This is a time of real change in Bratislava. Not just the change as spring comes, the trees bud out, it becomes warmer and we spend more time outside enjoying the sun and flowers and trees blooming, although that is certainly part of it. No I am talking about the change in everyday things we see in the neighborhood.
One example is the food stall which was just outside the door to our apartment house. We passed it several times a day every day as we came and went. It had a sign saying, in Slovak that it was open 24/7. We rarely saw anyone eating there and we never did ourselves, for good reason. It was a dingy, dirty, greasy little hole in the wall, with a glass window through which you ordered. It had a hand written sign saying, in English "hot dog, hot cat, hot horse". I never knew if that was a joke or a menu and did not want to find out. Well, about three weeks ago it closed, all of the drinks vanished from the softdrink machine and it looked deserted. Shortly thereafter, a group of workmen came in and ripped everything out, including the walls, floor and front window. Then men who looked like architects came in, with plans in hand and had long consultations with others. Shortly thereafter, wiring went in on the bare studs and lots of stainless steel and white formica came in followed shortly by lots of new stainless steel ovens, grills, refrigerators. A new glass front and glass door arrived. It is not operating yet, but they are moving quickly.
That is true of most renovation in Bratislava. The workers start early and stay until late at night.They work 7 days a week. Christmas was the only day when work seemed to stop on some construction. Tomorrow is Easter, a huge Slovakian holiday and I will watch to see if work continues. [Easter addition: yes, workmen were at work at about 8:30]
On my five to six block walk to the University, I pass four or five buildings which are being renovated. Workmen seem to be working all the time but little progress is being made and then suddenly, things are done and buildings start to be occupied. Last week a new Billa (a European supermarket chain) went in about three blocks from us. Some of the buildings being renovated, although terribly dilapidated, were at one time beautiful art deco buildings which hopefully will reflect the original beauty.
It has been a very busy time over the last month. We have had a lot of very welcome visitors and done a lot of traveling. Rachel and Casey were here until a few days ago. Nancy, Susan's sister was also here and Lelia and Grady, my sister and brother-in-law, are arriving tomorrow. We went to Budapest twice in a week, once with Rachel and Nancy and again the following weekend to visit Hungarian friends who had invited us to visit and see a concert with Nigel Kennedy during the Budapest Spring Music Festival. We went to Budapest on Saturday, returned to Bratislava on Sunday, grabbed different bags and went to Vienna with Casey. I had an invitation to participate in a moot International Arbitration, which had 179 law schools from all over the world participating. Back to Bratislava on Monday, and then I returned again to Vienna again on Tuesday. Whew!
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Guest Blogger Today
Today, we have a guest blogger, as our daughter Rachel has been visiting us. Here is her take on Central Europe.
Hey guys!
Greetings from Bratislava! Competing for e-mail time with the rest of my family can be challenging so here are some random things that I have done so far. Sorry if it jumps around but I cut and pasted from various e-mails.
I arrived in Bratislava on a Sunday and it was sunny and beautiful. This changed quickly as the cold and the rain started and lasted for around 5 days. My parents have a flat by old town with a fabulous view of churches etc. For dinner the second night we had traditional Slavic food and were serenaded by musicians. The restaurant was in an old wine cellar in the basement. For awhile we were the only ones there. Pretty cool. Then we went for a walk thru the cobblestone streets in the square.
Tuesday morning I walked to the International Women's coffee get together thingy with my mom. It was cold and rainy (It snowed Monday night in the hills) outside. In the afternoon we went to a yummy Cuban restaurant for lunch. After lunch my mom and I went for a long walk across the bridges.
The TV is funny here. It is all translated into Slovakian. I did not know that Bart Simpson speaks Slovakian so fluently. All my shows are here but all translated so the voices sound different. VH/1 is in English. It is the European version. I saw an Abba video from the 70's and some hair band from the early 90's. Highly entertaining... My mom and I walked to the movie theatre and saw Dreamgirls this evening. Really great movie!
We had a great day today. (Wednesday) We (My mom, my Aunt Nancy, and myself) walked around all over town and watched a folk dance out in the square. Half of the dancers had Down’s syndrome which I thought was really cool. Then we followed them and watched them march to the river. At the river they danced some more and then threw a large doll into the river. I asked a few of the dancers why??? and they told me that it was a tradition to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring. Hello Spring!!! Tonight we drank wine and ate yummy pasta with mushrooms. Thursday Dad and I are off to Vienna for the day to check out castles and some Museums. On Thursday we had a really lovely day in Vienna. We went to three museums and took an elevator and climbed up to the top of a church to see a fresco. Then we had some mugs of beer and yummy lunch and wandered thru the markets. Really cool... Then we saw this bizarre modern art exhibit with photos that would probably be banned in the States. :) Then we went to another museum and had cappuccinos outside in the square. It was sunny but cold. Tomorrow we are off to Budapest in Hungary which is one of my favorite places. We will visit the famous baths of Budapest and wander around the city so start studying Budapest.
We just returned from Budapest. It was really a lot of fun and still as wonderful as I remember it. The first night is was rainy and cold so we went to the baths. This was a lot of fun and very relaxing. The baths were in a huge palace with Turkish influence. We started at the outdoor bath and then explored about 20 baths inside. The all had different temperatures. We ended up at a outdoor bath that had a current in the pool. There was a inside circle that propelled you around. It was a lot of fun.
The next day we explored the huge food and craft market. Then we rejoined my mom at the Museum. Later that day we took the metro to the castle and explored a fabulous church. Sunday we went to a artist’s fair. At this point I decided to explore on my own and do some shopping and sight seeing. I had a wonderful time exploring the shopping areas and stopped for some gelato. Then I went back to the castle grounds and sat in the sun. It was fun to be on my own agenda.
Tomorrow I’m off to Krakow, Poland to hopefully connect with my brother in a couple of days. I’ve never been to Poland so I’m excited for the adventure. While there I plan to check out the salt mines and explore the markets. The markets are getting ready for Easter and so there are a lot of chocolate bunnies and eggs everywhere. People really take Easter seriously. There is a tradition that single girls get buckets of water or perfume sprayed on them in Central Europe. I don’t think that would go over well in the States.
Miss you’all and see you soon!
Hey guys!
Greetings from Bratislava! Competing for e-mail time with the rest of my family can be challenging so here are some random things that I have done so far. Sorry if it jumps around but I cut and pasted from various e-mails.
I arrived in Bratislava on a Sunday and it was sunny and beautiful. This changed quickly as the cold and the rain started and lasted for around 5 days. My parents have a flat by old town with a fabulous view of churches etc. For dinner the second night we had traditional Slavic food and were serenaded by musicians. The restaurant was in an old wine cellar in the basement. For awhile we were the only ones there. Pretty cool. Then we went for a walk thru the cobblestone streets in the square.
Tuesday morning I walked to the International Women's coffee get together thingy with my mom. It was cold and rainy (It snowed Monday night in the hills) outside. In the afternoon we went to a yummy Cuban restaurant for lunch. After lunch my mom and I went for a long walk across the bridges.
The TV is funny here. It is all translated into Slovakian. I did not know that Bart Simpson speaks Slovakian so fluently. All my shows are here but all translated so the voices sound different. VH/1 is in English. It is the European version. I saw an Abba video from the 70's and some hair band from the early 90's. Highly entertaining... My mom and I walked to the movie theatre and saw Dreamgirls this evening. Really great movie!
We had a great day today. (Wednesday) We (My mom, my Aunt Nancy, and myself) walked around all over town and watched a folk dance out in the square. Half of the dancers had Down’s syndrome which I thought was really cool. Then we followed them and watched them march to the river. At the river they danced some more and then threw a large doll into the river. I asked a few of the dancers why??? and they told me that it was a tradition to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring. Hello Spring!!! Tonight we drank wine and ate yummy pasta with mushrooms. Thursday Dad and I are off to Vienna for the day to check out castles and some Museums. On Thursday we had a really lovely day in Vienna. We went to three museums and took an elevator and climbed up to the top of a church to see a fresco. Then we had some mugs of beer and yummy lunch and wandered thru the markets. Really cool... Then we saw this bizarre modern art exhibit with photos that would probably be banned in the States. :) Then we went to another museum and had cappuccinos outside in the square. It was sunny but cold. Tomorrow we are off to Budapest in Hungary which is one of my favorite places. We will visit the famous baths of Budapest and wander around the city so start studying Budapest.
We just returned from Budapest. It was really a lot of fun and still as wonderful as I remember it. The first night is was rainy and cold so we went to the baths. This was a lot of fun and very relaxing. The baths were in a huge palace with Turkish influence. We started at the outdoor bath and then explored about 20 baths inside. The all had different temperatures. We ended up at a outdoor bath that had a current in the pool. There was a inside circle that propelled you around. It was a lot of fun.
The next day we explored the huge food and craft market. Then we rejoined my mom at the Museum. Later that day we took the metro to the castle and explored a fabulous church. Sunday we went to a artist’s fair. At this point I decided to explore on my own and do some shopping and sight seeing. I had a wonderful time exploring the shopping areas and stopped for some gelato. Then I went back to the castle grounds and sat in the sun. It was fun to be on my own agenda.
Tomorrow I’m off to Krakow, Poland to hopefully connect with my brother in a couple of days. I’ve never been to Poland so I’m excited for the adventure. While there I plan to check out the salt mines and explore the markets. The markets are getting ready for Easter and so there are a lot of chocolate bunnies and eggs everywhere. People really take Easter seriously. There is a tradition that single girls get buckets of water or perfume sprayed on them in Central Europe. I don’t think that would go over well in the States.
Miss you’all and see you soon!
Friday, February 9, 2007
Some historical musings
We got back a week or so ago from an 18 day trip to Spain, where we had a wonderful time. We also got back from a trip to another spa, this time to Trencianske Teplice for a meeting of Fulbright Grantees from all over Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which was very interesting and inspiring. But for now I wanted to write a bit about changes in Slovakia as a result of the fall of Communism.
First, a quick bit of history. The Berlin wall fell in November, 1989. Shortly thereafter, a number of demonstrations in Prague, Bratislava and other locations in Czechoslovakia led to the “Velvet Revolution” or the fall of Communist control in Czechoslovakia. Vaclav Havel was elected in December of 1989. Tension between the Czech and Slovak portions of Czechoslovakia led ultimately to the “Velvet Divorce” or the split of Czechoslovakia into the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993.
This is an anecdotal comment on the impacts we see in daily life.
First, our apartment. We live in a nice two bedroom flat, conveniently located next to Old Town Bratislava. The flat is modern, fairly well appointed, and well kept up for the most part. It is on the fourth floor of “Manderla”, built in 1935 and the first multistory building in Bratislava. It also had the first elevators in Bratislava. We are told that when it was built it had crystal chandeliers and carpets and brass runners on the stairs.
Not now. As nice as most of the apartments are, the interior common spaces are a dump. The halls are dimly lit, when the lights work at all. The elevators are almost unbelievable, with worn linoleum floors, broken mirrors on the wall, a terrible bilge green paint job and a mechanism which makes you hope that each time you ride up or down is not the time it finally gives up the ghost.
First, a quick bit of history. The Berlin wall fell in November, 1989. Shortly thereafter, a number of demonstrations in Prague, Bratislava and other locations in Czechoslovakia led to the “Velvet Revolution” or the fall of Communist control in Czechoslovakia. Vaclav Havel was elected in December of 1989. Tension between the Czech and Slovak portions of Czechoslovakia led ultimately to the “Velvet Divorce” or the split of Czechoslovakia into the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993.
This is an anecdotal comment on the impacts we see in daily life.
First, our apartment. We live in a nice two bedroom flat, conveniently located next to Old Town Bratislava. The flat is modern, fairly well appointed, and well kept up for the most part. It is on the fourth floor of “Manderla”, built in 1935 and the first multistory building in Bratislava. It also had the first elevators in Bratislava. We are told that when it was built it had crystal chandeliers and carpets and brass runners on the stairs.
Not now. As nice as most of the apartments are, the interior common spaces are a dump. The halls are dimly lit, when the lights work at all. The elevators are almost unbelievable, with worn linoleum floors, broken mirrors on the wall, a terrible bilge green paint job and a mechanism which makes you hope that each time you ride up or down is not the time it finally gives up the ghost.
Everyone (including us) piles their bags of trash in the hall until they have collected enough to take outside to the garbage receptacles. The outside is not much better. It badly needs renovation, and there is a bingo parlor and gambling hall on the first floor, with shady characters coming and going. This is not the exception. It is fairly typical of a lot of apartments in Bratislava.
Why is there such a contrast between inside apartments and the common spaces? We have talked to a number of people and found some of the following reasons. When apartments were privatized, for the most part people who occupied apartments purchased them at a greatly discounted price. However, there was no real legal provision for the common spaces. People are reluctant to contribute for commons upkeep, and the amounts collected are quite small.
In addition, under Communism, even if someone had money, they would fix up their apartment, but purposely keep the exterior looking very shabby so as not to draw attention to their bourgeois lifestyle. As a result there is a lot of deferred maintenance around Bratislava, and in much of Central Europe. The amount that is now being spent on reconstruction of buildings, making up for the deferred maintenance and lack of infrastructure is staggering. Work is going on night and day, seven days a week.
Where is the money coming from? Although the government and the European Union contribute a lot, much of the money comes from advertising. Advertisements are everywhere in Bratislava. There is a hotel near us, with a ten story high billboard, covering one whole side of the building. (It is the kind like those on buses where the ad covers the windows, but you can still see out.) These pictures are taken without moving more than 5 feet to take the pictures.
Our apartment building is covered with ads. (None on our windows, yet!) Apparently the money from ads goes to pay for upkeep of the buildings.
Not only private buildings are covered with ads. The law school where I teach has new metal frames carrying ads for upcoming concerts, cosmetics, etc. Apparently the money from such ads goes to help support the greatly under funded universities. There are ads everywhere you turn on sidewalks and streets. Urban highways have small billboards every 20 meters or so down the median. Where is the Slovakian Lady Bird Johnson?
Bratislava has several large malls, complete with department stores, groceries, computers, appliances, and many of the same stores in malls in the U.S. More seem to be coming in all the time. Big box stores are alive and well in Bratislava.
Our local supermarket is scheduled to be torn down, along with the hotel with the billboard, and a number of other buildings, and will be replaced with a mall with an internal atrium and a newer bigger Tesco (a British chain which is a combination supermarket and low price department store.)
Goodbye Communism, welcome to the consumer society.
Monday, January 8, 2007
Teaching in Slovakia
Originally posted January 8, 2007
Most of my previous emails have been about spas, Christmas Markets, trips to various places, etc. and not about the reason we are here in Slovakia. So this email is about my experiences teaching at the Institute of Foreign Relations and Approximation of Law (an unfortunate name) at the Law Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
During the first semester, just completed, I taught two courses, International Business Transactions and Comparative Law. I anticipate teaching two other courses, International Dispute Resolution and Advanced International Business Transactions, during the next semester. One area which I was not expecting but which worked well was the need to develop distance learning. Some of the students in the program are unable to attend many of the classes because of the distance involved or other conflicts. We developed a plan using web sites with resource material, PowerPoint slides and lecture notes which allowed these students to keep up with what was happening in class. I developed these web sites with the help of the IT staff at Comenius University and the staff of the Institute of International Relations and Approximation of Law, my host group at Comenius University.
I had 73 students in the International Business Transactions class and about 30 students in the Comparative Law Course. In addition I had about 12 students who were taking the courses online using the distance learning web sites we developed. This was many more students than I expected based upon previous experience with similar courses in prior years, when they had about 25 students in the IBT class. I had purchased about 35 course text books using the funds made available as part of the Fulbright grant. Thus we did not have enough text books to go around. I was able to supplement the text books with material which I placed on the web site.
The students were generally a conscientious and bright group. A surprising number of the students were students from other EU countries, such as Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria and other countries under the Erasmus program promoted by the EU to give students experience in other EU countries. These students brought an additional perspective which helped the class. A lot of the Slovak students were from business or government positions and were taking graduate level courses on a part time basis. These students also brought a practical experience to the classes which was very helpful.
The Law Faculty at Comenius University, and particularly the staff and head of the Institute, have been enormously helpful in providing material and support and encouraging the online learning capability. The head of the Institute, Dr. Vlasta Kunova, called a meeting of the Institute faculty to demonstrate and encourage web based education. She is an expert on EU law and the institute is funded by grants from the EU. However the University itself is woefully underfunded. Virtually all of the faculty are part time, holding several positions, either in government or other universities.
Not long ago we had a celebration of the Law Schools 85th anniversary. That is young as European law schools go. Jagiellonian University in Kracow Poland dates back to 1364. Other law faculties also trace their roots back to the middle ages. But it was a big event at Comenius University. It was held in the Great Hall of the building, which resembles a throne room. I earlier received an engraved invitation to the event, but no one explained what was involved. I was escorted to a seat on the second row. I had a young assistant as my interpreter who explained what was going on. I looked over at the row in front of me and the President and Prime Minister of Slovakia were seated there together with a number of other dignitaries from the Judiciary and government agencies. Then I heard a trumpet fanfare from the rear of the room. Two men marched in, dressed in academic robes with scarlet berets, carrying large gold and silver maces. They were followed by a number of deans and assistant deans, dressed in scarlet robes, but with gold chains around their necks and a large gold medal hanging from the chains. I noticed that the law school dean had jewels on his gold chain. There were more women than men in the gold chain group.
The Rector of the University (similar to the President or Chancellor of a U.S. University) then came in, with a fur trimmed academic robe and even more jewels on his chain. There were several speeches, in Slovak, from the Dean, the Rector and the President of Slovakia, who was a former member of the faculty at the law school. This was then followed by what was described as a “cultural interlude”. Two opera singers came out. One I recognized as probably the most famous soprano in Slovakia and the other was an excellent tenor from Russia. They proceeded to sing several arias from Carmen, accompanied by a pianist. That was followed by the Slovak National Anthem and a procession back out, in which I discovered to my surprise, I was part of. We then went to a reception across the hall, with toasts with sparkling wine. After this the faculty members adjourned to a nearby restaurant for a nice lunch. What a day! The Europeans sure know how to put on a ceremony.
With all best wishes for the New Year.
Charles and Susan Routh
Namestie SNP 23
81101 Bratislava 1
Slovakia
Tel: +421 9/11335672 (Charles)
+421 9/14 220 832 (Susan)
email: crouth@gsblaw.com
charlesrouth@chello.sk
Most of my previous emails have been about spas, Christmas Markets, trips to various places, etc. and not about the reason we are here in Slovakia. So this email is about my experiences teaching at the Institute of Foreign Relations and Approximation of Law (an unfortunate name) at the Law Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
During the first semester, just completed, I taught two courses, International Business Transactions and Comparative Law. I anticipate teaching two other courses, International Dispute Resolution and Advanced International Business Transactions, during the next semester. One area which I was not expecting but which worked well was the need to develop distance learning. Some of the students in the program are unable to attend many of the classes because of the distance involved or other conflicts. We developed a plan using web sites with resource material, PowerPoint slides and lecture notes which allowed these students to keep up with what was happening in class. I developed these web sites with the help of the IT staff at Comenius University and the staff of the Institute of International Relations and Approximation of Law, my host group at Comenius University.
I had 73 students in the International Business Transactions class and about 30 students in the Comparative Law Course. In addition I had about 12 students who were taking the courses online using the distance learning web sites we developed. This was many more students than I expected based upon previous experience with similar courses in prior years, when they had about 25 students in the IBT class. I had purchased about 35 course text books using the funds made available as part of the Fulbright grant. Thus we did not have enough text books to go around. I was able to supplement the text books with material which I placed on the web site.
The students were generally a conscientious and bright group. A surprising number of the students were students from other EU countries, such as Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria and other countries under the Erasmus program promoted by the EU to give students experience in other EU countries. These students brought an additional perspective which helped the class. A lot of the Slovak students were from business or government positions and were taking graduate level courses on a part time basis. These students also brought a practical experience to the classes which was very helpful.
The Law Faculty at Comenius University, and particularly the staff and head of the Institute, have been enormously helpful in providing material and support and encouraging the online learning capability. The head of the Institute, Dr. Vlasta Kunova, called a meeting of the Institute faculty to demonstrate and encourage web based education. She is an expert on EU law and the institute is funded by grants from the EU. However the University itself is woefully underfunded. Virtually all of the faculty are part time, holding several positions, either in government or other universities.
Not long ago we had a celebration of the Law Schools 85th anniversary. That is young as European law schools go. Jagiellonian University in Kracow Poland dates back to 1364. Other law faculties also trace their roots back to the middle ages. But it was a big event at Comenius University. It was held in the Great Hall of the building, which resembles a throne room. I earlier received an engraved invitation to the event, but no one explained what was involved. I was escorted to a seat on the second row. I had a young assistant as my interpreter who explained what was going on. I looked over at the row in front of me and the President and Prime Minister of Slovakia were seated there together with a number of other dignitaries from the Judiciary and government agencies. Then I heard a trumpet fanfare from the rear of the room. Two men marched in, dressed in academic robes with scarlet berets, carrying large gold and silver maces. They were followed by a number of deans and assistant deans, dressed in scarlet robes, but with gold chains around their necks and a large gold medal hanging from the chains. I noticed that the law school dean had jewels on his gold chain. There were more women than men in the gold chain group.
The Rector of the University (similar to the President or Chancellor of a U.S. University) then came in, with a fur trimmed academic robe and even more jewels on his chain. There were several speeches, in Slovak, from the Dean, the Rector and the President of Slovakia, who was a former member of the faculty at the law school. This was then followed by what was described as a “cultural interlude”. Two opera singers came out. One I recognized as probably the most famous soprano in Slovakia and the other was an excellent tenor from Russia. They proceeded to sing several arias from Carmen, accompanied by a pianist. That was followed by the Slovak National Anthem and a procession back out, in which I discovered to my surprise, I was part of. We then went to a reception across the hall, with toasts with sparkling wine. After this the faculty members adjourned to a nearby restaurant for a nice lunch. What a day! The Europeans sure know how to put on a ceremony.
With all best wishes for the New Year.
Charles and Susan Routh
Namestie SNP 23
81101 Bratislava 1
Slovakia
Tel: +421 9/11335672 (Charles)
+421 9/14 220 832 (Susan)
email: crouth@gsblaw.com
charlesrouth@chello.sk
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Christmas in Bratislava
Originally posted December 23, 2006
All the best wishes of the Season.
Some people have asked us about food in Bratislava. So far it has been quite good. We have easy access to groceries. There is a Tesco hypermarket just across the street. Tesco is a large British chain and a “hypermarket” is a large supermarket. They have a wide variety of groceries, but it is always very crowded, with long lines and rather dour workers at the checkout stands. There is also an old fashioned butcher store in the ground floor of our apartment. It is old fashioned in two ways: one, it still has butchers who wait on you and cut meat to order and two, it has the style of Russian stores where you order what you want, then go and pay at a central cashier and then go back with the slip showing you paid to pick up your purchase.
We are also next to the Stara Trznica or “Old Market”, which has vegetable and fruit stalls, flower stalls and several bread, pastry, wine, and other stalls. Think of a small version of the Pike Place Market. We frequently shop at a smaller grocery, called Teta, which has better baked goods and is not as crowded as Tesco.
We also occasionally go to Carrefour, a very large French chain at a nearby shopping center. It is definitely up market from Tesco, is larger and carries more and better items. However it is a tram ride away so we don’t go there very often.
Our biggest problem has been learning the Slovak names of various items we want to buy. Eggs, (vajce), milk (mlieko) , and bread (chlieb) are easy: you just pick them off the shelves. Butter (maslo) and cheese (syr) were more difficult since you had to figure out which small package was butter and what kind of butter. Getting the names of cheeses down was also complex. However the biggest problem was flour and sugar. Each came in various varieties, such as finely ground, rye flour, whole wheat flour, etc. Sugar was confectioners, coffee sugar, brown sugar, baking sugar, etc. I ended up accidentally buying corn flour, which actually works pretty well for flouring meat before you cook it. I am not so sure about baking.
We find that we go out to eat much more frequently than we do in Seattle. Most restaurants are very reasonably priced and there are probably at least 50 restaurants within easy walking distance of our flat. Most of them are quite good, with a variety of cuisines available. This time of year we have been going to the Christmas Markets a lot. These are stalls set up in the two main squares in Bratislava. This is a tradition of Central Europe. It is very big in Vienna and parts of Germany. There have been Christmas Markets in Bratislava since 1993, shortly after the fall of the Eastern Bloc. The City representatives were inspired by other similar markets, but with a distinct Slovak twist. There is a bigger focus on food in Bratislava than in Vienna. Favorites are Ciganska, which is Gypsy or Roma grilled pork or chicken steak grilled with onions, Kapustnica, which is the red-colored paprika and saurkraut soup flavored with meat or sausages and our favorite, Pleskavica, which is a beef patty grilled on a charcoal grill and served on bread cooked on the grill. The proprietor was insulted when I called it a hamburger since he said it was much better than a hamburger. He was right.
The main drink available is a hot mulled wine, which tastes particularly good on a cold winter evening. They also have Medovina, which is a hot mead or honey wine. They also have various Slovakian pastries which are traditional this time of the year. We have our choice of Lokse which is a thin potato crepe filled with chocolate, almonds or poppy seeds or a cherry and poppy seed strudel.
The last few days there have been live carp booths in front of Tesco and at the Christmas Markets. The proprietors of the booths scoop up the flopping carp, weigh it and give it to the next in the long line waiting for the carp. Fried carp is a typical Slovakian dish served on Christmas Eve. In lieu of that we are going out to one of our favorite restaurants.
We wish you a Merry Christmas, or in Slovakian, Vesele Vianoce a Novy Rok praje!
Chuck and Susan Routh
All the best wishes of the Season.
Some people have asked us about food in Bratislava. So far it has been quite good. We have easy access to groceries. There is a Tesco hypermarket just across the street. Tesco is a large British chain and a “hypermarket” is a large supermarket. They have a wide variety of groceries, but it is always very crowded, with long lines and rather dour workers at the checkout stands. There is also an old fashioned butcher store in the ground floor of our apartment. It is old fashioned in two ways: one, it still has butchers who wait on you and cut meat to order and two, it has the style of Russian stores where you order what you want, then go and pay at a central cashier and then go back with the slip showing you paid to pick up your purchase.
We are also next to the Stara Trznica or “Old Market”, which has vegetable and fruit stalls, flower stalls and several bread, pastry, wine, and other stalls. Think of a small version of the Pike Place Market. We frequently shop at a smaller grocery, called Teta, which has better baked goods and is not as crowded as Tesco.
We also occasionally go to Carrefour, a very large French chain at a nearby shopping center. It is definitely up market from Tesco, is larger and carries more and better items. However it is a tram ride away so we don’t go there very often.
Our biggest problem has been learning the Slovak names of various items we want to buy. Eggs, (vajce), milk (mlieko) , and bread (chlieb) are easy: you just pick them off the shelves. Butter (maslo) and cheese (syr) were more difficult since you had to figure out which small package was butter and what kind of butter. Getting the names of cheeses down was also complex. However the biggest problem was flour and sugar. Each came in various varieties, such as finely ground, rye flour, whole wheat flour, etc. Sugar was confectioners, coffee sugar, brown sugar, baking sugar, etc. I ended up accidentally buying corn flour, which actually works pretty well for flouring meat before you cook it. I am not so sure about baking.
We find that we go out to eat much more frequently than we do in Seattle. Most restaurants are very reasonably priced and there are probably at least 50 restaurants within easy walking distance of our flat. Most of them are quite good, with a variety of cuisines available. This time of year we have been going to the Christmas Markets a lot. These are stalls set up in the two main squares in Bratislava. This is a tradition of Central Europe. It is very big in Vienna and parts of Germany. There have been Christmas Markets in Bratislava since 1993, shortly after the fall of the Eastern Bloc. The City representatives were inspired by other similar markets, but with a distinct Slovak twist. There is a bigger focus on food in Bratislava than in Vienna. Favorites are Ciganska, which is Gypsy or Roma grilled pork or chicken steak grilled with onions, Kapustnica, which is the red-colored paprika and saurkraut soup flavored with meat or sausages and our favorite, Pleskavica, which is a beef patty grilled on a charcoal grill and served on bread cooked on the grill. The proprietor was insulted when I called it a hamburger since he said it was much better than a hamburger. He was right.
The main drink available is a hot mulled wine, which tastes particularly good on a cold winter evening. They also have Medovina, which is a hot mead or honey wine. They also have various Slovakian pastries which are traditional this time of the year. We have our choice of Lokse which is a thin potato crepe filled with chocolate, almonds or poppy seeds or a cherry and poppy seed strudel.
The last few days there have been live carp booths in front of Tesco and at the Christmas Markets. The proprietors of the booths scoop up the flopping carp, weigh it and give it to the next in the long line waiting for the carp. Fried carp is a typical Slovakian dish served on Christmas Eve. In lieu of that we are going out to one of our favorite restaurants.
We wish you a Merry Christmas, or in Slovakian, Vesele Vianoce a Novy Rok praje!
Chuck and Susan Routh
Monday, November 20, 2006
Chuck and Susan go to the Spa
Originally Posted November 20, 2006
When we learned that we would be living in Slovakia, one of the things we wanted to do was to go to a spa. Slovakia, and indeed most of Central Europe, is famous for their thermal water and spas. Budapest was built on hot springs areas. The Czech Republic and Austria are famous for their spas. Slovakia also has many, many spas which were famous for centuries. Since we had been hot springs addicts since we lived in Japan, this would be a rare opportunity to see some of the most elegant hot springs in the world.
Shortly after we arrived here we started researching and reading up on spas here. We discovered that most spas were run on a medical model. You chose the spa depending on your ailment. If you had arthritis you went to one spa and if you had intestinal problems you went to another spa. You got a prescription from your doctor and went to the appropriate spa, usually for three weeks, with the cost entirely covered by state sponsored insurance. As you might suspect this is a system which is subject to abuse. A free three week vacation with the whole thing covered by insurance. However there was a downside. The spas were encouraged, either impliciitly or explicitly, not to make the visit too pleasant. The hotels were rather grim and the food reminescent of steam tables and school lunch rooms. The treatments were somewhat bizarre to say the least. Gas injection, electrotherapy, drinking gallons of mineral water and all sorts of water therapy such as underwater massage with a high pressure hose were just a few of the "therapies" used.
I thought this was a holdover from the Communist days and it is in part. However Austria has a similar system. Slovakia determined to end the abuse and as of Jan. 1, 2005, the system changed radically. The free three week vacations ended. One could still get a prescription for specific treatments but it did not cover the hotel, restaurants, etc. Also the spas completed a privatization program.
Some of the spas have seen the handwriting on the wall and have changed dramatically. They have upgraded the spa areas and the hotels and have gone more to the spa model of getting rid of stress and concentrating on enjoyment. None have done it more than Hotel Aphrodite in Rajecke Teplice in northern Slovakia in the mountains. Even the new name suggests a change: in Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture. That sounded good.
So we went to our neighborhood travel agent and asked about reservations. She checked and came back later and said that there was not a room to be had for the next two months. Not to be thwarted, we looked at their website http://www.spa.sk/ and discovered that they had various "annex" hotels which were in the vicinity. After going back and forth a bit, we decided on Hotel Velke Fatra which was described as having a glassed in walk way to the actual spa. So finally the day came and we set off by rail for Zelina in northern Slovakia. Several hours later we arrived and quickly changed to a small two car railroad which went to Rajecke Teplice. It went through some industrial areas, then farmland and finally up a lovely mountain valley where we stopped at the spa town. We saw a nice lake, some interesting trails and a parklike area to walk through. We saw the elegant Hotel Aphrodite and finally saw a sign for the Velke Fatra. We kept walking, until we were out of the park and saw the bus station. There across the street was our hotel. Unlike Aphrodite, our hotel had not been remodeled and was rather a dump. Its only redeeming feature was that it was cheap.
We checked in, got our schedule of spa treatments we had signed up for, got our card for dinner and our card for breakfast and went to our small room and unpacked. Then we went searching for items which were listed as coming with the room, such as a bathrobe for going to the spa and a hair dryer.We got those finally and walked around town a bit. We then went back, changed to swim suits and headed across the elevated walkway. We had to figure out the system for the locker room. We handed in what we called our "dance cards", got a key to the locker and a sheet. You then go in, put your robe in the locker and go through to the spa part. It was really quite spectacular. It had two very large stainless steel pools. One was pretty warm and the other a bit cooler for swimming. Both had various jets and waterfalls which changed about every ten minutes. There would be jets on your back, then current parts of the pool where the current would push you around. The trick became to get to the place where the back massage jets were when they came on. It was sort of like the kids game where you go around the chairs until the music stops. We did this, interspersed with sauna, steam baths, aromatherapy rooms, wraps in sheets and wool blankets, etc. for the next few days. Every once in a while we would have a treatment such as a whirlpool bath (like a big hot tub), a magic massage bed (which involves you getting wrapped in a sheet and blanket and lying on a cot which then began to massage your back with large rollers which would go up and down your back and legs), and a "Biarritz" bath, which involves getting in this large tub, naked, while this young lady turns on jets (153 of them, which exercise your meridians). The Biarritz bath looked at first like some sort of strange water boarding torture, but it felt very good. We also had two massages each. By the time we got through all this, all of our stress was gone.
Dinner was back at the Velke Fatra. They explained in German, Slovak, French and several other languages, but not English, the system for dinner, which is that you order dinner for the next day that evening. Since we had just arrived, we got what they had, which was a slice of ham and vegetables rolled in chicken, potatoes, vegetables, salad bar. It was not bad. Little did we suspect that it was to be our best dinner the whole time we were there. We had ordered "half board" which meant we had paid for dinner and breakfast and were on our own for lunch. We also ordered a bottle of quite good wine for about $6. We got the menu for the next night and made our choice. Unfortunately they sounded much better in German or Slovak than they turned out to be.
Rajecke Tepliceis is quite close to the Czech and Polish borders and not far from the Austrian border. About two thirds of the visitors are foreign. From languages I heard, I would say that the majority of the visitors were from Germany, with Poland a second. We never heard anyone speaking English as their native tongue. Still we got along pretty well and managed to understand most of what was meant through patching together various languages.
We had mixed weather, with a fair amount of drizzle. It was not nearly as cold as we expected. We did see snow on peaks around there and the snow level was not much higher up the hills than our elevation. However we got a chance to walk around in the area. One day we went to a local seafood restaurant, called the Fisherman's Bastion, for lunch. It was on an island in a lake. We had good trout,which is a local specialty from the mountain streams.
Charles and Susan Routh
Namestie SNP 23
81101 Bratislava 1
Slovakia
Tel: +421 9/11335672 (Charles)
+421 9/14 220 832 (Susan)
email: crouth@gsblaw.com
charlesrouth@chello.sk
When we learned that we would be living in Slovakia, one of the things we wanted to do was to go to a spa. Slovakia, and indeed most of Central Europe, is famous for their thermal water and spas. Budapest was built on hot springs areas. The Czech Republic and Austria are famous for their spas. Slovakia also has many, many spas which were famous for centuries. Since we had been hot springs addicts since we lived in Japan, this would be a rare opportunity to see some of the most elegant hot springs in the world.
Shortly after we arrived here we started researching and reading up on spas here. We discovered that most spas were run on a medical model. You chose the spa depending on your ailment. If you had arthritis you went to one spa and if you had intestinal problems you went to another spa. You got a prescription from your doctor and went to the appropriate spa, usually for three weeks, with the cost entirely covered by state sponsored insurance. As you might suspect this is a system which is subject to abuse. A free three week vacation with the whole thing covered by insurance. However there was a downside. The spas were encouraged, either impliciitly or explicitly, not to make the visit too pleasant. The hotels were rather grim and the food reminescent of steam tables and school lunch rooms. The treatments were somewhat bizarre to say the least. Gas injection, electrotherapy, drinking gallons of mineral water and all sorts of water therapy such as underwater massage with a high pressure hose were just a few of the "therapies" used.
I thought this was a holdover from the Communist days and it is in part. However Austria has a similar system. Slovakia determined to end the abuse and as of Jan. 1, 2005, the system changed radically. The free three week vacations ended. One could still get a prescription for specific treatments but it did not cover the hotel, restaurants, etc. Also the spas completed a privatization program.
Some of the spas have seen the handwriting on the wall and have changed dramatically. They have upgraded the spa areas and the hotels and have gone more to the spa model of getting rid of stress and concentrating on enjoyment. None have done it more than Hotel Aphrodite in Rajecke Teplice in northern Slovakia in the mountains. Even the new name suggests a change: in Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture. That sounded good.
So we went to our neighborhood travel agent and asked about reservations. She checked and came back later and said that there was not a room to be had for the next two months. Not to be thwarted, we looked at their website http://www.spa.sk/ and discovered that they had various "annex" hotels which were in the vicinity. After going back and forth a bit, we decided on Hotel Velke Fatra which was described as having a glassed in walk way to the actual spa. So finally the day came and we set off by rail for Zelina in northern Slovakia. Several hours later we arrived and quickly changed to a small two car railroad which went to Rajecke Teplice. It went through some industrial areas, then farmland and finally up a lovely mountain valley where we stopped at the spa town. We saw a nice lake, some interesting trails and a parklike area to walk through. We saw the elegant Hotel Aphrodite and finally saw a sign for the Velke Fatra. We kept walking, until we were out of the park and saw the bus station. There across the street was our hotel. Unlike Aphrodite, our hotel had not been remodeled and was rather a dump. Its only redeeming feature was that it was cheap.
We checked in, got our schedule of spa treatments we had signed up for, got our card for dinner and our card for breakfast and went to our small room and unpacked. Then we went searching for items which were listed as coming with the room, such as a bathrobe for going to the spa and a hair dryer.We got those finally and walked around town a bit. We then went back, changed to swim suits and headed across the elevated walkway. We had to figure out the system for the locker room. We handed in what we called our "dance cards", got a key to the locker and a sheet. You then go in, put your robe in the locker and go through to the spa part. It was really quite spectacular. It had two very large stainless steel pools. One was pretty warm and the other a bit cooler for swimming. Both had various jets and waterfalls which changed about every ten minutes. There would be jets on your back, then current parts of the pool where the current would push you around. The trick became to get to the place where the back massage jets were when they came on. It was sort of like the kids game where you go around the chairs until the music stops. We did this, interspersed with sauna, steam baths, aromatherapy rooms, wraps in sheets and wool blankets, etc. for the next few days. Every once in a while we would have a treatment such as a whirlpool bath (like a big hot tub), a magic massage bed (which involves you getting wrapped in a sheet and blanket and lying on a cot which then began to massage your back with large rollers which would go up and down your back and legs), and a "Biarritz" bath, which involves getting in this large tub, naked, while this young lady turns on jets (153 of them, which exercise your meridians). The Biarritz bath looked at first like some sort of strange water boarding torture, but it felt very good. We also had two massages each. By the time we got through all this, all of our stress was gone.
Dinner was back at the Velke Fatra. They explained in German, Slovak, French and several other languages, but not English, the system for dinner, which is that you order dinner for the next day that evening. Since we had just arrived, we got what they had, which was a slice of ham and vegetables rolled in chicken, potatoes, vegetables, salad bar. It was not bad. Little did we suspect that it was to be our best dinner the whole time we were there. We had ordered "half board" which meant we had paid for dinner and breakfast and were on our own for lunch. We also ordered a bottle of quite good wine for about $6. We got the menu for the next night and made our choice. Unfortunately they sounded much better in German or Slovak than they turned out to be.
Rajecke Tepliceis is quite close to the Czech and Polish borders and not far from the Austrian border. About two thirds of the visitors are foreign. From languages I heard, I would say that the majority of the visitors were from Germany, with Poland a second. We never heard anyone speaking English as their native tongue. Still we got along pretty well and managed to understand most of what was meant through patching together various languages.
We had mixed weather, with a fair amount of drizzle. It was not nearly as cold as we expected. We did see snow on peaks around there and the snow level was not much higher up the hills than our elevation. However we got a chance to walk around in the area. One day we went to a local seafood restaurant, called the Fisherman's Bastion, for lunch. It was on an island in a lake. We had good trout,which is a local specialty from the mountain streams.
Charles and Susan Routh
Namestie SNP 23
81101 Bratislava 1
Slovakia
Tel: +421 9/11335672 (Charles)
+421 9/14 220 832 (Susan)
email: crouth@gsblaw.com
charlesrouth@chello.sk
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Our Trip to the Police
Written October 27, 2006
Things had been going far too well. The students have been good, eager and interested in the classes. Bratislava has turned out to be a great place to live, with a vibrant cultural life, great music, excellent restaurants and easy to get around. We have done some traveling (Vienna, Nitra and the local area for a wine festival so far) and plan more. (Vienna again tomorrow and Budapest next week during the National Holiday here). The weather has been fantastic, with sunny warm days almost every day. Slovakia has excellent, unheralded wine, which is quite cheap. The beer is great and cheaper than water in restaurants.
However we knew we had to go to the police to register for a temporary residency permit. We had heard horror stories of the bureaucratic run around, but hey I'm a lawyer and used to bureaucracy. We assembled all the paper work ( birth certificates, wedding certificates, certificates that we do not have tuberculosis, syphilis or AIDS, certificates that we have health insurance, etc., etc. etc. ) The excellent people in the local Fulbright office translated all of this into Slovakian. We were all ready to go when we discovered that we needed two more papers, a copy of our lease and an official certification that our landlord actually owned the flat he was renting to us. Again we were ready to go, when we discovered that the last two papers had to be Notarized, which is not the same as a notary in the States. So back for more ribbons and fancy seals.
Finally today all the material was assembled, double checked and off we go. The Police office for foreigners is in Petrzalka, which has the reputation of block after block of grey run down apartment blocks which are holdovers of the Communist days. Actually it is not as bad as its reputation. There are broad boulevards, lots of parks and sports fields, etc. The grey apartments are being spiffed up with brightly colored paint. However it is not a big tourist attraction to say the least.
Well this morning we visited the police to get our temporary residency permit.We left pretty early to go by bus because we felt sure we knew the route because of the excellent website based transportation information. That did not work quite as well as it had before and we ended up hoofing quite a ways but finally found it only to see a long line. But we had until 12 so we did not worry too much until time kept going by and the line moved slowly. Finally it ended up in a dead heat between the line and the clock moving to 12:00. We won by a nose and just got in before they closed the door for good. (The police office is only open Monday, Wednesday and Friday until noon.) We ended up speaking with a nice young woman who spoke a little English, which is more than the others. She went through the papers with a fine tooth comb. There was a question about the term of Susan's health insurance, which we were able to answer and we thought we were home free. But I think they are required to find an error and finally she did. You see we are required to have a notarized copy of the lease and a notarized copy of the landlord's ownership papers. We had those but we did not have two copies of them, one for each of us. You would think that simply putting a note in the file to look in the other file would be enough or even a photo copy of the notarized copy. You would underestimate the love of bureacracy and paper of the Bratislava police.
Maybe she had pity on us or maybe because we were the last ones of the day, but she did accept the papers, told us we would get the residency permit but to bring the papers when we came again to pick up the residency card. And yes we have to stand in line again to get the card after we get a letter informing us to come in and get the card.
I should not complain too much. Apparently the line at the American Embassy to get a visa is even worse than this line.
Charles and Susan Routh
Namestie SNP 23
81101 Bratislava 1
Slovakia
Tel: 09/11335672 (Charles)
09/14 220 832 (Susan)
email: crouth@gsblaw.com
charlesrouth@chello.sk
Things had been going far too well. The students have been good, eager and interested in the classes. Bratislava has turned out to be a great place to live, with a vibrant cultural life, great music, excellent restaurants and easy to get around. We have done some traveling (Vienna, Nitra and the local area for a wine festival so far) and plan more. (Vienna again tomorrow and Budapest next week during the National Holiday here). The weather has been fantastic, with sunny warm days almost every day. Slovakia has excellent, unheralded wine, which is quite cheap. The beer is great and cheaper than water in restaurants.
However we knew we had to go to the police to register for a temporary residency permit. We had heard horror stories of the bureaucratic run around, but hey I'm a lawyer and used to bureaucracy. We assembled all the paper work ( birth certificates, wedding certificates, certificates that we do not have tuberculosis, syphilis or AIDS, certificates that we have health insurance, etc., etc. etc. ) The excellent people in the local Fulbright office translated all of this into Slovakian. We were all ready to go when we discovered that we needed two more papers, a copy of our lease and an official certification that our landlord actually owned the flat he was renting to us. Again we were ready to go, when we discovered that the last two papers had to be Notarized, which is not the same as a notary in the States. So back for more ribbons and fancy seals.
Finally today all the material was assembled, double checked and off we go. The Police office for foreigners is in Petrzalka, which has the reputation of block after block of grey run down apartment blocks which are holdovers of the Communist days. Actually it is not as bad as its reputation. There are broad boulevards, lots of parks and sports fields, etc. The grey apartments are being spiffed up with brightly colored paint. However it is not a big tourist attraction to say the least.
Well this morning we visited the police to get our temporary residency permit.We left pretty early to go by bus because we felt sure we knew the route because of the excellent website based transportation information. That did not work quite as well as it had before and we ended up hoofing quite a ways but finally found it only to see a long line. But we had until 12 so we did not worry too much until time kept going by and the line moved slowly. Finally it ended up in a dead heat between the line and the clock moving to 12:00. We won by a nose and just got in before they closed the door for good. (The police office is only open Monday, Wednesday and Friday until noon.) We ended up speaking with a nice young woman who spoke a little English, which is more than the others. She went through the papers with a fine tooth comb. There was a question about the term of Susan's health insurance, which we were able to answer and we thought we were home free. But I think they are required to find an error and finally she did. You see we are required to have a notarized copy of the lease and a notarized copy of the landlord's ownership papers. We had those but we did not have two copies of them, one for each of us. You would think that simply putting a note in the file to look in the other file would be enough or even a photo copy of the notarized copy. You would underestimate the love of bureacracy and paper of the Bratislava police.
Maybe she had pity on us or maybe because we were the last ones of the day, but she did accept the papers, told us we would get the residency permit but to bring the papers when we came again to pick up the residency card. And yes we have to stand in line again to get the card after we get a letter informing us to come in and get the card.
I should not complain too much. Apparently the line at the American Embassy to get a visa is even worse than this line.
Charles and Susan Routh
Namestie SNP 23
81101 Bratislava 1
Slovakia
Tel: 09/11335672 (Charles)
09/14 220 832 (Susan)
email: crouth@gsblaw.com
charlesrouth@chello.sk
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