Life in Slovakia

Champions league

2006-08-04T22:07:00.000+02:00

Forgot to mention that the Slovak team Ruzomberok is still in the C league. Its good to live in a country where you can watch good football.

Company

2006-08-04T22:01:00.000+02:00

Have been busy starting my company over the summer. Have a look att www.freewalker.se. Its not completely finished yet but it should be in a couple of weeks. The English site might be ready after another couple...

Have of course been on a few hikes as well. High Tatra, Velky Choc and Schneeberg in Austria. Tried a climbing route up Schneeberg and liked it very much. Will try to squeeze in a mountaineering course late spring to have access to the Slovak climbing routes.

Midsommar

2006-06-16T20:32:00.000+02:00

Nu är det snart midsommar. Här har vi dock tjuvstartat lite och igår höll handelskammaren midsommarfest. Rätt mycket slovaker som kastade sig över gratismaten. Med på festen fanns också Tomas Tranströmer så det blev lite kulturprat, något man inte är särskilt van vid här nere.

Skype

2006-06-01T09:53:00.000+02:00

Have finaly set up Skype on my pc. Call me!
MP-Moller

Champions league in Slovakia

2006-05-13T19:41:00.000+02:00

Blev ebjuden ett 4-siffrigt belopp i mat och dricka för att ställa upp i diplomatlagets lag i en regional turnering. Min agent rådde mig att acceptera så helt plötsligt stod man på plan med Serbia på magen och Bulatovic på ryggen. Var det därför som jag fick så få passningar från Kroaterna i laget?
Var kanske inte lika handlingskraftig som Bulatovic på plan men kolla in bakgrunden på bilden. Det är otroligt vad folk gör för att komma med på samma bild som ett proffs. Efter en match flockades barnen och kulspetspennan tog slut. En hjulande streaker och en paparazzi blev nästan för mycket. Hur ska man kunna koncentrera sig på sina uppgifter?
Nåja, efter turneringen var alla lyckliga och glada, "Kamrady" rysk vodka storlek gorskij park hjälper förstås...

Vinnande laget fick också den tvivelaktiga äran att dricka Stolichnaja ur segerpokalen tillsammans med ryske ambassadören.

Training

2006-05-09T14:51:00.000+02:00

Spend a lot of time on my inlines these days. Mostly to loose weight but also to build hiking muscles. I have found out that skating is perfect for building hiking muscles. You balance a short moment with bent knee and then kick off. It is the same movement as when you climb a mountain.

I have a couple of long hikes comming up in the near future so I need to be fit.

Have started to work on a webpage for our travel agencie. you can see a few pages on www.freewebs.com/slktrips. That is just a temporary address. My web building skills are not so advvanced so I keep it simple and functional.

Två pubar

2006-04-24T15:23:00.000+02:00

Har druckit öl på de här två olika pubarna i helgen. Dom skiljer sig ganska mycket från varandra.Den första ligger på 2000m precis under Chopok och är en av de högsta platserna i slovakien där det serveras fatöl. Hit upp bärs ölfaten på ryggen av speciella Tatra-sherpa med lår som skulle fått Miguel Indurain att se ut som Pinocchio. Klientelet här är mest skidalpinister och lokala skibums som först dricker 4 öl, stajlar med en backscratch och dricker 4 öl till. Ölen serveras i fina halvliterssejdlar och kostar 45 slovakiska kronor, 11 svenska.

Den andra puben ligger på en av de lägsta platserna i Slovakien, i Donaudeltat ca 120m över havet, 40min cykeltur från Bratislava. Det här är så nära ett beach party man kan komma i Slovakien. På kvällar och helger samlas cyklister och inlinesåkare för att släcka törsten och spana på folk. Här kostar ölen 30 Slovakiska kronor.Det finns en del som de två pubarna har gemensamt: Hög stämmning, hårda träbänkar och många svettiga soldyrkande kroppar.

Bilderna är tagna i helgen med mindre än 24h mellanrum.

Mer skidor

2006-04-24T09:37:00.000+02:00

Har sportat mycket i helgen. I Lördags var jag och David (danska kocken) och åkte skidor i Jasna i Låga Tatra och i går Söndag blev det en lång cykeltur längs Donau.

Det är rätt skönt att leva i ett klimat och landskap där man själv kan välja om man vill vintersporta eller sommarsporta. Jag föredrar helt klart skidåkning, speciellt på våren när man kan åka i t-shirt och det är så varmt att man måste ta sig en kall dusch efteråt. På bilden syns de två högsta topparna i Låga Tatra, Chopok 2024m (närmst) och Dumbier 2045m. Det tar ca 1,5h att åka skidor mellan dem.

Skidor igen

2006-04-17T10:10:00.000+02:00

Så har man varit och åkt skidor igen... Jag kan inte hålla mig borta från bergen när solen tittar fram och jag vet att det ligger 1,5m fin vit snö på topparna. I helgen åkte jag till de lilla Fatrabergen ca 200km norr om Bratislava. De är inte så små, högsta punkten Velky Fatranska Krivan är 1709m.
Jag startade turen vid stuga Vratna, där finns en nybyggd lift som tar skidåkare från 700m upp till 1500m. Jag slösar förstås inte pengar på liftar... Istället började jag följa en dalgång upp. De första 20min var jag tvungen att bära skidorna över barmark och vårbäckar, men på ca 900m kunde jag sätta på skidorna.
Det hade kommit en del nysnö över natten och jag var lite osäker på vägen, dock kunde jag efter en timme följa andra skidalpinister upp till huvud kammen.
Mala Fatra är en av mina favoritplatser i Slovakien. Avstånden är inte så långa men bergen är relativt höga och man har fin utsikt om vädret är bra. På andra bilden kan ni se den näst högsta toppen i området, Maly Krivan 1671m.
Mitt mål för dagen var den högsta punkten, Velky Krivan 1710m och sedan fin utförsåkning ner.
På sista bilden har ni utsikten från toppen ner mot toppstationen, I bakgrunden ser ni också topparna Velky Rozsutec 1610m (klippig, längst bak) och Stoh 1609m.

Conquered!

2006-04-12T12:45:00.000+02:00

The skiing came to an abrupt end when we entered an area of fallen trees and there was not much to do than taking off the skies and walk the rest of the way down to Korytnica.

We were both totally exhausted after 2 days and 16h of sking up and down. Our total climb was more than 3500m and the length more than 40km.

Join me next year!

Trip in graphical view. We started to the right under no 9 and finished under Donovaly.

Conquering the Low Tatras III (the struggle)

2006-04-11T20:43:00.000+02:00

We stayed the night in Chata pod Chabenecom, a very spartan place with only three things on the menu: Kapustnica (cabbage soup), Tea and coffe. You had to get your own water in a well 200m away from the cottage. Not the easiest thing since it was 2m under the snow and my arms only reached halfway.

The good weather continued in the morning. We left the cottage at 7 and headed for the next peak Durkova 1750m. From Durkova we had a nice view of the days trip, ending some 20km behind the last snow capped massif.

The second day had a lot more diverse skiing with lots of small peaks and deep saddles.

The deepest of them all was Sedlo pod Skalkou 1470m. Infront of us we had the impressive Velka Chochula 1753m. Maybe 300m doesn't sound like a difficult task, but it is after 13h of skiing in two days with about 15kg extra equipment on your back and feet. There are no service stations here, if you want to drink you carry your water with you. At the last part we had to carry the skies again. Well finally at the top it was time to enjoy the downhill skiing. 700 height metres straight down between the pinetrees. The downhill run was on the south side so the snow had a thin crust with water rinning on top of it. Every turn broke the crust and sent the parts sliding down the mountain with a nice swishing sound. I was a bit scared at the beginning but later I grew confident and the trees became natural gates.

Conquering the Low Tatras II (the ridge)

2006-04-10T14:37:00.000+02:00

Here you can see our nice zick-zack pattern. At the steepest part it was more than 40 degrees.

Picture is of our first summit, Polana 1890m, plenty of snow.

Another view from sedlo Polany. The mountain hut where we slept lies just below the last peak (Chabenec 1955m) under the clouds.

Our tracks 4h later from the top of Chabenec. We passed several saddles during this time. The lowest one 1774m. At the back center you can see the two highest peaks Dumbier 2045m and Chopok 2025m in the Low Tatras.

Conquering the Low Tatras I (stepping up)

2006-04-10T11:25:00.000+02:00

On Friday we continued our quest to cross the Low Tatra ridge. This time the weather forecast was excellent and the avalanch report was talking about 20cm of new snow and stable conditions.
We started our trip in Jasna almost on exactly the same place where we ended two weeks ago. We were discussing two options, to take the lift up to 16oom and ski a bit longer on the ridge or to step up a shorter way to sedlo Polany, meaning only using our own muscles. We chose the latter starting at 1050m.
The path started through a fairytale forest landscape and since we were the first skiers after the new snow, it looked completly untouched. Reaching the tree limit it just got better and better. No wind, no people, blue sky and soft fresh snow, perfect but tough.
The saddle was always visible infront of us and it didn't look so steep from down below. We soon became aware that it was very steep, forcing us to zick-zack our way up and even take off the skies for the last 100m. We reached the saddle 1837m and the main ridge after 3h and almost 800 height metres.

Waking up Bears

2006-04-06T21:16:00.000+02:00

The weather is fantastic and I'm leaving Bratislava for a long ski tour in the morning. We are starting in Jasna and will be skiing all the way to Donovaly. The tour is 33km and starts at 1000m, highest summit is 2025m and it finishes at 945m. It passes through real bear territory, they are hopefully still sleeping but you never know since the weather has been really warm the last weeks. I'll tell you more when I return.

Winter/Summer

2006-04-02T19:52:00.000+02:00

Had plans to go to ski in the Mala Fatras during the weekend, however waking up at 4am isn't always easy... Instead I went on this years first bike trip. 50km in the Small Carpatians is a tough start for some parts of the body. I biked also a few kilometres along the flooded Danube and was rewarded with my first bikini inline girl. There is a thin line between winter and summer in this country.
I can also tell my frozen Scandinavian readers that the beer is flowing in the street terraces. Aaaah Nothing better than a beer in the sun after a long bike ride

At the Top

2006-03-28T19:56:00.000+02:00

Arriving to the top was a nice feeling, but we nearly missed it. The fog was so thick that it was difficult to see the next stick. At times one of us had to ski infront and search while the other was waiting by the previous stick. Luckily it cleared just as we passed the famous slavic double cross. We actually had about 15 sec in the sun before the fog covered us again. A small reward for the 1,5h ski climb.

Stepping close to the edge can be dangerous, last year a friend of my ski partner stepped to far out on one of the snow tounges. The tounge broke and he fell about 200m down the north face of the Mountain. He was stripped of his backpack, anorak, skies, and sticks, but amazingly escaped unharmed.

Up to Dumbier

2006-03-28T14:46:00.000+02:00

We woke up early on Sunday morning to get from the cottage to Jasna. Our first goal was Dumbier 2045m. The visability was very bad, at times seeing only 20m in front of us.

Milan Rastislav Stefanik Cottage

2006-03-28T14:10:00.000+02:00

Spent the weekend skiing from Certovica in the eastern part of the Low Tatras to the ski resort Jasna in the central part. These photoes are from the M R Stefanik cottage 1725m, early morning, looking east. The forecast was bad but when we saw this we had some hope of at least a few sunny spells. The cottage is located below the highest peak (Dumbier 2045m) in the area. Note the three skialpinist at the top of the mountain to the right.

The entrance to the cottage. There is around in 2,5m of snow in the area. As you can see It is inaccessible for fat people during the winter, so you are without reach from fat and lazy Americans...

The interior is very cozy with a nice atmosphere. It is the highest point in the Low Tatras where they serve draught beer.

Conspiracy Theories

2006-03-21T09:33:00.000+01:00

I saw the movie "Baltic Storm" about the Estonia disaster last weekend. Maybe not the best movie but it's interesting, at least if you are from Scandinavia. I discussed it with a friend and he showed me two movies about 9/11. If you have a couple of hours to spend - watch them! If you want to know more about these theories I can recommend http://www.loosechange911.com/

Turecka

2006-03-20T15:11:00.000+01:00

I Went to Turecka, a rather unknown ski resort in the Velka Fatra mountains on Saturday. The main goal was to ski up 900m to the top of Krizna 1570m. It took me 2,5 h to reach the top. I had to take a 30 min break there to stop my legs from shaking before I went down.

Loveblade

2006-03-12T14:24:00.000+01:00

Before the party yesterday, I had a glass of wine with the crazy Canadian Tim. He is an interesting caracter who changes hairstyles more often than his favourite NHL team Toronto wins. Apart from singing in a grunge/punk band, writing books and flipping burgers he is also becoming a father in April.

Listen to his band Loveblade and leave a comment.

Opity ako Slovak

2006-03-12T14:01:00.000+01:00

The Danish weekend continued on Saturday. After a slow start people regained their party mood just in time to end the night at Mejdan in true old style.

slovaks...

And no, it isn't after another lost hockey match

Opity ako Dan

2006-03-11T14:02:00.000+01:00

Some Danish friends are visiting Bratislava during the weekend. We had a grand dinner at the TV-tower yesterday and for some people it was difficult to handle the cheap beer.

Drunk as a Dane is the Slovak expression for a person who is totally wasted. Here we can see Alexander cementing the expression. A guess is that his older and much more responsible cousin Christian supplied the coke.
There are probably alot of tired Danes in Bratislava today...

Crown Record

2006-03-07T09:56:00.000+01:00

For the first time in history the local currency broke the 37.000 SKK/EUR level and traded at 36.940 SKK/EUR in the afternoon of March 1.
When I came to Slovakia 3,5 years ago it traded at 42.500 SKK/EUR. That's a 13% increase.
At that time the Swedish crown traded at 4.97 SKK/SEK. Now it's trading at 4.oo SKK/SEK, an increase of 19,5%.

France-Slovakia

2006-03-02T13:59:00.000+01:00

Sweden was not the only world cup nation who made a bad result yesterday. France lost at home to Slovakia 2-1. The Slovaks played really well and deserved the win.

Soon the spring leg of the Corgon liga starts...

Ski Alpinist

2006-03-02T13:46:00.000+01:00

I have spent a great deal of Februarys salary on a ski alpinist equipment. This means that I know have access to all the peaks the whole year. I tried it last Sunday in the childrens hill above Bratislava, I will hopefully be able to try it more thoroughly this weekend when I'm going to the West Tatras. For those who want to know more about ski alpinist equipment I can recommend Dynafits webpage. Basically you walk up the mountain cross country style with a loose heel and a skin under your skies, up, you take off the skin, attach the heel and ski downhill style down.
Great fun and no need for queues or machinery, just man against mountain.

Avoiders

2006-03-02T13:29:00.000+01:00

I have found out why it looks so shitty in many places here in Slovakia, at least compared to in Sweden.
Whenever there is a problem here people spend their energy on how to avoid the problem. In Sweden people fix the problem. Our lift door is a good example. It didn't close properly and you had to give it a push for it to do so. It's not a big problem but sometimes you forgot it and people had to walk to the fifth floor to get the lift. This of course made them angry... But, instead of fixing the problem (2min for a janitor) they started to write grafitti messages on the walls "DON'T FORGET TO CLOSE THE DOOR" making the whole staircase ugly. This is a typical and not so favourable slovak mentality, and you can see it everywhere.
In Sweden this door would have been fixed after 2h, here it took 4 weeks and it was a Swede who finally made the call...

Picture of a Looser

2006-02-27T08:01:00.000+01:00

My Finnish friend Seppo 5 sec after Sweden won the olympic gold medal in hockey.

Concert of the Year

2006-02-23T15:09:00.000+01:00

Book your flights, Call sick from work! You can finaly have your teeth fixed and squeeze the tits of your favourite childhood pinup at the same time and place.

There will never be an opurtunity like this to regain your youth.

Spring

2006-02-21T11:46:00.000+01:00

Spring is here, 10C in the shadow and the winterclothes are being stuffed away. Bratislava is like gigantic puddle. There is still snow in the hills so it's nice to be here now.

Bird flu

2006-02-21T08:38:00.000+01:00

The bird flu has finaly arrived to Slovakia. It was bound to happen sooner or later so I don't see any reason to worry more here than anywhere else. There might be an infected eagle among the dead birds, if so it is the first predator with the virus.

Mexicanos

2006-02-19T06:03:00.000+01:00

There is a romour that the blogger is trying to change his nationality...

Karol Beck II

2006-02-15T11:26:00.000+01:00

The Karol Beck saga continues, now he gives three possible explanations to the positive clenbuterol doping test.
1. His father and trainer put it in his food.
2. He mistakenly used his mothers astma medicin.
3. Someone put it in his drink at a night club.
We have heard them all before...

Clenbuterol is the same anabolic substance that made sprinter Katrin Krabbe the fastest woman on earth 1989.

UEFA CUP

2006-02-15T10:28:00.000+01:00

The football season has started again, tonight Artmedia Petrzalka takes on Levski Sofia in the UEFA Cup.
Petrzalka has lost several key players since the autumns successful Champions league campaign. Among the missing are the offensive midfielder Ján Kozák (West Bromwich Albion), national team defender Ján Ďurica (FC Saturn), team captain Balázs Borbély (FC Kaiserslautern), and defensive midfielder Blažej Vaščák (Treviso). Juraj Čobej the profilic goalkeeper has retired due to a brain tumour.
New players are the national team striker Ľuboš Reiter (Chicago Fire) and midfielder Michal Kubala (AS Trenčín).
It is still cold in Bratislava so the match has been moved to Trnava. Check out the live scoring on uefa.com.

Willkommen bei Armin Assinger

2006-02-12T11:04:00.000+01:00

Watching the olympics on Austrian tv. Today their national pride is at stake in the mens downhill. The production is of course superb. The countdown started 1,5h before the run with historical highlits and a live tour of the of the slope with the old hero Armin Assinger. I remember a couple of years ago when I saw another countdown, to Kitzbühels Hahnenkammrennen. The good Armin skied down commentating the slope with a camera in his hand, finishing only 17 sec after the race winner. I didn't understand or heard much of what he said, except of a few Austrian "Aaaaargh" and the sentence: Eeees ist uuuunglauublish steiiil, but it was fun to watch. Later on his wife apparently forbade him to ski down and commentating just the 86% gradient Hahnenkammrennen.

Snow Snow Snow

2006-02-09T09:15:00.000+01:00

We got 30cm of fresh snow yesterday and people are talking about this winter as one of the hardest in Bratislava for a long time. In the hills above the capital there is more than 1m snow and the temperature has not been above 0 since new year. Of course I don't mind, I quite like it. Today I've found out that you can take free ski-trains on Saturdays to the Tatras or to the Austrian alps if you buy a day ski-pass. That means you can get there and back and ski a whole day for 15-20EUR depending of where you are going.
Very nice.

Cash is King

2006-02-09T09:10:00.000+01:00

Saw the Johnny Cash movie "Walk the Line" yesterday. Don't miss it. Finally I understand what one of my student friends was talking about.

Karol Beck

2006-01-31T14:42:00.000+01:00

The doping romour I heard about the Slovak tennis player Karol Beck in December sadly turned out to be true. Check out this article in Aftonbladet.

All Fair

2006-01-29T17:32:00.000+01:00

Went to the Travel, Hunting, Sport and Gastronomy Fair at Incheba earlier today. My goal was mainly to collect information about suitable hotels for our future travel project. I spent a couple of hours looking at leaflets and talking to people from different areas of Slovakia. I saw that some travel agencies sell package tours to Romania with the slogan "A trip to the past". Slovakia has apparently left its past with the EU-entry...
Later on I tried the gastronomy section, to my suprise there were a lot of wine producers and importers and the event more or less looked like a wine festival, of course with free samples everywhere, quite nice...
I also inspected a machine gun in the hunting section and a sauna in the sport section. A somewhat divers fair...

lost in the hills

2006-01-29T10:17:00.000+01:00

The weather hasn't changed much over the last week: cold nights and sunny days. Yesterday I went on a longer hike starting from Pezinska baba (wintersport centre outside Bratislava) and finishing in Harmonia. The hike was supposed to take 3h but with the snow I calculated with 4. I was hoping for a strong enough crust to keep me on top of the snow, but already after half an hour it was clear that it was about to be a hard walk.
The trailmarkers did their best to delay me, twice I found myself way off the trail. The insufficient map didn't help much either. It has an elevation line every 100th meter and you choose your routes carefully when you hike in snow halfway up your thigh, an extra 200m climb is not something you want to do. Well, thanks to Gregs compass I finaly managed to find my way, hiking the crows way straight through the forest the last two hours. I arrived in Harmonia after 6h, totally exhausted.

Probably one of my toughest hikes ever.

Cold

2006-01-24T10:57:00.000+01:00

It's extremely cold in Bratislava at the moment. Last night the temperature fell down to -22C in Bratislava and lower than -30C in the northern parts of Slovakia. The strong Siberian wind doesn't make it easier to be outside. For the first time in 3,5 years here I don't want to leave the flat. The Danube is also starting to freeze, something that hasn't happened since 1962.

This winter 17 homeless have died in Slovakia, and that was before the real cold started. The military has put up a few tents to help, but I don't know if it's enough.

Goodbye Sweden

2006-01-22T20:15:00.000+01:00

It's finally been done, I have cut all ties to Sweden and and my flat in Stockholm. It was a chock to get back to the small flat in Rågsved. I only lived there for 8 months but I liked the place.

I hadn't heard from the tenant for more than 1 1/2 month and of corse not recieved any money for the rent so something had to be done. When I was opening the door I feared the worst, Is the owen still there? Has he turned the place into a knocking-shop? Is the place being used as a terrorist hide out? well... the tenant wasn't there, but a lot of his stuff was, And a lot of old food to. The stink was awful. For a moment I thought he was lying dead in the bed. Luckily he wasn't, the stink came from 2 months old chicken wings and spare ribs, It was disgusting. I had to clean the flat and move the stuff to the next day. It wasn't fun... My father threw up several times cleaning the dishes... I basically threw everything away, sofas, tables, beds and clothes. In the morning the flat was ready for inspection.

I had some help from John who left with a few "Billy" book shelfs and and big sideboard in true Polish style.

It feels really good to have got rid of the flat in Stockholm, it was only trouble. I also don't think I will ever move back there.

Almost at the same time I recieved my Slovak ID card, so I feel more and more at home here.

Hello Sweden

2006-01-13T09:53:00.000+01:00

Åker till Sverige för att ta hand om en del praktiska saker. Kom gjärna förbi. I Stockholm sön-mån och i Kågeröd tis-ons.

Photo

2006-01-09T21:52:00.000+01:00

I have started to post some of my pictures on this site: www.trekearth.com My name is MP-Moller, look at Slovakia.

It's a cool site with lots of photoes from around the world. Perfect for travel research with art feeling.

I Saw the Sun

2006-01-09T19:54:00.000+01:00

Yes, yesterday, unbelivable. I grabbed my telescope sticks and headed for the highest peak I could see. There was a hard crust on the snow so it was easy walking (except for the occasional break and 50cm plunge). Almost like walking on asphalt in the forest. Spent more than five hours wandering randomly from one peak to the other. Took a few moments to check out the wine stalks for the coming season.

Czechs and Snow

2006-01-09T19:32:00.000+01:00

What is it with Czechs and snow? Do they have a subconscious urge to die in the snow? I have earlier written about the Czechs foolhardy expeditions into dangerous and cold territory. However this must be the most stupid I have ever read... Czech tourist wanted to see polar circle in trenchcoat By the way, the 7 people killed in the avalanche during New Year, Czech of course.

The article describes a man who tried to walk to the polar circle in -16C only wearing thin trousers, t-shirt, sweather and a trenchcoat. Two people on a snowmobile, found the freezing man by the side of the road and brought him back to safety.

Weather

2006-01-07T15:16:00.000+01:00

I usually don't complain about the weather but now it has gone to far. I haven't seen the sun since the 28th of January and it's really anoying me. What else to do? Well, have been reading a bit, at the moment I have Ernst Brunners book about Bellman in my hands. I prefer his works about modern times, but it's still interesting to read about the old life.

New Year III

2006-01-03T09:39:00.000+01:00

Here are a couple of other pics from the area.

Janosik holes

Terchova Centre. Malý Rozsutec 1344m in the background.

We did manage to get some skiing done.

Ivana Skiing in Terchova. Here I Saw alot of the same Elan skies that Ingemar Stenmark used in the early years.

Skiing in Vratna. Velký Rozsutec 1610m in the background.

New Year II

2006-01-03T09:11:00.000+01:00

Well things were about to change. Already the second evening it started to snow making walking more similar to swimming. I made a few attempts to climb Malý Rozsutec 1344m. It was very hard, I couldn't see the trail markers and had to rely on old snowfilled tracks. The tracks mostly ended up at an old remote cottage and in one case outside a bears winter lair. That was when I decided to give up... It snowed more or less constantly between the 28th and the 1st, adding more than 50cm to the snow layer.
It didn't only snow in the mountains, 4 people were killed in a mass crash on the highway between Bratislava and Źilina and 7 more by an avalanche in the west Tatras.

New Year I

2006-01-03T08:51:00.000+01:00

Arriving to Terchova everything was more or less perfect. The cottage was ok, the weather was perfect and there was about 60cm of pure white snow, enough to ski and not to much to walk through.

Living Dangerously

2006-01-02T19:58:00.000+01:00

I have just seen on the news that Slovak women commit 17% of the nations murders. In other countries women commit around 10%. Hmmm Do I have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of my life...

Christmas, New Year

2005-12-25T19:32:00.000+01:00

The blogger is busy resting his brain in the hills so don't expect to much writing until next year. Happy New Year!

Adiós, Amigos Szikora

2005-12-22T11:58:00.000+01:00

Saw yesterday that another alcoholic football genius had died. Juraj Szikora, died in Bratislava last week 58 years old. Szikora became a football hero when he scored a superb goal in Czechoslovakias 2-2 draw against Brazil at Maracaná 1966. That was also when the Brazilians gave him the name, "The white Pele". Since then he has also been called "Slovakias George Best" due to his alcohole problems. He played 21 matches and scored 2 goals for the Czechoslovak national team. Born in Komarno, he made over 200 league apperances with big Slovak clubs, Spartak Komárno, Červená hviezda Bratislava and Internacionál Slovnaft Bratislava. At his funeral there was a Brazilian ribbon with the text "Adiós, Amigos Szikora".

Public Transport Behaviour

2005-12-21T15:00:00.000+01:00

Today I saw a man with a baby cart being thrown of a tram. Apparently he had used the wrong door for the cart. He used the back one but should have used the front one. This made the driver so furious that he jumped out of his seat ran 30m along the tram, grabbed the cart (incl the baby in it) and lit. threw them off the tram so that the cart almost overturned. The man who didn't speak slovak never understood what had happened and also was not allowed to go on the tram again at the right door. (not that I think he wanted...)

This is not the first encounter I have had with public transpert drivers in Slovakia. Two of my friends have been slapped on their wrist for tearing the ticket from the drivers ticket machine.(the driver himself is only entitled to do so, but the ticket has a very tempting position for the passengers to pull it themselfs) One of them was so shocked that he exclaimed to us standing behind: "He hit me, the motherfucker hit me. Why the fuck did he hit me?" Fuck, being the only word the driver understood, got him to jump out of his seat, open his small gate and run after my friend further into the bus. The driver reached my friend, tore off his backpack and was about to put a fist in his neck when I and other friends entered the bus to calm him down.

It's amazing that you can end up in a fight from buying a bus ticket. Please if you come for a visit, check out the transport regulations...

Bratislava Blog

2005-12-21T13:17:00.000+01:00

Must recommend the Swedish readers to read a friends blog about his life in Bratislava. Christian i Bratislava.

Why didn't I think of this...

2005-12-18T21:07:00.001+01:00

It's now possible to buy 4cl vodka (Gin and (R)UM too) shots at the petrol stations in town. Just tear off the youghurt style lid and strenghten yourself.

Doping

2005-12-17T23:01:00.000+01:00

Heard a romour today that the Slovak tennis player Karol Beck had illegal substances in his blod during the Davis-cup semi-final against Argentina. That could explain why he didn't play in the final.

UEFA-Cup

2005-12-16T16:01:00.000+01:00

Artmedia Bratislava–Levski Sofia A good draw for Petrzalka. Not impossible at all to go through to the next round.

Christmas Dinner

2005-12-16T13:36:00.000+01:00

Tonight it's time to get some of ones old tax money back. The yearly christmas dinner at the Swedish Ambassadors residence is a good oppertunity to guzzle in typical Swedish food and drinks. And it's all paid for by you my Swedish friends. Thank you!

Slivovica Für Alle

2005-12-10T18:34:00.000+01:00

Saw this interesting stand outside McDonalds the other day. There was unfortunately no barman.

I think even a monkey will be able to fill in the the application form to sell alcohole in this country.

ps. Returned today, the stand was there but still no barman. :-(

BillBoard Bratislava

2005-12-10T18:17:00.000+01:00

Everywhere you go you see more and bigger billboards. If you want a room in Hotel Kyjev with a view to the castle you first have to cut a hole in the big Orange billboard covering the whole facade. There are no regulations to where you are allowed to put up advertisement.

Artmedia Petrzalka Better than Manchester United

2005-12-07T23:31:00.000+01:00

Man Utd is knocked out of European competitions for the season. A pity, it would have been nice to see them being humiliated against a strong looking Petrzalka team.

Saw the Benfica Goalie Quim spending half of the last 20 minutes lying down on the grass pretending to be hurt. RIDICULOUS. When is UEFA/FIFA going to do something about this. They could for example let all Portuguese teams play their matches in snow... The only time I haven't seen a Portuguese player lie down on a pitch was in yesterdays match between Petrzalka and Porto - The suface consisted of equal ammounts of water, snow, mud and grass...

Velka škoda

2005-12-06T22:48:00.000+01:00

I feel sad. Petrzalka should have created one of the biggest football shook-ups ever but the ball just didn't want to end up in the net.

Inter drew in Glasgow and both Petrzalka and Porto would have gone through if they had scored. Porto had a header just wide at the beginning but then it was all Petrzalka. They missed 3 OPEN nets, should have had two penalties and Porto should have had a couple of men sent of. One of them, the goalie Vitor Baia, when he saved a shot bound for goal with his hands outside the box. A fair result would have been 6-1 for Petrzalka.

Well it's it's not all sad on the other side of the river. Thanks to the draw, Petrzalka will be playing in the UEFA cup next year. Maybe it's not so interesting to play teams like Schalke, Real Betis and Rosenborg when they could have been playing Milan, Juventus or Real Madrid, but it's at least something.

Can we hope for Man Utd in April?

Petrzalka should be be very satisfied with there first season in Champions League, after all, their goal was to take 1 single point in this years competition.

Sleet

2005-12-06T18:16:00.000+01:00

It has been raining heavily the whole day except for the last two hours when it has turned to sleet. It will be interesting to see if it's possible to play football tonight or not. If it is, then Petrzalka will have a good chance to win. They have played the last two league matches under similar circumstances so they should be used to it.

Meat Hunt

2005-12-03T09:23:00.000+01:00

We tried to buy some minced meat yesterday for the standard Friday Spaghetti meatsauce. It can be a struggle but yesterday it was a f***ing South Pole expedition. I try to avoid buying minced meat in the normal shops since it always has some kind of freshmaker added to it. Instead I go to the butcheries. They are if possible more inefficient than a Slovak post office. First you queue to speak to the butcher and choose your piece of meat, then you go to a counter and queue to pay the meat and then you go back to the butcher-queue to wait to pick it up. A Friday afternoon the meat turns green before you manage to pay it... i.e. if you manage to order some meat.
At the first butcher yesterday we were told that they don't mince meat anymore, and haven't done so for over a year (we bought minced meat there last Friday...). At the second butcher the meat grinder was broken... At the third butcher halfway through the Drake Passage we finally found our meat.
This whole thing was to much for Ivana and it was funny to watch her cursing this godforsaken country with words even the blogger himself normally don't use.

We now have 1.5kg nicely minced meat in our new freezer.

Davis Cup

2005-12-02T18:51:00.000+01:00

Watching Slovakia play Croatia in the Davis Cup final. Dominik Hrbaty is close to equalize Croatias lead and the crowd is fanatic. I can hear the roars from The Peoples Tennis Center 400m away, on our balcony.
The price for a ticket on the black market is SLK20 000 (€ 500), almost an average monthly salary.

Christmas Market

2005-12-02T18:37:00.000+01:00

It's getting colder and the christmas market is a good place to keep warm. Varené víno and ciganska pečenka are two favourites.

A Hubert is never far away from this man...

1st winter hike

2005-12-01T16:12:00.000+01:00

Had unexpectedly a totally free day today. For luck the weather was great so I spent 4 hours walking from Rača to the TV-tower and down to Bratislava. As you can see a fantastic trip in 25cm snow.

Free TV-tower desktop.

Not the worst place to have a beer.

The castle fighting the inversion above Bratislava.

Winter view

2005-12-01T16:02:00.000+01:00

View from one of our balconies

New Word

2005-12-01T08:43:00.000+01:00

Have learned a new Slovak word today: ciganiť, (to lie, lit. to gypsy) No, there is no discrimination against the gypsies in this country...

Collapse 4-0

2005-11-24T09:06:00.000+01:00

Petrzalka collapsed yesterday in the same way as the Slovak national team did in Spain. At an almost empty stadium the shaky Petrzalka defence gave Adriano all the space he needed to get back in goal-scoring form. Petrzalka started well and had two good opportunities to score in the first 20 min. The first, a header went just wide after a corner and the second a close range volley from Ján Kozák that goalkeeper Júlio César superbly saved . Petrzalka should also have had a penalty after defender Ján Ďurica was pulled down in the box. With a little luck Petrzalka could have been up 3-0 after 20 min, but then Figo scored and it was all over...
To go through to the next round Petrzalka has to beat Porto at home and Inter has to at least draw against Rangers in Glasgow. Not impossible, It will be an exciting finish.

Inter - Petrzalka

2005-11-23T18:39:00.000+01:00

The hardest match so far for Petrzalka in Champions league is comming up. Inter away is never an easy task, but we Scanians will always remember a certain San Siro-Sven from a few years back.
Inter has the handicap of playing to an empty stadium following the three-match ban on spectators handed out after last season's Champions League quarter-final against AC Milan.
Will there be a new slovak collapse like the national team in Spain or will tomorrows headlines read San Siro-Čobej?

Neighbourhood

2005-11-23T18:33:00.000+01:00

Just found out that the strange looking greenhouse around the corner is a knocking-shop. One of my friends knew my address very well...

New Flat II

2005-11-22T11:03:00.000+01:00

Things change here in Slovakia... Last time we moved (2,5 years ago), it took two weeks to get Cable-TV and 4!!! months to connect the internet. This time it took 1 DAY! And we didn't need one single stamp or signature.

Finally moved all the stuff. Time to enjoy a full boddied red wine watching the snow-capped Small Carpathians.

Open Wine cellars

2005-11-20T10:16:00.000+01:00

Have spent the whole weekend drinking vast quantities of wine in dark and moist 18-th century cellars. This is my absolut favourite event in Slovakia. For a few crowns you can drink as much wine as you can in 63 cellars between Bratislava and Trnava.
We started our tour on Friday in the Small Carpathian town of Modra. After a filling lunch we felt ready for our mission - 10 cellars, 25 wine producers and up to 150 different wines. It took us about 8 hours to go through them all.

Lots of wine...

My personal favourites were the dry Don Perignon style sparkling wines from Hacaj. But also many less known hobby wineries impressed with their high quality. I also tried Ice-wine for the first time. To make it you leave the grapes late, almost into winter. You harvest the grapes when the temp is below -7. The water in the grapes is frozen so the wine gets a higher concentration of sugar and alcohole. Perfect for cakes or even ice-cream.

Another nice thing with this event is the people you meet, the atmosphere is really friendly and even if some cellars are crowded most of the producers take the time to explain and talk about the wine.
One of the owners who seems to like his wine.

Private guide in Modra.

One of the biggest wine cellars, under the Pezinok Castle.

Auto-portrait by a modern producer in Sväty Jur.

Unfair referee

2005-11-13T11:50:00.000+01:00

Slovakia lost all hope of quallifying for the world cup yesterday in a 5-1 (2-0) defeat against Spain. The slovaks were never given a fair chance. Coach Dušan GALIS was sent to the stand in the 20th minute after a doubtful second Spanish goal. The slovaks had a few bright spells at the start of the second half and Szilárd NÉMETH reduced the Spanish lead after a poor back-pass in the 49th minute. However it was all over in the 65th minute, defender Marián HAD was sent off after a doubtful penalty. With only ten Slovak players Spain killed the excitement and eased off to a comfortable win.

The slovak national television broadcasted the match after hard negotiations. Maybe they wish they hadn't.

Spain-Slovakia

2005-11-12T14:05:00.000+01:00

Slovakia will try to get a draw from tonights world-cup qualifier against Spain. Unfortunately two of their best players are injured. Bundesliga top-scorer Marek Mintal and offensive midfielder Karol Kisel both have to watch the game from the side.

Sadly the match can not bee seen here in Slovakia since none of the TV-stations are able to pay the necessary money.

New Flat

2005-11-12T13:43:00.000+01:00

We have just recieved the keys to our new flat. It's a fully redecorated 2 room flat close to Trnavske Myto. It's on the fifth floor with a nice view to the TV-tower and some of the Danube bridges from the two balconies.
We will have two flats to the end of November so if anyone wants to come for a visit - now is a good time.

Neo-Nazis

2005-11-11T13:50:00.000+01:00

Last week a 21-year-old philosophy student was killed by neo-Nazis on the Danube banks. People reacted very strongly against it and later 4,000-5,000 people protested, marching through the old town. I wonder how many of them who would have taken part in a march for a murdered gypsy...

Petrzalka Stars

2005-11-06T14:27:00.000+01:00

Had a quick chat with resting Petrzalka stars Ján Kozák and Juraj Halenár during the half-time break in todays match. They gave themselves a good chance of getting through to the next CL round, something neither of them had imagined at the start of the tournament.
Kozák scored the 2nd equalizer in the 2-2 match against Glasgow Rangers last week and Halenár scored a hattrick in the 5-0 win over Glasgow Celtic earlier in the tournament.

Corgon Liga

2005-11-06T13:55:00.000+01:00

Petrzalka usually play their home matches in the national Corgon Liga on Sunday mornings at 10:30. It's a perfect time for breakfast and football. For SKK 140 (EUR 3,5) you get a ticket, a beer, a healthy sausage and if you are lucky good entertainment.
Today the queues (as you can see bicycles are allowed inside the stadium!) were long outside the stadium, a lot of people wanted to see their Champions League heroes, so I actually missed the first 8 minutes of the game.

The match was not so exciting, Petrzalka won convincingly over Banska Bystrica 2-0. Attendance 4820 + ca 25 bikes

Worst movie of the year

2005-11-05T23:17:00.000+01:00

Spent an awful 96 minutes in the cinema watching "A History of Violence". If you are thinking about seeing it or wait for a bus, choose the latter.

New Year

2005-11-05T16:36:00.000+01:00

We have finally made a decision about New Year. Usually we leave it late and end up in rainy Bratislava. This time however we have booked two small cottages in a remote part of the Small Fatras. There are still two beds free in one of the cottages so join us if you are looking for a relaxed New Years holiday.

Slovenské národné múzeum

2005-11-05T10:36:00.000+01:00

Went to see a National Geographic exhibition about the most famous expeditions during the 20th century. It was a bit disappointing because they only showed pictures and had only short basic facts about the expeditions. Instead I spent a couple of hours walking among stuffed animals and birds, quite interesting. I have spent a lot of time in different bear territories this year, unfortunately I haven't seen any bears. The museum gave me at least some consolation.

2-2

2005-11-01T22:43:00.000+01:00

An exciting game that maybe Petrzalka should have won. They had the most posession and created more clear chances. The goals came after individual mistakes from both sides. The two teams still share second place in group H.

Match build up

2005-11-01T20:46:00.000+01:00

Spent the afternoon talking to some Rangers fans. The one to the left tipped 6-0 and the one to the right 3-1

Due to cold weather they refused to reveal what they had under the kilt...
For those who wonder: I'm the one without the silly purse covering the crotch

Davie Cooper, the greatest Rangers player ever, according to my new friends

Champions league: Petrzalka vs Rangers

2005-11-01T11:50:00.000+01:00

I guess Glasgow Rangers is the favourite to win tonights game but you shouldn't count out Petrzalka. Having taken 4 points in three matches is a fantastic result and you really have to start taking them seriously. Both teams say they are going for victory but my bet is that it will be counter attack football again from the Petrzalka side. If goalkeeper Čobej can put on a similar display as in Glasgow Petrzalka will have a great chance.

Trail closure

2005-11-01T11:09:00.000+01:00

Today all the high altitude trails in Slovakia are being closed down. It's sad but necessary for nature to recover. It is also very dangerous in the High Tatras during the winter and there would be a lot more dead Czechs if the trails weren't closed. However it's still allowed to do Ski Alpinism, I just need to get the equipment...

Pub Row

2005-11-01T10:35:00.000+01:00

Ended up in the middle of a pub row yesterday at the Irish pub. Fortunately we sat quite far from the action but we could still see chairs and tables being thrown around in true "wild west" style. The police arrived after a few minutes using dogs and truncheons to break it up. The row ended with a Scottish football thug being dragged out of the pub hugging a staropramen beer pump that he had broken off from the bar.

I think the police handled the situation ok, at least they didn't start to shoot people like they did a couple of years ago when the English "supporters" were here.

Police Demonstration

2005-10-31T11:37:00.000+01:00

Last week the police in Bratislava protested against insufficient funds allocated to the police from the state budget. They were particularly disappointed with the low salaries. The starting salary for a police officer is Sk9,000 per month (€232) before tax.

The banner says: If the state doesn't pay the police the maffia is happy to do it!

Sk9,000 is really not that much, our rent is Sk10,000. However a hard-working traffic police officer can earn from sk10,000 a day in bribes so it's still an attractive job.

Flu (not the bird)

2005-10-30T15:40:00.000+01:00

I had great plans to climb the highest mountain in Poland (Rysy 2499m) this weekend, unfortunately illness halted my plans. They are closing the trail up on Monday so it was the last opportunity this year, well you don't climb 7,5h up and down a steap mountain when you are ill. I had to settle for a shorter Bratislava hike instead. It's nice here as well...

200.000EUR

2005-10-29T21:01:00.000+02:00

is all I need to realize my life dream of a cottage/pension in the
mountains...

Villa „Roland“ is a charming pension in a wonderful location.
This pension is a reconstructed historical villa located on a sunny
hillside above the spa Lubochna in the Velka Fatra mountains. Extremely well
kept and surrounded by trees and gardens. Villa Roland has eight 2-4 bedrooms
almost all with private facilities, an open fireplace and barbecue facilities,
vine cellar, restaurant and a parking place. During the summer it is
possibility to go fishing or play tennis. It is close to famous ski parks Malino
Brdo, Demanovska valley, Jasna, Kubinska hola, Vratna valley.

Press Freedom

2005-10-26T08:35:00.000+02:00

I read that Slovakia is ahead of Sweden in the latest Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Any comments on that from you media people?

Much has changed since it was ok for a Prime Minister and former boxer (read Vladimir Mečiar) to punch reporters when asked awkward questions.

ps. Bear in mind that the link goes to Mr Mečiar's own biography so facts in it should be questionned.

Literary Ambitions

2005-10-26T08:09:00.000+02:00

Did some voluntary (well I got a bottle of Becherovka) proofreading for "Pamät Národa" (Nation's Memory Institute) and was mentioned in the same magazine as Lech Wałęsa and Simon Wiesenthal.
Could this be the peak of my literary career?

Brusno Autumn

2005-10-25T11:43:00.000+02:00

A couple of autumn pictures from the Brusno surroundings

The river Hron

Low Tatras

2005-10-24T20:03:00.000+02:00

Since the spa in Brusno was more or less closed I also managed to fit in a decent hike on Saturday. Ivana, of course was not as thrilled as I...
This is a well-known bear territory, so we were on tenterhooks, just waiting for a roar in the fog.

Bocianske Valley

Bocianske Saddle 1506m

Dumbier(2046m highest peak in the Low Tatras) in the clouds. The weather was far from stable as you can see

Pool

2005-10-24T19:46:00.000+02:00

Recieved this e-mail today...

Invitation from Bako & Høgh International Billiard Association concerning SLOVAK OPEN 2006

Slovak Open 2006

Hereby you are invited to the biggest grand slam of all "SLOVAK OPEN 2006". The tournament takes place at Mamut Arena (below Moulin Rouge) at 16.00 o'clock, Saturday the 12 November.

The tournament is hosted by Bako & Høgh International Billiard Association and is played according to the international billiard rules. That means any homecooked Swedish rules are out.

The seeding:
The players will be seeded according to their world ranking.
There will be a formal dress code and formal behaviour. Therefore every player is only allowed to drink no more than 12 Guinness pr. Game, except for the Swedish players who are allowed to drink 5 because of several former very unlucky incidents.

As usual no women are allowed inside the Arena!!!!!
Exceptions can be made if we are talking about cheerleaders wearing very short skirts.

After the tournament Mr. Bako & Mr. Høgh will accompany losers and the winner to Slovak Pub, where young unmarried lively women will serve a lot of food and perhaps a little bonus for the winner.

Because this is a high-class VIP tournament we need you to sign up as fast as possible.

Yours sincerely
Bako & Høgh
IBA/AS

At first I was a bit worried but then I found out that I wasn't the only Swede on the mailing list...

Romantic Decay

2005-10-24T11:15:00.000+02:00

"Brusno kupele has been well-known since the beginning of the 19th century." That is what the tourist leaflet says, however it is not well-known any more.
Even though a central slovak middle-aged female manager with fake blond hair, high heals and a thick foundation of make-up (can you picture her?) promised that a recontruction is starting on Monday!!! I find it hard to believe that this place will ever thrive again. It's sad but also romantic.

We had the whole spa park for ourselves. You could see that this was a place where people had relaxed, laughed and enjoyed themself. Now there are only overgrown tenis courts, broken windows and cracked asphalt. For some strange reason it's still romantic. You walk around in a small ghost town where someone still takes care of the flowers, grass and bushes but lets the buildings decay. Why?

As long as the communist party had the power, people were sent here for all kinds of reason. Now 16 years later this place has experienced all negative aspekts of market ekonomy: from bad location to bad managing. It's a pity cause the place is very nice, at least if you sit down by one of the five mineral springs close your eyes and move 100 years back in time.

Autumn tucking in an old ski jump in the area...

Brusno

2005-10-20T21:58:00.000+02:00

Going there for a romantic autumn weekend. Impossible to find any information about the place except that there is a spa healing digestive and mental problems... I will tell you more when I've regained my sanity.

0-0

2005-10-19T22:54:00.000+02:00

Boring result, but not a boring match. I guess you could say that Čobej preserved his form. He saved 4 totaly free Rangers shots and made a couple of nice "TV-saves". Petrzalka had 2 great opportunities to create another shocking result, but I guess they should be satisfied with a draw.

At half-time in the group Petrzalka is still 2nd. It's high time to book the flights for the next groupstage...