Day 14 - The Other Side of the World

Today we woke up in Slovakia, a former Soviet country. For my younger friends you won't know what the Soviet is, after World War II the allies (good guys) divided up the countries that had joined up with the Nazis. Boundaries had changed and some countries were made a part of the Soviet Union (Russians). Slovakia was one of these countries as well as Hungary which we will visit tomorrow. The Soviets government was strict, they told you where to live, what to eat, what you were going to do and how. You couldn't leave the country without permissions and people were often spied on and if you said something against the government they would put you in jail. But in 1993 the government changed and the country Soviet Union was no more and the countries they had taken were given back to the people. Now people could live where they wanted to, be what they wanted to be and decide for themselves how to run their country. So for only the last 20 years have the Slovakians been able to be a country.

Slovakia was part of Austria-Hungary and ruled by the Habsburgs who ruled there until 1918. After the Habsburgs left Slovakia joined with several other local smaller areas to become Czechoslavakia. They remained joined until 1992 when the Soviets left. Today they have an elected President just like us and they elect parliament members, kind of like our congress. Bratislava is the city we were in and is the capital of the country.

Slovakia's Parliament building

When Slovakia was part of the Austria-Hungary empire they had a castle on the hill overlooking Bratislava a major city even at that time. The palace was damaged quite a bit from fire, wars and neglect but in the last few years has been renovated.

The castle on the hill

View of the Danube from the castle and over into the other side of Bratislava

Our guide told us that most Slovakians don't earn very much, only about 200-400 euros a month and they are heavily taxed. So only the very rich can have houses in the city and usually live on the hill by the parliament and palace. A house on the hill is around 1 million euros and they aren't very big. The rest of the people live across the river in buildings that were built by the Soviets and families live together. So it's not unusual for grandparents to have at least one kid and their family live with them in a tiny apartment that is old and run down. In Slovakia going to college is free, you just have to pass the entrance exam. But there are alot of people without work so many are leaving the country to find work elsewhere.

Apartments in the older part of downtown Bratislava

Old gate into the city

Plaza in Bratislava

Skinniest house in all of Europe. You had to pay taxes on the width of the house, so the man who built this house only made it as wide as his door and 3 stories high. Not sure how far back it goes but the family would have to sleep in bunk beds.

Skinniest house

Old Soviet housing across the river

US Ambassador to Slovakia's home, the Slovaks call it the Little White House

Trams still being used today from the Soviet era

After a short tour of Bratislava we returned to the ship and set sail for Budapest.

Budapest at night is amazing, there are lights on all of the bridges, lights on all the major churches and monuments and even lasers shooting around in the night sky. Quite the night show as we pulled into port.

The first bridge into Budapest, the Arpad bridge

The second bridge is the Margit bridge

The third bridge is the Chain bridge with the palace on the hill

The Erzbet (Elizabeth) bridge

The lights of Budapest

The story tonight is how Grandpa and I had to fight off a thousand bugs. As I was about to go to bed, had my face washed and jammies on, I stepped out onto the balcony for a quick look. Not to far away I saw the first of the lighted bridges as you come into Budapest. Grandpa joined me and we watched the lights as we came into port. After docking we went back inside and to our horror we had accumulated more than a thousand bugs in our room. Buzzing around our ceiling, in our bed on the lights, everywhere bugs. We had no bug spray and tried to turn off the lights and lure them away but that didn't work. Apparently Grandpa and I haven't learned the fine art of bug herding. So we grabbed towels and began to swat. We killed a few hundred but the numbers were just to great. So I got into bed and pulled the covers over my head. There was some buzzing in my ear a few times but I just swatted and fell back to sleep. I hope they will be gone in the morning.