- Yes, I do.” “- Thank God!” “- But I’m a tourist just as you.” “Oh, God!” ) and directed him to the tourist centre; he looked relieved;

In two days I’ve had more cakes than I allow myself to eat in Sofia in a month. So what? This isn’t happening really :)

After the initial panic now I feel just bored to death. There’s not much to do at the hotel and I can’t afford to hang around Bratislava at night alone. There’s a TV set in my room with just 2 programs good enough to watch:
- VIVA, which is playing over 50 % German music; the other less than 50 % is hip-hop (oops, R&B to be politically correct), some sleazy ballads (Avril, James Blunt etc whatever-your-names-are-you-all-sound-the-same-to-me) and some unidentified boy bands. And SCOOTER. He’s a real phenomena; he’s playing (if that can be called music) the same song for the past 15 years and there are still people that like him! That’s beyond any explanation and logic!
- it’s either VIVA or CNN. And they are such drama queens; worse than a soap opera.

It’s only 4 PM; I wish it was tomorrow already.

I made very few pictures in Bratislava; there isn’t much that’s worth a picture, Socialism remains in giant ugly monsters of concrete and steel and dreadful wall-paintings praising working class.

See? :