Wednesday 7 December 2011

Garden scene


It's a beautiful day today, sunny and crisp.  The blue sky is out; what a relief from the greyness and wetness of a British winter.  A robin is seen pecking at the bird feed in the garden.  There is now an additional bird feed of peanuts, but alas, no sightings of visitors yet.  There are also fat balls for the birds, maybe should try that too. It is good to know that some birds have found a new home for their food.

Wednesday 30 November 2011

Bratislava Series - Small Country Big Heart

I've come to the end of my three month assignment here at Bratislava.  I know that I will return in 2012 to do more work for this small family who has welcomed me with open arms into their fold.  For now, on the eve of my return home, to be reunited with my loved one, I want to remember the wide blue sky that greeted me on arrival, the big hearts of a small country, and the kindness of those who work with me. 


The Old Town, with the Castle in the background
The brilliant blue summer sky that lifted the spirit

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Bratislava Series - The City at night

St Martin's Cathedral looking magnificent in the floodlight

The Square at Eurovea Galleria

Sunday 27 November 2011

Bratislava Series - Entertainment

Puppetry in the Old Town.  Some fun.
Busking at the Main Square.  More fun.
The National Sinfonia Orchestra RAI Torino
playing at the National Theatre.  Bravo!
After months of cultural deprivation, tonight I went to the Old National Theatre to enjoy some classical music.  The hotel had booked a ticket for me, but on arrival, the solo clerk manning the so-called box office had no knowledge of it whatsoever.  So I took the first ticket that was available, and from the vantage of front row, I saw the excellent footwork and expressive facial movements of the pianist Evgeni Bozhanov playing Chopin's Concert for Piano and Orchestra no. 1.  The house erupted in applause afterwards and was rewarded with more Chopin.  The "Bravos" reminded me of the enrapture of the crowd at the Bolshoi Theatre.


Still, the street entertainment that preceded the concert was no less entertaining.  Somehow it brought me back to the days when I lived in Edinburgh and used to take delight at the street entertainment staged at the Mound during the Edinburgh Festival. 

Bratislava Series - Winter is here!

The square outside the hotel has turned festive, with a few stalls and the installation of an ice rink. There was also music, blaring from the loud speakers.  Fortunately, being on the 7th floor, I am completely insulated from the revelry.
It is perishingly cold today, about 1 degree Celsius.  The blue sky of yesterday has disappeared, just a layer of foggy greyness hanging over the square, but that did not dampen the spirit of the young, racing across the ice rink.  A father was seen holding his son's hand, guiding the boy along the ice.  Maybe I should brave the ice and have a go at this sport.
  
At the other end of the square is a sprinkling of stalls, selling Christmas stuff that no one seems to want to buy.  I think I have seen enough of Christmas markets this year to last a life time.  At Vienna, 9 pieces of chestnuts cost 2,50€, and a mug of punch 3,00 €.  You can keep the mug of course, and for that you pay 2€.  Apparently, some people collect these mugs as souvenirs. But I am glad that I have sampled these festive events.

Saturday 26 November 2011

Vienna Series - Christmas Markets at Night

Pre-Christmas magic at Maria-Theresien Platz Christmas village

The pull of the Christmas markets is too great.  The child in me could not resist the temptation of returning to Vienna to sample the markets at Maria-Theresien Platz and the Belvedere, and to see them at night.  


There is no denying that the atmosphere at night time is more magical than the day time.  On a Saturday, friends and families were out in droves, enjoying the food, the glühwein and the punch.  Being alone in these markets was a solitary affair, much like a stranger in a big city.  

The crowd at Maria-Theresien Platz


Schloss Belvedere fronted by the market stalls

Bratislava Series - Blue Sky at last

The winter has come with a vengeance.  Accompanying the cold is fog and a general greyness that depresses the spirit.  Today, after a week of trial and tribulations, the day started with a burst of blue that immediately lifted the spirit.  Oh, the blueness, it was pure joy.  The fog has gone, and I can see the hills from the hotel verandah. 


This weekend sees the start of the Christmas market at Bratislava.  In the Old Town near the Main Square, stalls have been erected or are being erected, selling food, wine, and Christmas decorations.  There was also a small skating rink, draped with banners of the Slovakians' most popular car - Škoda.  People were milling around, with a drink in their hand, eating the Slovakian version of fast food such as chicken in a bun, pork escalope in a bun.  
Ice Skating - the ice here is levelled by hand and shovel
Food stalls not yet open.  Background is National Theatre
The Main Square
One of the stalls selling traditional ginger bread
  

Friday 25 November 2011

Post Card from Home


Winter is here.  The bird feed that has remained full throughout summer has seen a dramatic fall in volume once the clock has turned back to winter time.  

Vienna Series - What is Art?

My colleagues in the Slovakian office have recommended that I go and see the Hundertwasser House in Vienna, when I told them I like architecture.    


On a cold Saturday morning, there was a sprinkling of tourists who shared a faint fascination with what turns out to be a mish mash of shapes and sizes. The marketing materials show the paintwork in pristine condition, but the wintry sky has cast a greyness over this odd assortment, and the bits and pieces of tiles stuck over the fascade of the building gave the place a chaotic feel.  I don't get this at all....



To complete my exploration of all things art in Vienna, we went to the Austrian Museum of Applied Art.  From the outside, the red bricks give it a look of old fashioned solidity.  Inside, there wasn't much of interest, except that a lot of students use it as a place to study and work in, and some guards barking at punters who dared to go a millimetre too close to any of the display cabinets.


In the ladies toilet, one thing is definitely form over function.  Someone has tried to redesign a wash hand basin and came up with this idea.  A fellow user and I laughed at this, whilst an English mother who had yet to use it remarked to her unsuspecting daughter: "Oh, isn't that cute?"  Why would we want wash hand basin to be "cute"?


Monday 21 November 2011

Vienna Series - Christmas markets

It has always been my dream to visit a German Christmas market.  Somehow, the inner child in me wants to taste the ginger beard, try the fruit punch, see and touch the Christmas glitter.  And now, living and working just next door to Austria, I have both the occasion and opportunity to indulge in as many Christmas markets as I like.  So on a very cold Saturday morning, in temperature just above freezing, we took the OBB train from Bratislava hl. st. to Sudbahnhof, Wien. 




The Christmas Market at the Schönbrunn Palace was on an intimate scale, with small neat huts displaying pretty decorations for Christmas trees, seasonal foodstuff, and plenty of beeswax products.  Although the dull and overcast sky had taken the shine away, the quiet charm of the Christmas market was unmistakable. 


The Rathaus Christmas Market was different.  It was brash, commercial, and brimful of tourist tack.  Somewhere in some warehouses, there must be wholesale merchants selling volumes of such tack to stall holders, churning out same items year over year.  There was even a stall selling football T shirts, the most unlikely of seasonal merchandise.  The inner child in me took a hiding, and now awaits the next shiny object to rekindle the imagery magic of Christmas.  

Monday 14 November 2011

Brno Series - Street Scenes

The forecourt at Brno's main railway station.  Among a bank of digital TVs advertising goods and services sits the old-fashioned split-flap departure board.  Everything is in Czech, so it is guesswork that nasp. = platform and kolej = track.  The railway forecourt is well served by numerous sandwich shops and newsagents. Three English broadsheets were on sale: the FT, Daily Telegraph, and the Guardian, suggesting that there is an audience for these newspapers.  Also available was one of the red tops: The Sun; horses for courses indeed.  The railway is a magnet for the young and the old; no wonder the first class carriages on the Inter European City train from Hamburg to Budapest were almost empty.  

A coffee stall closing for the day.  It was situated about 300m from the pedestrianised area, not exactly in prime location.  Mercifully, there are no Starbucks at Brno, so coffee and tea prices remain reasonable.  Long may it continue.  I noticed that an expresso is often served with a glass of water.  
A clever way of trapping falling leaves.  The city centre is clean and relatively free of graffiti. A noticeable phenomenon (or rather lack of) is that there are no women with babe in arms begging outside the churches.  This is a relief, because these female beggars have become a fixture in a lot of western countries, eroding sympathy and compassion.  Back to Brno, most of the shops in the pedestrianised area were closed on Saturdays, perhaps  because it was off season.  
To the left: a figure painted onto the wall of a house, opposite the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul.  It is evident that the houses in the city centre have been looked after; there is hardly any peeling paint or falling plaster.  It is quite a change from Bratislava, where many houses in the Old Town are crying out for a lick of paint. To the right: a tombstone outside the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul.  

Sunday 13 November 2011

Bratislava Series - The Silence

It's the first time that I strolled along a residential part of Bratislava off Karadžičova Street and came across a cemetery on 29 Augusta Ulica.  In the stillness of the afternoon, some old souls were taking a walk in the cemetery, lost in their own thoughts, and one woman was seen cleaning a plague and re-arranging the flowers and lanterns.  In a corner, a young couple sat on a bench, whispering sweet nothings to themselves.  Some headstones are very elaborate, mostly featuring the Virgin Mary grieving over a dead Christ.  This is a Catholic country after all.  Outside, two taxis were waiting for their fares, one of them making rings with his cigarette smoke.  

Brno Series - Wine Tasting at Freedom Square


Queues for the hot wine stall

Woman making a local desert

Wine tasting in action

Freedom Square
Freedom Square in central Brno was festooned with marquees for what seemed to be a wine tasting event.  There was also a concert stage with bands playing folk songs.  For an event like this, the atmosphere was a bit subdued, but perhaps I have come to associate drinking with rowdiness typical of hen parties and stag parties so beloved of the British contingent.  

Brno, Czech Republic Series - How to treat visitors

I have not travelled since returning from Banská Štiavnica.  As my stay in Slovakia is rapidly drawing to a close, how best to spend what little time there is left to explore this part of the world has become more pressing.

Brno lies on the Inter European City line between Budapest and Hamburg, and is only 134 km, or 1.5 hours away by train from Bratislava. 

On a bright crisp autumn morning, I bought a first class return train ticket (€18.80), and along with a horde of other travellers, boarded the DB train heading north.  The silence in the first class carriages was a direct contrast to the buzz and noise in the crowded second class carriages, but perfect as a hideaway to watch the countryside slipping by.  The train stops at Kúty and Břeclav before pulling in at Brno. 

Emerging from the underpass plagued with cheap goods stores, Brno looked promising.  The historical centre, its streets still paved in cobbled stones, reminded the visitors of its rich cultural history.

Vegetable Market (or Cabbage Market)
There were a handful of stalls selling vegetables, fruit and flowers at the Vegetable Market, and as I did not have any Czech Kronoa (Kč) at the time, I decided not to approach the stalls.  The centre of the Market is dominated by the Baroque Parnas Fountain which symbolises a cave made of natural stone decorated by allegoric statues. Whilst I was trying to orientate myself, an old man approached me and offered me a sheet of paper with all the tourist landmarks on a "voluntary contribution" basis.  He spoke perfect English, with a pleasant manner, and wore a badge that declared him as a "Voluntary Sightseeing Advisor".  Perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of suspicion, I declined to pay in whatever currency for a map that later I obtained from the Tourist Office at no cost. 

Cathedral of St Peter & Paul
The Cathedral of St Peter and Paul, perched on top of a hill known as Petrov, was my next stop.  The twin spires of this Cathedral, together with the silhouette of Špilberk Castle form the famous Brno skyline.  At 11 am, the car park outside the Cathedral was filling up for the morning mass.  A little boy rushed up to an old couple, embracing his grandparents.  The old couple looked across, beamed at me, and wished me dobry den.  
Spelberk Castle etched in the skyline

From the Cathdral, Špilberk Castle gleamed in the morning light.  The hrad is accessible from a park.  It is known as the "jail of nations" for its reputation as the most feared prison in during the Hapsburg monarchy.  Later it was to serve as the Gastapo headquarters in Moravia.  Its association with torture, brutality and bravery is recorded in the permanent exhibitions inside the Castle, as well as the casemates - the dark grim rooms in the fortifications that were once prison cells for criminals.  Having had the freedom of roaming leisurely around art galleries in the world, I was treated to a Soviet style of visitor management in these exhibition rooms.  In each room my ticket was checked and sometimes double checked by middle aged women who herded me around like a clueless foot soldier - Go straight down, then turn left, and if I happened to turn right, I was quickly corrected.  I fled the oppressive regime with distaste.  The ticketing system at the Castle was unnecessarily complicated, with numerous permutations that tested the patience of a simple girl like me.

View of Brno from the Castle

View of Cathedral of St Peter & Paul from the Castle

It was a refreshing change then to have a light lunch at a cafe near the Old Town Hall.  The punters here were locals, checking their iPad and tablets, chatting to their friends and drinking coffee served by an attentive waiter.  There were other eateries, but in a city where there is no visible divide for non smokers, I eschewed many other cafes where smokers could be seen puffing away in total abandonment.

Sunday 30 October 2011

Banská Bystrica - All Saints Day



Today, a host of flower stalls stood at one end of the Main Square, selling pots of chrysanthemums and wreaths made of artificial flowers. It dawned on me only when visiting the cemetary that is situated at the side of the city wall that the flowers are meant for the deceased.  The graves here have been kept in tip top condition, and for some quiet moments my heart went to my dear sister who died at the young age of 23.  In two days' time, it will be All Saints Day on November 1, when people in the Roman Catholic countries of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary etc., observe the tradition of lighting candles and visiting the graves of deceased relatives. 

Banská Bystrica

The Main Square

The black obelisk raised to the honor of the Soviet soldiers killed during the liberation of the city in 1945
The official website describes the city of Banská Bystrica as the most important historical, cultural and economic centre of the central Slovakia (Slovak Republic). On our way back to Bratislava from Banská Štiavnica, we came off the brand new section of motorway R1 that bypassed this city, to see the place at first hand.  The SNP Main Square did not disappoint: most buildings enclosing the square and in the nearby streets are well preserved Gothic, Renanissance and Baroque noblemen's mansions and wealthy burghers' residences. 

Banská Štiavnica - Kalvária

In the 17th century, a Jesuit priest decided to build a sacral complex with donations from the local miners, craftsmen and town people.  The Banská Štiavnica Calvary Complex represents a unique architectural and landscape complex both in its extent and content: it consists of 25 buildings including three churches and chapels decorated with invaluable paintings (no longer there). The chapels and churches are built on a steep slope of a dormant volcano called Scharffenberg (Sharp Hill).  Today, the complex is by and large in a state of disrepair, with the churches locked up and the outside walls weeping in peeling plaster and paint.
Church at top of hill

Banska Stiavnica from Calvary Hill

Two of the three churches
Autumnal views from Calvary Hill