Bratislava–April 16, 2019

I took a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia, which is only an hour away from Vienna by train. Here are some pictures from the train, mostly of graffiti. The last one is very clever; it’s a plain concrete wall painted to look like bricks.

Graffiti in style of college banner: PHK Ultras View of forested area and river from train window Abstract rectangles and circles in yellow Word “CAMEL” in balloon-like letters, in red, green, and blue Name FLAVIO with all letters in yellow, except last letter not filled in. Concrete wall painted to look like a brick wall

A couple of pictures from the main train station:

Winged sphere on top of main train station Painting of several groups of people

Another purpose of my trip was to meet Jan, a person I had met only online. He is from the Czech Republic, and he comes to Bratislava for work a lot, but he hadn’t really seen the old town area as a tourist before. While waiting for him, I explored the area around the train station:

Lettering with forest landscape painted inside letters Tree painted on wall and equipment box Building with new surface crumbling away to show older brickwork Multi-colored large letters on corrugated metal fence Sculpture in public park; shaped like a large fist Crumbling covering revealing old red brickwork Electrical box painted with pink and purple wide diagonal stripes

Some of the buildings aren’t kept up well; you can see peeling façades and brickwork everywhere:

Crumbling building with stencil: Renovate me! Crumbling building next to one in good condition Building with arch and statuary and peeling facade

Jan and I met, and here are the things we saw as we wandered about:

Sculpture of seated and reclining women Three-story high mural of people at everyday tasks Five-story wall mural of fox sleeping curled up with head on pillow Abstract smooth metal sculpture Abstract smooth reflective metal sculpture Metal scupture of seated man Decorative roof tiles in green, yellow, and brown geometric pattern Me standing in front of building with green shingled roof and clock tower

One of the landmarks of Bratislava is the Blue Church. It was closed, but I was able to get a blurry picture through the glass. The second picture is a memorial to the unborn children:

Me standing in front of the Blue Church Stone with mosaic tiles Interior of church with pews and altar

After a stop for lunch at an Indian restaurant, we continued walking around:

Building with yellow facade, curved bay-window style exterior, and sundial Five-story wall art of girl in yellow dress jumping rope Roof with pastel red white and blue tiles surrounding windows Fountan with woman in hat/helmet pouring water from pitcher Rectangular metal plate with wings design embedded into brick streets Statuary and trees in front of building with green spire Corner brick made of multi colored wood with embedded street scenes

Galéria Nedbalka

We headed over to Galéria Nedbalka, which is one of Bratislava’s best. They have art on the elevator doors on each floor:

Sign for Galéria Nedbalka with line drawing of woman’s head in profile Images of naked ladies and birds Painting of three women on elevator doors Elevator painting with man and woman peasant on arid land, mountain in background Elevator painting of woman handing man a red fruit. Painting of woman on elevator door

And here’s some of the artwork:

Panorama of top floor paintings Adam and Eve back to back in garden of Eden. He is black; she is white. View down circular stairwell of gallery Statues of three reclining/seated women Painting of featureless seated woman Abstract painting of glasses, pitchers, and drink-making equipment Sculpture of woman with hood carrying bucket. Abstract yellow sculpture with elongated lumps Box with crosses, wood, and nails Large clock face with roman numerals Steel ring in front of glass tubes with green glass Paianting of black and white circles Art deco style painting of women in carriage being pulled by horse Sculpture of small man with disproportionately large head

Cemetery

Because one of my friends at work likes them, some pictures from a cemetery. The strong sunlight made good pictures fairly difficult, sorry.

Gravestone marker from 1883 Gravestone with urn on top Weathered gravestone with photo of decedent Two gravestones in shape of cross Gravestone shaped like Pieta Gravestone with sculptured roses

Stickers and Signage

Unfortunate kerning on two street signs:

Improperly kerned sign “H O LE KOVA” Street sign with improper spacing between letters

Some store signs, a library book return box, and a poster that translates to “That’s how the garden smells. You can do it with us.“:

Sign MONDIEU, with picture of shocked-looking woman in the O. Top: Zoot with two Os forming an infinity symbol. Bottom: Fit up! at angle Library book return box with pictures of stacks of books on it. Person standing on head with head obscured by flowers in garden. Text: “That’s how the garden smells. You can do it with us.” Window sticker of cartoon dog with tongue hanging out. Chalkboard outside restaurant: don’t worry / don’t cry / take gelato / and fly ...You cannot buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream [in small type] (which is almost the same thing)
Dinosaur in white boxer shorts with hearts on them. Text: Go hide Go hide
Stencil of man beating another man. Text: Antifa - beating Nazis Antifa - beating Nazis
Stencil of man throwing another man out of window. Text: Throw fascists out the window! Antifa! Throw fascists out the window! Antifa!
Large sticker of old woman in headscarf.
Sticker text: Beauty is in you Beauty is in you
Sticker for Critical Mass Vienna, showing a bicycle eating cars like Pacman Variety of stickers, two apropos of bicycling Sticker showing Sta-Puft man from Ghostbusters with a dog’s head. Sticker of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings Sticker of cat with moustache, glasses and coat and tie Sticker with purple unicorn with sunglasses on skateboard. Text: Be unique! Like unicorns!