bratislava, day two: parks and pucks

We hopped on a bus in front of the hockey arena around the corner and made it to the Patrónka bus stop. We were headed for a big park north of town, so we were heartened to see a bunch of other people with walking poles and puffy jackets (plus three older guys with camo pants and matching brown satchels) waiting for the same bus; then the 43 came, and we got on, and none of the outdoorsy people did. I still don't know where they were headed, but part of me wonders if we missed out on some truly magical hiking experiences.

We did make it into the park, though. We found a nice path that led up a hill, past some mountain bike tracks, and right up to the base of the big television broadcasting tower at the top. We took an elevator up to the cafe/observation deck and drank a macchiato while taking in the view, because that's how we do. Two very cute dogs watched us eat our lunches at the mountain lodge restaurant next door (potato dumplings with sheep cheese / sauerkraut, respectively), and then we walked back down to Patrónka and caught another bus home.

Around 4pm we headed up the street to the hockey arena to see the Bratislava Capitals play MHK Dubnica. The festivities started with a bored-sounding PA announcer reading out the names of the players, and then they showed this entire video on the big screen:

There were so few people that they only opened the lower deck on one side of the ice (presumably to make it look better for tv) and didn't even turn the lights on over the rest of the stands. The crowd was not very loud, with the exception of some kids who were huge fans of the team (the kid in front of us was wearing a Varga jersey and kept shouting his name the entire game) and some fans of the opposing team, who'd brought drums.

The Caps won, and everyone seemed reasonably pleased with that. Then one of the players did a Dirty Dancing figure skating routine with a figure skater.

this photo was taken through a thick & dirty window

this photo was taken with my phone