see the black spot to the left of
the window?
that is a little present from Napoleaon--a
cannonball!
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The reception at the Hotel Forum was lovely,
the deputy ambassador was there, the Slovak
Minister of Education was there (the very man who
gave the radio address to the students on the
first day of school), and many Americans living
and working in Bratislava were there. We went out
for a beer after the reception and one man who
lives in Bratislava told me where the golf
courses in Slovakia are (there are two, and one
18-hole course nearby in Austria); good to know
for when my parents visit! 23
September 1999
Today we went on a tour of Bratislava's two
castles: Devin Castle and Bratislava Castle. On
the way to the castle, the tour guide showed us
where the "Iron Curtain" had been--the
barbed wire along the river that divided Slovakia
from Austria. It was very, very interesting. I
found out that the Old Slavonic language was the
fourth liturgical language (the bible was
translated into this language after Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin). Devin Castle is right on the
fork where the Danube and Morava Rivers meet.
Austria is right across the river. Nora told me
something that was obvious, but fascinating: she
told me that before 1989, there used to be
soldiers (and their weapons) at the shores of the
Danube and Morava Rivers to keep people from
crossing the Iron Curtain. Even though I know the
history of Czechoslovakia, and then the Slovak
Republic, it still never ceases to amaze me that
people lived in such different conditions and had
such different experiences than I have. I know
that this is the whole point of the Exchange, but
when I think about it, I get shivers down my
spine. To have lived in a place that until ten
years ago you couldn't even cross a river!
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