Sicker in Slovakia

So, how many formerly communist countries have YOU been sick in?
Well, put another tally up next to my name. Just my luck.

So like I said in my last entry, Jacob and I decided on a whim to go to Slovakia Friday night/Saturday. What's in Slovakia, you might ask? Well, there's Bratislava, the capital, and that's about all I can tell you. So we boarded our 12:37 am train and were in a compartment with four other people. They were from Spain, I believe and were continuing through Bratislava to Budapest. I popped in my ipod, listening to Wildwood by Chatham County Line (buy it. learn it. love it.) and dozed off probably within 10 minutes, because we'd had a long day. I woke up just a little while later shivering, unable to get warm. UH OH. I bundled up as much as I could but during the 5ish hour train ride, I could not get warm at all. So I basically spent 5 hours getting chills and freeeeeezing. I figured this probably was not good. I would doze off but it would be really fitful sleep. Plus there was a lot of pressure in my head, which was probably not a very good thing.

We arrived in Bratislava at 5:40 a.m. Want to know how much is going on in Bratislava on a Saturday morning at 5:40am? Not a lot. We wanted to check the times for the train rides back to Prague before we left the train station because our tickets were open-ended, so we went up to the ticket counter and of course they didn't speak English. So that was problematic. Fortunately we found one of the screens that showed the train times and there was one around 4 and another around 6. At this point, I was already feeling horrible and would have totally gotten on a train and gone straight back to Prague if there had been an available one.

The train station was only about a 10-15 minute walk to the historic center of Bratislava so we walked there. The area around the train station wasn't super pretty, but the historic area was really pretty. However, at 6:15ish when we arrived, there was pretty much nothing open. So we just walked around and essentially planned everything we were going to see. Most cafes didn't open until 8 and the tourism office didn't open until 9. So while we were making the rounds, we came across a McDonalds, which opened at 7am. Thank you AMERICA. We went in and ordered, escaping the super cold weather. I got a croissant and some orange juice, which I figured was a good idea because I could tell I was getting sick. Unfortunately, it was a bad call because it made me even more cold. Around 7:45, we left and headed over to another, more legit cafe that opened at 8, where I got some hot chocolate and a croissant, basically the two warmest things they had on the menu. The hot chocolate was extremely rich. It was pretty much just melted chocolate, but it was so warm, and I got warm for the first time in ohhhh 8 hours.

At this point, I was fighting to keep my eyes open so Jacob sat and listened to his ipod while I took a 30 minute power nap. Man was that needed. We then walked over to the tourism office, got an official map and set off for Devin Castle, a 13th century castle about 25 minutes outside of Bratislava. There were buses running supposedly every 20 minutes, but it felt longer. While waiting at the stop with a bunch of other tourists, I of course fell asleep. Jacob woke me up when the bus came and we got on, and then I of course fell asleep AGAIN. I actually enjoyed getting some extra sleep in there.


So this castle was SO legit. I wish I had been feeling 100% so I could have appreciated it more, but even when sick, that was super cool.

Obviously since it's so old, there are only parts of it remaining and some parts of it are only morphed stone. It was still really neat. It bordered the Danube river which was gorgeous. Also, major props to Jacob for taking these pictures with my camera because I legitimately was so cold that I couldn't pull my hands out of my pockets for long enough to hold my camera. Pathetic, je sais.

Here's me mustering up all the energy I had for this picture even though at this point, I kind of wanted to just crawl into a hole, not because what we were doing was boring, I just felt THAT bad. I mean, this is legit stuff. 13th century castles? You don't exactly get cool stuff like that stateside.

We then went into the actual fortifications which was really neat. It was cool to see the Danube river from so high up where we had been walking just before. On a side note, before we walked in, I saw two black cats. I hadn't seen a black cat since the Rat died in July (FYI: Rat is a term of endearment for our family cat, Fluffer.)

 Danube river below, from the castle

 Cannot even begin to describe how I was feeling at this point.

All in all, despite how sick I was, Devin Castle was really neat. So Jacob and I caught the bus back to Bratislava, and no surprise,  I fell asleep in all of about 20 seconds and woke up when we got back. Loved it. It was around 1pm so we figured it was a good idea to go someplace warm for lunch. It took us a long time to find a place because there were so many places that looked really good. We finally decided on a cute little restaurant. I figured it probably wasn't a good idea to get any rich Slovakian food, so I got some WONDERFUL chicken noodle soup with coffee (to keep warm) and a coca (because that's what my mom always made me drink when I was sick!) It was so nice to escape the cold. Our food came and it was delicious. I didn't have much of an appetite, but I ate anyways, just because I figured I needed something on my stomach, plus it was WARM.

A little piece of heaven in soup form.

At lunch, Jacob figured it was best to take the earlier train ride back, especially since I was feeling so bad, which I was SO grateful for. I might add that while we were waiting for our check, I dozed off. Seriously?

We finished up lunch and then walked around and took some pictures of some of the more touristy stuff in the historic area.

We then made our way back to the train station and took the train back to Prague. I probably slept all but 5 minutes of that five hour train ride. When we got back to Jacob's apartment, I emailed my parents about the situation and they got a tad worried, so I called them on Jacob's phone, because apparently French phones don't work in Prague. Go figure. Then I took some Alleve and went to sleep at 10pm.

We got up the next morning and I had emails/texts from my brother David saying NUGGET, our code word for when his wife Lindsey was going into labor. It was crazy that she would happen to be in labor around 12-12:30 at home when I was waking up in Prague at 6:30, for my 9:40 flight. For once the time difference works out. I texted him and my parents and they kept saying that she was close - which for the record, I don't even want to know what that means - but that the baby wasn't there yet. I drank some tea and we were about to head out the door and I decided to check my computer one last time and I when I logged into my email, I didn't have any news and probably 10 seconds later, my mom texted me saying "She's here."

I responded, logged out of my email and went to catch my flight. Funny how things like that work out. I headed out of Prague and back to Paris. This whole weekend was definitely an adventure to remember. It was a ton of fun and so good to see someone from back home, but it was filled with a lot of sickness. I'd have to say that I liked Prague more than Bratislava, but I think it's just a personal preference. Prague seemed bigger and a bit prettier, but my outlook on life might have been slightly tainted in Bratislava. Anytime you get the chance though, visit either of these places, because they're really neat. 

No worries though, I'm alive and well now. I had a fever still on Sunday, but it broke and I'm completely fine now.