Saket Vora

Our day trip to Bratislava ended up lasting only around 3 hours. We learned first hand the rule of never trusting any pre-printed timetable for trains in Europe. A large European city will often have two or more train stations, which usually service two different directions away from the city. We saw in our Eurail timetable that came with our Eastern European Rail Passes that there was a morning train that would stop in Bratislava leaving from the Nyugati station. We arrive there via the subway, only to find that a) there is no 8:30 train and b) the trains to Bratislava leave at the Keleti station. We dash over to the Keleti station then wait in the lines at the international information desks to make sure we have everything set. The person at the Nyugati station said we needed reservations, but the guy at the Keleti station said we didn’t need any. So while Sachi and Dad scouted the platforms out, Sapana and I waited in two different lines to get 3rd and 4th opinions on the matter. We both were about 4 people back from the front of the line, and the people at the front of Sapana’s line must have had their own names stolen or something. They literally were there at the teller’s desk for TWENTY minutes. It was ridiculous. We started up a conversation with another lady in line who was getting a ticket to Vienna. Her husband is a physics professor at Vanderbilt and they were in Europe for three weeks for him to attend several conferences, like Quark Matters. It was nice talking with her. Behind her there were two British travelers who were clearly exasperated at the completely bewildered and totally incompetent people holding up the entire line. My line was no better. After the 30 minute mark of not even moving, the guy in front of me turns and curses. I started talking with him and he’s actually from Finland, so we talked about Sweden and stuff. Sapana got to the teller first and I quickly got out of my line to join her. We asked our single question and then left the line. The two British guys stood their shocked that we got done so quickly and nearly applauded as we left. We bid adieu to the American lady and went on our way. The train ride was nice. We had a compartment with six seats and we just took the entire thing. After 2.5 hours we got to Bratislava and it’s deserted southern station. Our German was handy in inquiring about how to get back to Budapest, but then a nice lady who spoke English helped us get a map and bus tickets to the center of town. The old town center of Bratislava was lovely; small windy cobblestoned streets that suddenly open to either cozy or grand square, flowers that adorn the windows of the old styled buildings, and an odd obsession with cows. Yes, all around the city center there were statues of cows with different patterns on them. Bizarre. We walked around the main square enjoying the wonderful weather (mid 70s, blue skies with white cloud puffs and slight breeze) then began to make our way up to the city’s northern train station. Here was probably the first real instance that our knowledge of German became really useful. Fed up with the terrible map we had, we started to ask people which way to the train station. I asked three women in their 40s and one of them shook her head and replied “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” I said “Ja, ich wisse ein bisschen Deutsch. Wissen Sie wo die Hauptbahnhof ist?” She said in German that while she didn’t know exactly, all the buses headed up that road. I understood and said thanks. We did meet a university student who knew English and helped us out, which was a big help. On the way to the station, we happened to pass by a vegetarian restaurant and because we were running short on time we ordered three dishes for take-out. We finally made it to the train station and got our train squared away. The train station, particularly the platform, reminded me a lot of the ones in India for some reason. Instead of a compartment, we were sitting in the open car and next to two Germans from Leipzig in their mid-twenties. Sapana was sitting across from there and struck up a conversation. Sapana has had the most German education out of the three us (4 years in high school plus two semesters in college) but she’s not natural at speaking. We always explained to people something like: “Ich habe für zwei oder drei Jahre Deutsch im Hochschule gelernt, deshalb ich nur ein bisschen Deutsch wisse.” (I learned German for two or three years in high school, therefore I only know a little German). Four of us started to play Bridge and the two Germans were looking on. I asked “Wissen sie die Kartenspielen Bridge?” And he responded that he had only heard of it. As usual, my family becomes quite animated while playing Bridge and after several rounds of being soundly defeated with my parents I told them (who were looking on whenever us kids grimaced at losing) that “Meine Eltern sind mehr besser Bridgespieler” (My parents are much better Bridge players) and he said in German “Yes, and it shows!” They were on a backpacking vacation to Bucharest, the capitol of Romania. They were nice. We got back to Budapest and didn’t do much that night. Even though we only got to spend a few hours in Bratislava, the whole day itself was quite an experience, and was definitely worth it. It was also notably the first day we truly put our German to good use. From the ticket person in the train, to the train station clerk, and helping finding the way to the station, we saw that even though weren’t in the four nations who speak mostly German (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein), knowing conversational German in Hungary and Slovakia was extremely useful. Personally, I was happy to see how much German I actually remembered. While I have lost some vocabulary and mastery of verb conjugation, I could easily follow along what people were saying.