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The final 'complete' day in Bratislava went out with a bit of high class culture... I'll explain ..

Per my request the night before, Eva called and made reservations for us at the 'U.F.O.' resturant over top of Novy Most.

Early the next morning, I met up with Eva and Maria. Since we really didn't know what to do, nor where to go at this point, we thought today would be a bit more about some relaxation and just hanging out. We headed off to a small cafe to enjoy a bit of morning coffee. As we sat there in the crisp morning air, we started talking about how we all came to be friends. Granted, there's not 'too' much history there, as my first weekend with them in Albany, New York was short.. and so was this weekend in Bratislava.. but it feels like I've known them all my life...... Regardless, I was intrigued by their story of thier first visit to the states, how they got there, and how they met the people they now know as good friends in Albany. After sitting for a few hours, we took off to walk around Old Town Bratislava some more. We ended up arriving at the centrum where there was a section of 'souvineer' shops. As we peered into these small vendor shops, I found some very neat items. Unfortunately, not knowing where we'd end up going, I didn't want to get anything more than my pockets would hold. I ended up opting for a shirt that reads: 'Essence of Slovakia: Peaceful Life & Pure Nature'. I felt it decribed my ideas and actions of coming here.

We continued down the way, and they treated me to a Slovak/American hot dog. I'm amazed at the prices of food items here, as (even though Eva had some coupons) the three of us each got a hot dog (about the size of a footlong), and I picked up a Coke, the bill was less than 100sk. I wasn't sure what to expect from this 'treat'. The hot dog was on what appeared to be fresh bread. It was covered with ketchup, mayo, and shredded cabbage. And of course, as with every other food item I've tried in Slovakia, it was wonderful! I'm so amazed with the amount of textures, tastes, spices, and everything the Slovak people use in their foods. Of course, Maria explained that I still haven't had 'authentic' Slovak food, as I haven't been to her house in Trencin yet (we've already made plans, and I'll be spending at least a weekend in Trencin coming up soon!).

Afterwards, we discussed the whole idea of the grocery stores in Slovakia. We decided to head to a nearby grocer, but unfortunately, being a late Sunday afternoon, it had already closed (as most businesses in Slovakia aren't open on Sundays). We decided instead to head over to Tesco (as they're always open everyday!). We went down the escalator to the grocery section, and they walked me up and down the aisles showing me what their favorites were, and what I had to try. They also showed me how to easily tell if I was purchasing something made in Slovakia versus the Czech Republic just by looking at the first three digits of the SKU.

Once complete, we still had a few hours to kill before going to 'U.F.O.' .. They asked me what I wanted to do. Truthfully speaking, everything they've shown me up to this point was fantastic, and I didn't want to make some 'lame' recommendation as to where to go, or what to do. But I figured since we didn't finish our stories from earlier, I recommended we go out and get a beer and relax. Maria was shocked. She was so happy that I 'officially' made a decision about something for us to do in Bratislava! We headed around town to a little pub hidden down a small alley-way. As we made our way to it, all I could do is relive the movie we saw the day before and exclaim, 'Whoa.. Wait.. Is this where you're taking me to kill me?' (Side note: We had all discussed the movie 'Hostel' before seeing the movie the previous day. Unfortunately, it's very true that 'Hostel' gave Slovakia very very very very bad P.R., as this place is one of the most unique and beautiful places I have ever seen! - Due to 'Hostel' being very graphic about executing random people in Slovakia in the most hideous areas, and the mixture of of the above line from the movie 'Step Up', it made it a quirky little inside joke).

We went in and had a seat at one of the tables. They ordered up three Topvat (Slovak beer...gooood Slovak beer). We sat there and continued our conversation from before. I'm still amazed how these puzzle pieces of each of our lives somehow intertwined together. Even a year ago, I never expected to be in the comfort of such great people in a small unknown country. I just feel so welcome here. So comforted here. What blows my mind is that something told me that I needed to move here long before even meeting either of these girls. Granted, it's a new culture.. It's new customs.. and I have to pretty much re-learn everything to be here... But it's so worth it!

We headed back towards the Hotel Tatra to pick up my mother, so we could all go to U.F.O. - We hopped a bus from the Presidential Palace to the other side of Novy Most. Neither of the girls had ever been to U.F.O., nor have heard too much about it, except for friends and family that have traveled to the top to see Bratislava from high above. I had brought them here to exclaim how thankful I was for thier hospitality while in Slovakia. We headed down to the beautiful spot where U.F.O. was sitting. We travelled up a 'diagonal' elevator, and up quickly were whisked up to the top. A simple set of stairs led us all the way to the top of the structure. From there, it was a very pretty panoramic view of Bratislava. You could see the buildings surrounding the area and looking at a map placed on the walls of the structure, could tell where each of the 'main' places were. Eva showed me which building was her school, and also pointed out so very far as to where her dorms were. It's funny, because while Bratislava seems so very big, it also seems so very small.

Back downstairs, we took over our reservations, and were seated in a large dining area surrounded with windows so you could see all of Bratislava while eating. The kitchen and bar were centered in the middle of the structure, and just like watching an episode of Gordon Ramsey's 'Hell's Kitchen,' you could see and hear everything the head chef said to his cooks. The view was astonishing, and gave us a gorgous view of Bratislavsky Hrad (especially when they lit it for the night). The resturant itself was very exclusive, and offered us a quiet candle-lit table...

As the girls looked at the menu, their eyes grew wide. I knew what the price of U.F.O. was long before I came to Slovakia. This was one of the most premiere resturants in Slovakia. A definate 'tourist' resturant, as it's very very doubtful that many Slovak's have the money to eat here. I told them not to worry about the price, and that this was my way of saying 'Thank you, so very much!' I was so extremely happy to share the first U.F.O. experiance with these two girls, and to share the sampling of items to come.

I suggested we all take the 'Fall Taste Menu' which was essentially a 7-Course meal with different flavors, textures, and aromas of items that ranged from caviar to duck to braised veal. I also suggested we take advantage of the preposed wine option. Eva refused exclaiming she didn't care much for wine, however, Maria and I went ahead with it on our order.

We sat back and ordered a few glasses of Abstinthe. I see no real reason why it's 'banned' from the states, except on how you really need to prepare it. They brought out the glasses with Abstinthe in them and a small piece of sugar at the bottom of the glass with a spoon. What? .. What were we supposed to do? .. The explained to Maria that you take the small piece of sugar out from the bottom of the glass, light it, let it melt, and stir it back in with the rest of the Abstinthe. This 'calms' the flavor going down.

I took out my camera and recorded a bit of a video as Eva lit the sugar for Maria. I think the waiter left off a few key notes, as after Maria let her sugar melt, and dropped the spoon into the glass of Abstinthe, the whole glass caught fire in a blue flame. She kept alternating between the glass of Abstinthe and a glass of water. Finally, the waiter realized it wasn't quite right, and came over to pour the water in the glass. This made even more of a fire, only with your standard red/orange flames. As the flames die down, you hear the glass cracking into pieces. A wonderful experiance! Maria was a bit embarassed, but her and I laughed it off and made the best of the night. The resturant offered to make her another one and get it already complete for her.

Poor Eva felt out of place, as she was wearing an 'Arizona' t-shirt and jeans. We tried to comfort her, as really, even though the place was very 'trendy', there were English blokes and such wearing the same. There was no dress code there. We were all there to have fun and enjoy what was to come out in front of us. At first, Eva seemed to be a bit disturbed over her wardrobe (in all fairness, she had no idea that U.F.O. was so high-end), but finally opened up and seemed to have a blast!

The girls went on to explain how they couldn't wait to read my blog entry over this whole event. They told me that I just have this knack for describing things so well, that they can sit back and remember it so clearly. It made me feel so special. I was so very happy to treat them to such an event.

The meal started with a small amount of caviar (my first time EVER having caviar) on a small potato biscuit mixed with a soured cream and garnished with a bit of parsley. This was designed to get our taste buds going.

From there, we experianced a bit of roast duck with a fall salad (w/ sweet potato pieces), and recieved our first glass of wine. We all toasted our glasses to one another, and had our first taste. The uniqueness of the wine was that each glass was specific to each dish. The first was a bit crisp, but refreshing. The duck, which is normally very dry, was extremely moist. The flavors were so bold and grand. By far, throughout the entire meal, this was my favorite course (minus..of course, the desert which you'll read about later).

Our next course was a soup dish. The soup itself was made of a wine base, and centered was a small bit of bread with a poached egg on top and covered by caviar. With this, we were served our second glass of wine. A personal favorite for myself and Maria. The wine had a very sweet taste and a apple/grape flavor. Eva tasted a bit of it, and even she agreed it was good. She had mentioned that her father sells wine up in Trencin, and this one was that even she enjoyed not being a wine liker. Maria and I decided to not drink all of this wine and savor it for new flavors to come.

The next dish was lightly sauteed 'fresh' scallops with baby carrots and mashed potatoes in a cream sauce. Normally scallops have a very fishy taste, but these were fantastic. They flavor was locked in and mild. A very delicious course. With this meal, we received a glass of a much bolder white wine. It was a bit bitter and dry. A normal for seafood based dishes.

We then each recieved a small scoop of fresh sorbet to 'desensitize' the pallet. It was a bold mixture of cucumber and honeydew melon. The taste reminded you of a refreshing smell of 'Cucumber/Melon' lotion. The flavor was so intense, but so mild.

The girls excused themselves to go check out the restroom. Quite obviously the owner of the place took great effort in creating such an amazing atmosphere, that surely the restrooms had to have a interesting appeal. When the returned, they explained that there was an open view to Bratislava below, and that there was a bit of frosting on the glass to provide you privacy but with such a beautiful view.

Our main course was braised veal tenderloin over fresh spinach (*grin* we can HAVE spinach over here in Europe, as they don't have that weird epidemic that's based back in the states) served with baby carrots once again. This meal served us a bordeaux red wine (my least favorite of any wine). The flavor of the wine was extremely bold and dark. The wine was absoluetely my least favorite of the wines. It seemed Maria agreed with me. We each still had our 'sweet' wine awaiting desert! The veal was so moist and tender. The flavor combinations of everything were so intense. It's so very hard to describe.

After a short wait, we were finally given our seventh and final course... desert. This consisted of an absolutely delicious 'dark chocolate' torte covered with fresh rasberries, and even came with a small bottle of rasberry sauce. By this time, I was getting a bit buzzed by my absorbant amount of alcohol (and Abstinthe), but it made the taste of the torte that much more intense. While we all enjoyed the meal at the table, Maria and I seemed to go crazy over the flavor of the torte allowing each bite to sit in our mouths to savor it. Of course, this was also when we prompted to finish our sweet wine!

At this point, I excused myself to the restroom. If they thought the ladies restroom was unique, surely I was to find the same for the men's.. As I walked through the doors of the restroom, I saw all of Bratislava in front of me. Though I was a bit confused at the urinal. While U.F.O. was trendy in class, the option they used for the urinal was a bit odd. In front of me was two galvenized buckets sitting atop two ceramic pedistals all looking out over Bratislava. The weirdest part? The frosting of the glass did not go much higher than about two feet from the floor, leaving you exposed to the world below as you did your business.

The whole place was absolutely astonishing. Staring at the city lights of Bratislava below us was breathtaking. The ambiance of the candle light glistening off of everyone's faces was brilliant. It's so hard to descibe in words what we experianced here.

The waiter brought me the bill, to which Maria requested to see it. Her eyes opened up wide once again. I had expected the bill to be as high as it was, long before coming into town. After tip, the bill came out to be 17.000,00sk (roughly $570 USD). It was so worth it to see the happy look on thier faces, and to imagine the stories that were to come in the years following.

We headed back up to the top of U.F.O. once more to grab some night shots. The night air was so crisp and cold, and the wind was blowing so hard. Maria came over to me and thanked me for bringing her here. I explained that this was my way of saying thanks for everything she had done for me. Either Eva and Maria are very modest, or it truly is their way of culture. Maria and I gave each other a big hug and had a tearful moment. And even after all the walking from earlier in the day, she told me I 'smelled good'. For some reason, that brought me much joy. I'm crazy that way, I guess! *grin*

We explored the top of U.F.O. again and grabbed a few more shots. Eva, Maria, and myself all had one big group hug before heading back down to 'real life'. I'm so very happy to know these two girls, and to enjoy so many brand new experiences with them both. I never imagined that I would have ever found such true friends in a vast new world.

As we headed back, it was too late to grab a bus home. We walked to AuPark (the mall described before) where we jumped into a cab, and headed back to the hotel. Once there, they both hoped out of the taxi and we gave each other a big hug again. It was amazing to know what we had experianced. And I feel so special to know that I can be apart of their life and new experiances in life. Maria made me promise I would come to Trencin to see her, her family, Eva, and Jana in a few weeks, I promised I would, and I refuse to step down from that.

I know I say it over and over, but there really are so few words to decribe how I feel here. I feel more welcome and appreciated here. I feel more freedom to say and do what I want here. I feel loved. I feel happy. I know this is the place I want to be.....

The next morning, Eva and Maria met me again (I'm so completely shocked they'd give up so much of thier schedule to do so much with me!!) to take me to VUB Banka. I needed to open my international account, so I can start a financial basis here for living. I don't know what I would have done without them. They helped me through every step of the way of opening the account. I walked out with a feeling of accomplishment, knowning full well that this was the first of many steps of officially making Slovakia my new home.

Sorry guys, I guess your 'idea' of me coming to Slovakia and hating it didn't go as planned.... I'm so very happy here. And my only qualm so far is they don't have 'Orangina' soda... Of course, I've found a good replacement .. a Czech cola called 'Kofola' (which amazed Maria, as most forigners don't seem to like it).

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel where the auto we rented was waiting for us. I loaded up the rest of my belongings from the hotel room, gave them one last hug, and we were on our way to Liptovsky Peter. Eva and Maria gave us some initial direction on how to get there.....