Bratislava, Slovakia

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  Bratislava, Slovakia
Monday, September 5, 2011

Complaining is something pretty common in my blogs. Today's whinge is about Aussies. We are in Bratislava, Slovakia, 1570 kms from home and we still can’t shake our countrymen. It’s like we’re being haunted by the Aussie accent. Hostels are packed with them, tour groups are dominated by them and all the people we meet say "all we have met are Australians", with a tone less than enthusiastic. When I first travelled overseas being from Australia was like a novelty. People were amazed that I had travelled such a long distance and they were always curious about our lifestyle 'down under’. Ten years on and Aussies have become the norm, we are just two of many. Maybe it’s something to do with the strong Aus dollar, it could be the struggling Euro and American economies or maybe it’s just become the Australian rite of passage to travel to Europe. Furthermore, travellers themselves seemed to have changed. Gone are the hippies with long hair and ripped clothes who scrutinize every single cent like a Jewish banker. Hostels are full of young party animals. Rather than visit the historic and significant monuments of a city backpackers frequent all the best pubs and nightclubs. Rather than sample the traditional food they drink the traditional alcohol and in considerable amounts. We heard one Aussie telling another how great it was to see Maccas and KFC here, I let it go. Hostels have actually adapted to this by building bars and organizing pub crawls, it’s all about the party atmosphere.

We did get into the spirit the other day and went out on a pub crawl. I must be getting old because the whole next day I was unable to transfer thoughts to my mouth and my skull felt like it had shrunk an inch compressing my brain. We did enjoy ourselves though. The crawl started at a rock bar that had a distinctly Oscars (Frankston hangout for underworld personalities and middle aged, single desperados) feel to it and although the band played many American and English rock songs I couldn’t sing along because the words the singer sung were different to the words I know. Next we hit a couple of clubs that felt like hallways with high chairs and American pop music blasting behind the bar- I now know every word to JLo’s floor song and Britney’s latest shit sandwich. On the way home we stopped for kebabs and were patiently waiting in the line when we heard a word I hadn’t heard for three months- SNATCH. I think his exact words were “how was the snatch?” when asking about a club. I burst out laughing and the bloke knew immediately that I was Australian and understood the word. We had a quick chat and turns out that he is from Slovakia, lived in Queensland for five years and was back home on a holiday. Who would have guessed? Snatch, it still makes me laugh (if there’s anyone who doesn’t understand what a snatch is ask a bloke). Also, I now have two brothers in the world. My blood brother Ryan and now a black man with dreadlocks who comes from Belgium named Rembrandt. To give you a visual picture he looks just like the narrator from Oz but about 50kg’s heavier. If you haven’t seen Oz think Lennox Lewis but badly out of shape. He was on the pub crawl with us and we got to talking late in the evening after multiple drinks. We started discussing Belgium and Australian history, somehow got into things we have in common and finished with the humanity of man and links between races. In the end he decided we were brothers from another mother and I agreed. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a love fest like teenagers at their first rave, it was a bit more dignified than that, there were no man hugs. On the way home we made all the usual big plans with him about all the things we would do together, now that we were brothers, but since the alcohol has worn off I haven’t seen him again.

Slovakia has been a highlight. Firstly, we had a fantastic tour (guide was an Aussie named Timmy- see what I’m talking about) and he told us all about the history of Slovakia, their independence and allegiances during the war. The best part about the city itself is the traffic, its non-existent. I think there are more cars on the road in Edenhope than in Bratislava, which is the capital city. There are also many statues dotted around the streets, but not like the big naked fountain statues you see in most other countries. These are nameless people in natural poses, like a statue of a man taking a photograph around the corner of a building, or coming up out of a sewer. It’s really cool. At first we thought they were street performers that you see all over Europe who paint themselves and hold poses for hours on end for tips. Also, yesterday there was an Arts and Crafts festival so the streets were full of people dressed in traditional Slovak clothes and stalls where locals made wooden barrels, hammocks, widdled wood and used old school sewing contraptions to make table cloths and doyly’s. At night there was a concert with dancing and a fashion show. Belinda gave me a demonstration of her catwalk strut, she’s got the pout down pat but moves more like a Victoria Secret than a catwalk model.

Briony and Graeme hope that Part 2 of your wedding in Melbourne was the best, from what we have heard it was an awesome night. Happy Fathers Day to both of our Dad's we hope you had a nice day and Timmy we hope you had a great first Father’s Day.  Cocko I’ll probably message you after the Hawks beat Geelong on the weekend. 

Next time you hear from us we will be in Austria, home of the Von Trapps and Mr. Universe himself Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Belinda having a laugh p2   Comments!	Nice photo	World compass from Bratislava   Comments!	Church tower
See if you can read this	Art and craft festival	Luke and Napolean scoping for chicks	Traditional dancing   Comments!
Traditional dancing 2	Man in sewer statue	Local making a barrel	Sew old woman, sew like the wind
Kids playing	Belinda eating gingerbread   Comments!	Laneways in Bratislava	Movie of the Concert

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