Slovakia: In Summary

Here is, for my money, the coolest thing in Bratislava. The gothic window of the town hall:

That black blob that looks like Cindy Crawford's mole is actually a cannonball, lodged in the building facade. It's been there since Napoleon's troops attacked the city. There are over 200 cannonballs from that attack still in the building fronts, although most are no longer visible.

Anyway, so what did I think of Bratislava? It was nice, but a bit shabby compared to Vienna. But I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way, because I found Vienna's ostentaciousness over-the-top. In my normal rating system of "would I want to live there?", I'd rate Bratislava as a maybe. It seemed quite pleasant, without being particularly vibrant. There were posters up for the Leonard Cohen concert, and I know he was playing in NZ at about the same time. And these concerts were taking place in late 2010 as part of his 2009 world tour. So perhaps like NZ, Slovakia isn't quite on the cutting edge of culture. In land was pretty and I'd like to go back with my bike.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Blurry Man