Thursday December 18, 2014
From Vantage:
Vienna Depart 8:00am
Bratislava, Slovakia Arrive 12:30pm · Depart 9:00pm
Get to know the Old World capital of Bratislava. On your combined mini train ride and walking tour, glimpse the city's diverse history — from a 9th-century castle, to the 18th-century Grassalkovich Palace, to the modern Slovak National Parliament. Cultural Connection: Following your tour, enjoy a wonderful classical music concert at a local church. You may spend your free time visiting the Christmas Market, where you can find fine crystal, handmade leather slippers, and honey wine in horse-shaped bottles, along with other treasures.
Here’s the Bratislava website, and wiki.
20141218 Bratislava, Slovakia 6*C Thursday ..Link To Photos.. ..Link To Photos..
We both woke up feeling crappy and short on sleep. I've caught what Dolores had/has. We both coughed through the night. So we put the privacy sign out and went back to bed. Finally, we made in-room coffee around 0900 and started doing little things. Later, we'll go into town for the Christmas Markt.
We wandered around the first market we saw until we realized all the stands were food stands. So we left the plaza and went to the square where another one was open. On the way, we found a souvenir shop that had the pin for Dolores. She found another shop with tee-shirts for small people, and other shops.
We ran into Glenn & Lou at this market and walked with them for a while but left them to return to the ship for lunch.
We were both coughing seriously so we stayed in during the afternoon and did a whole bunch of nothing. Some lady said the cough runs its course in five days, which will be tomorrow for Dolores. I sure hope that's real.
At dinner, we met a writer named Casey Sherman who has five books out, some of which are being considered for movies. Keep an eye on this guy.
The entertainment at 2100 was a duet of Puskar & Ninaj. Puskar is first violin with the Bratislava Symphony and Ninaj is the director. We bought the CD. Puskar can do things with that violin I've never seen done, like plucking strings with his left hand while stroking the bow with his right hand. Ninaj is also accomplished; he played piano (and accordion during the folk part of the session).
Then we went to bed.