19th to 21st of January, 2022.
I tell my host Mariana the time I will arrive at her apartment. She needs to know so she can through the key to me from the 3rd floor window. Laugh. Mariana sees me coming and the key is on a Santa Claus hat. So funny.
We get along pretty well since the very first beginning. I get to meet her flatmate too, another lovely lady, who is from Peru. Mariana is from Mexico.
In about one month or so, Mariana will start a long travel from Mexico down to South America. She quit her job and will backpack also in a low budget. So for the time I am staying with her, I try to tell her as much as possible about my way of leaving and also to give her a few tips about backpacking without much money.
We talk a lot and we also have a lot in common, which is super nice.
Next day I go to explore Bratislava. The Old Town is not so big so you can definitely see it in one full day. There are incredibly beautiful old buildings everywhere! The Castle is very pretty! Even though it looks quite “new”. I am lucky also that it is a sunny day with blue sky! But back to the Castle, I think that it is so nice that you can walk all over the place, gardens and surroundings of the Castle, without need to pay a dime. Wonderful! Apart of the toilets being quite hidden and far away (on the left wing of the castle, on the back), they are also for free and very clean. You can also have a very nice view of the whole town from the Castle.
Two things surprises me a lot in the Old Town, near the castle: how the St. Martin Cathedral is not so interesting inside as much as it is famous; and the fact that the municipality completely changed the area around the cathedral! They destroyed the old synagogue and built this ridiculous bridge across the place, which so not go with the whole area. Trying to “be forgiven” buy what was done in the past, now in this place there is a exposition explaining everything about it and showing old photographs of how the synagogue it used to be. It was gorgeous! The whole area it was more beautiful how it was than how it is now…
A few minutes before I go back to Mariana’s apartment, the weather changes completely and I am caught by a very strong hail storm. And suddenly it turns into a snow falling. Because I came back a bit earlier than I had told Mariana, I just wait outside, across the street and in front of her window, hoping that she will show up soon. If it wasn’t for the bad weather, I would have keep walking a bit more…
After another nice talking and a nice meal, the girls star to watch a few episodes of the tv-show The Office, while I am planing my journey to the Netherlands. I am not a big fan of tv-series, as you know, and even though this one also it is not my style, it has some funny moments. And it has the super cute John Krasinski!
Later on, me and Mariana watch the movie Red Sparrow, with Jennifer Lawrence. Not really a good movie. Not for me or Mariana at least. Honestly, I think it is just another of those movies where the U.S.A. try to make other countries look horrible to our eyes. The one in question this time is Russia.
Next morning, after having my breakfast and saying good bye to me dear Mariana, I leave to take a metro, which will lead me to the direction of Brno, into a gas station. If I only knew that the first person to pick me up it would be a former prisoner.
