Slovakia: Bratislava

Bratislava, Slovakia: lovely view from my hostel window
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My second night in Bratislava was quite entertaining.  After walking around the Old Town and the Castle during the day, I decided last minute to go out for some drinks at one of the numerous bars in the Old Town.  Of course it turns out to be an Irish Bar, one of which can be found in any city on earth (and is usually packed).

I ran into two kids from the hostel, both of whom who were from Georgia/South Carolina.  We had a few drinks at the bar, and then decided to walk around and see if anything else was going on.  As we walked into one of the town squares (around 3/4 a.m.), we heard a commotion.

Police Beatings, Irish Bars, and Bratislavan Taxis

Bratislava, Slovakia: the old town
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In a scene straight out of some Soviet bloc human rights documentary, we witnessed three uniformed Slovakian police officers beating a guy on the ground, while handcuffed.  The guy on the ground was screaming something in Slovakian the entire time.

He also had two friends with him who were watcing the scene unfold, and they decided to make a last ditch effort to help their buddy get free.  Of course, they got clobbered by the other officers when they tried to intervene.

Meanwhile, as we were watching from pretty close by, one of my friends from the hostel and myself began filming the scene with our digital cameras.  Probably not the smartest thing we've ever done.  Well, one of the officers saw us filming and started yelling at us in Slovakian and began walking towards us.  However, he couldn't really leave the altercation because there were only three total officers.

Bratislava, Slovakia: late night hijinks with a fellow american
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We, therefore, promptly put our cameras away and started walking briskly in the opposite direction.  I don't know what ended up happening to the guy, but it would be fair to say he woke up with a few nasty bruises.  Meanwhile, I got some great video footage that will surely make into my next travel documentary.  Ahhh...Bratislava!

I took off for Munich the next morning - taking a taxi to the train station.  Three times I took this route in a taxi, with three drastically different fares.  It's very difficult to find an honest taxi driver anywhere.  One that provided great humor, however, was on my ride into the city the first day.  I was with a couple American kids on the way to the train station, and we were talking about Bratislava and the movie Hostel.  Our taxi driver did not speak or seem to understand any English.  However, when I mentioned the movie in passing, he turned and gave the most evil look I've ever seen in my life.

Bratislava, Slovakia: my hostel, aka torture chamber...scary
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Apparently, the city is not too excited about the reverse tourism boost the movie may bring...Munich next!