Sun's Out, Guns Out in Bratislava

Today, Papa and I visited the capital of Slovakia: Bratislava.
After pulling out of Budapest last night around 9pm, the captain was hard at work while the rest of the ship slept. We were still on the move when breakfast rolled around, and at about 9am, we and three other river cruises had a bit of a hold up as we were pushed through a huge lock. Filling the lock with enough water to lift us high enough so we could sail over the gate we quite an ordeal. It certainly woke up all the husbands whose wives usually commandeer the camera. After that slight delay, we were on our way, and finally reached Bratislava around 1pm.
We had another bus tour, which was helpful, because Bratislava is very spread out. Not only is it divided by the Danube, but the Carpathian Mountains begin in the outskirts of town, making for a lot of steep, narrow roads. We boarded at the dock, but quickly found ourselves twisting through the Old Town and up to Bratislava Castle. The higher we climbed, the nicer the buildings (mostly homes) became. According to George, our guide, these homes were built mostly for Ambassadors of foreign countries and old Communist political figures. We even passed a miniature version of the White House.
When we finally climed all the way up to the castle, we were able to get out and stretch our legs a bit. The view was really great. Set on a cliff, the Bratislava Castle overlooks the Danube, so, we got a good arial view of the Old Town, the metropolitan side across the river, as well as the Austrian border. The castle is currently undergoing major renovations, and if you looked at the link, you'll see the four tall towers. Construction workers were actually standing up on the roof tiles with very little to catch them if they fell. Since it was about 90 degrees and sunny, there was also very little to block the sun from burning their bellies, if you know what I mean (hence today's title).
Next, we stopped at some sort of War monument. There was a little confusion over what it was acutally monumenting, becuase everything was in Russian. Turns out, the Russians liberated Slovakia during WWII, so the Slovakians built this monument. However, the Russians then turned around and "liberated them from their liberty" not long after. This is just one example of Slovakia's rocky past; a past that certainly explains why parts of Bratislava seem as if they've been "stuck in time", as Papa pointed out.
Slovakia's history does add character to the town, especially the Old Town, which is a (mostly) pedestrian area beginning with Michael's Gate. At one point, George showed us a cannon (compliments of Napoleon) stuck in the wall of what is now a tunnel. Another building was built to serve as the Hungarian Parliament building when war caused the capital to move from Budapest to Bratislava. Bringing Franz Liszt into the mix again, he gave one of his first concerts in this building, and did so well that he was awarded a scholarship to study in Vienna. I guess he was pretty good...Anyway, the (huge) building now serves as the largest University Library in Slovakia.
We meandered down more shop-laden pedestrian streets with some very impressive buildings and statues. It wasn't getting any cooler, and after a few hours we were pretty thirsty. Papa stopped at the local McDonalds for a sweet tea, and I opted for a Slovakian draught beer (as recommended by our waiter at breakfast). As you know, I'm not much of a drinker, so I can't make some profound statement regarding how "smooth" or "nutty" it tasted (sorry Tom and Dad). But, it did do the job, and soon we were back on the town, thinking of heading back to the ship.
We posed for some pictures in front of the Slovak National Theatre (apparently the old one, thank you, Wikipedia) and the Slovak Philharmonic before making our way back to the River Beatrice (AKA home sweet home). Papa and I were both pretty dopey at this point, so I decided to get a massage (yes please) while Papa relaxed on the sun deck. After dinner, we made our way up to the lounge for a concert put on by local musicians. I'll admit, I'm a little skeptical of duos whose vest and bow tie garb might also be seen at Chip and Dale's (sans white button-up), however, once they started playing Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik" I changed my tune (sorry, bad pun intended...it's getting late). Turns out, the violinist, Robert, is the Concert Master of the Slovak Philharmonic, and the pianist, Peter, is the conductor of the same orchestra. Impressive. Apart from the classical pieces, Robert also played some traditional Slovak folk songs on, conviently enough, some traditional Slovak pipes. They put on a good show, and Papa bought their CD.
In about 15 minutes we are pulling out of Bratislava and heading west to Vienna. We have a busy day tomorrow, so if there is no blog post, forgive me.