John Edward Cooper’s Notes

[i] My equivalent recollection of this is a scribbled note: “Heavy rain continued — written 1.10am, when I went to the loo).” So I noted the continuation of the rain, but not the start of it.

I’d printed out each day’s programme (as supplied on the Riviera website, and in the documentation that Riviera sent some days before our departure) in the form of A7 sized pages, which I’d stuck on the pages of an A6 sized notepad, thus leaving an A7 sized space on each page to write notes. I didn’t avail myself of this very much; but at this point I did write: “Janet was up and about, then I shaved and showered after she vacated the bathroom ca.6.45am. She went for breakfast. I did the same ca.7.15am.”
 Departures from the ship were done in three stages, one group at a time. I’d selected “Group 1” cards; but somehow we got the notion that we were in “Group 3”, and missed the call for “Group 1” to go ashore before we realised. What to do? The advice was to tag along with another group: no problem. So we went ashore when “Group 2” was called, boarded their “Noddy Train”, and tuned our radios to Channel 12 for the guide’s commentary as we were taken through Bratislava and up to the Castle. She told us that the two elements of the name Bratislava (formerly called Pressburg), meant “brothers” and “glory”, about which I felt a hint of doubt, that this might be just “folk etymology”.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:36:04
Bratislava: Aboard the “Noddy Train”


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:36:20
Bratislava: Views from the “Noddy Train”
Sculpture, Ľudovít Štúr and Students, Tibor Bártfay, 1973


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:37:32
Bratislava: Views from the “Noddy Train”
Ganymede’s Fountain and portico of the former Slovak National Theatre


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:39:22
Bratislava: Views from the “Noddy Train”


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:40:02
Bratislava: Views from the “Noddy Train”
Stone Square


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:45:06
Bratislava: Views from the “Noddy Train”
Hodžovo Square: Presidential Palace and Earth – Planet of Peace fountain

We stopped outside the parliament building, and got off the “Noddy Train”.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:52:20
Bratislava Castle and environs:
“National Council of the Slovak Republic” building


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:52:20 (detail)
Bratislava Castle and environs:
Bronze statue, Welcome, by Ján Kulich

We entered the grounds of the castle and she pointed out various features.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:53:12
Bratislava Castle: Entering through Vienna Gate


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:54:54
Bratislava Castle: Information board


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:55:28
Bratislava Castle: Views around the west terrace — Vienna Gate


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:55:34
Bratislava Castle: Views around the west terrace — “Stráżnica” (“Guardpost”)


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:56:10
Bratislava Castle: Views around the west terrace


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:56:36
Bratislava Castle: Views around the west terrace — Hillebrandt Building


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:57:28
Bratislava Castle: Entering the Court of Honour


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:58:04
Bratislava Castle: Court of Honour


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:59:04
Below: Leopold’s Gate and Leopold’s Courtyard


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:59:22
Most SNP, short for “Most Slovenského národného povstania” (“Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising”), or the “UFO Bridge”


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:59:22 (detail)
Single pylon of the asymmetrical cable-stayed Most SNP, with its flying-saucer shaped observation deck-cum-restaurant


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 08:59:54
Bratislava Castle: Main Palace


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:00:04
Bratislava Castle: Main Palace


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:00:04 (detail)
Bratislava Castle: Equestrian statue of King Svätopluk I, ruler of Great Moravia (870–894)


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:01:42
Bratislava: Soviet-era apartment blocks. Out of shot to the right is the border with Austria, now invisible but formerly with a barbed-wire fence and armed guards.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:02:14
Bratislava Castle: Main Palace — remnant of a gothic window, found during renovation


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:04:52
Bratislava Castle: Three lime trees planted in the southern corner of the east terrace to commemorate the first phase of the restoration of the castle in 1968


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:04:52 (detail)
Bratislava Castle: The guide addresses Group №2.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:06:38
Bratislava Castle: Excavations of site of the 9th century Great Moravia Basilica and 11th century Church of the Holy Saviour in the east terrace


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:08:20
Spire of St. Martin’s Cathedral in the historic city centre below Bratislava Castle


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:09:08
Bratislava Castle: Entering the Baroque Garden in the northern part of the castle


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:10:44
Bratislava Castle: Views around the Baroque Garden


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:10:54
Bratislava Castle: Views around the Baroque Garden


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:12:08
Bratislava Castle: Views around the Baroque Garden


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:12:24
Bratislava Castle: Views around the Baroque Garden


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:13:48
Bratislava Castle: About to leave the Baroque Garden


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:18:52
Bratislava Castle: Going back through the Court of Honour


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:18:52 (detail)
Bratislava Castle: Equestrian statue of King Svätopluk I, ruler of Great Moravia (870–894), by Ján Kulich, unveiled 2010

We boarded the “Noddy Train”; and after it deposited us in Hurban’s Square, the guide led us through the historic centre of the city, stopping to point out this feature and that.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:44:00
Bratislava: Trinitarian Church, seen from Hurban’s Square

First she led us more or less westwards, across a bridge over what remained of the moat of the formerly walled city, and through an arch in the building ahead of us. This was the barbican of St. Michael’s Gate, but incorporated into later buildings.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:46:06
Bratislava: The way across the moat to the barbican of St. Michael’s Gate


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:47:08
Bratislava: Barbican of St. Michael’s Gate

Beyond it there was a left turn to get to the gate proper. Situated to the north of the old city, it is the only one remaining of the original four.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:48:22
Bratislava: North side, i.e. outside, of St. Michael’s Gate


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:49:30
Bratislava: Heraldic device above the opening of St. Michael’s Gate, north side


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:49:30 (detail)

We proceeded along the street (Michalská) from there. The guide stopped to point out where a building had a cannonball embedded in it, from Napoleon’s bombardment of the city in 1809. I couldn’t see it at the time (but after I edited the photo some weeks later I found it).


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:52:38
Bratislava: South side, i.e. inside, of St. Michael’s Gate


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:52:56
Bratislava: Michalská


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:53:36
Bratislava: Urban Bistro, Michalská




Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:53:36 (detail)
Bratislava: Urban Bistro, Michalská, showing embedded cannonball

We turned left into another street, Biela, at the end of which was Franciscan Square. In the wall of the Old Town Hall in the adjacent Main Square, I did see the pointed-out embedded cannonball.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:58:34
Bratislava: Franciscan Square


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 09:59:30
Bratislava: Franciscan Square — Woman With an Urn or Nymph Fountain


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:00:22
Bratislava: Franciscan Square and beyond it the Main Square


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:01:24
Bratislava: Franciscan Square — Marian column, and 17th century (originally Protestant) Jesuit Church


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:02:10
Bratislava: Main Square — Old Town Hall


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:02:22
Bratislava: Old Town Hall


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:02:22 (detail)
Bratislava: Old Town Hall, showing embedded cannonball

We proceeded through the arch of the Old Town Hall into its courtyard.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:03:50
Bratislava: Entering the courtyard of the Old Town Hall


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:04:26
Bratislava: Courtyard of the Old Town Hall


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:05:04
Bratislava: Courtyard of the Old Town Hall

We went through an arch in the opposite side of the courtyard to Primate’s Square.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:05:34
Bratislava: Leaving the courtyard of the Old Town Hall


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:06:20
Bratislava: Primate’s Square


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:06:38
Bratislava: Primate’s Square

Here the guide pointed out a well, into which, up to the late 18th century, offenders, e.g. dishonest tradespeople, were lowered in an iron cage by means of a pulley hung from a wooden scaffold.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:07:50
Bratislava: Primate’s Square — “Penitentiary Well”


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:08:54
Bratislava: Primate’s Square — Primate’s Palace


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:09:08
Bratislava: Primate’s Square


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:11:02
Bratislava: Primate’s Square — the present City Hall


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:11:40
Bratislava: Primate’s Square — Old Town Hall

From there, we went, via an alley between the Old Town Hall and the Jesuit Church, into the Main Square.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:17:04
Bratislava: Main Square


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:17:14
Bratislava: Main Square

On a canopy overshadowing tables and chairs, I saw “Roland Café Restaurant”, outside which was a statue atop a fountain; so to be sure I asked the guide, “Is that Roland?”[ii] I felt some doubt because the sword was not drawn, as is typical of Roland statues. It’s actually a statue of 16th century King Maximilian II, who ordered the fountain built on which it stands, portrayed as a knight in full armour; and I suspect that the name Roland has just become attached to it.

[ii] I hadn’t read the text on the back of the map of Bratislava, which mentions “Roland”.

Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:17:14 (detail)
Bratislava: Main Square — Roland Fountain

Nearby, there was a humorous representation in bronze of a Napoleonic soldier leaning on a bench.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:18:02
Bratislava: Main Square — bronze statue of a Napoleonic soldier


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:18:16
Bratislava: Main Square — Roland Fountain


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:18:16 (detail)
Bratislava: Main Square — Roland Fountain

Just along the street Rybárska brána (“Fisherman’s gate”) from the southern corner of the square, at an intersection of four streets, was another humorous bronze, of a workman emerging from a manhole.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:22:24
Bratislava: “Man at Work”

About the same distance farther along Rybárska brána, we came out at Hviezdoslav Square, where the former Slovak National Theatre was, which we’d seen from the “Noddy Train”. The guide pointed out a small glass enclosure nearby, covering masonry remains of the old, demolished Fisherman’s gate, discovered during major reconstruction of the square at the end of the 20th century. This formerly was the smallest, southern gate of the walled city, providing access to fishermen from the Danube. I couldn’t get a clear enough view through the glass to photograph it, though. That’s where the tour ended.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:27:06
Bratislava: Hviezdoslav Square — old Slovak National Theatre building


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:27:52
Bratislava: Hviezdoslav Square — old Slovak National Theatre building


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:28:18
Bratislava: Hviezdoslav Square — Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:28:50
Bratislava: Hviezdoslav Square — Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:29:00
Bratislava: Hviezdoslav Square


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:29:14
Bratislava: Hviezdoslav Square — Embassy of the United States

Janet and I went along the tree-lined square (more a “boulevard” than a “square”), seeking somewhere we could have a drink. We passed a statue, which was of the eponymous Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav (1849–1921), Slovak poet, dramatist, translator, and for a short time member of the Czechoslovak parliament.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:32:30
Bratislava: Hviezdoslav Square — Statue of Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav

We turned right near the end, and on the street running parallel to Hviezdoslav Square — Panská Street — we found ourselves at a small square — Rudnay Square — with steps up to St. Martin’s Cathedral. There was a café there, but it wasn’t open yet.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:37:52
Bratislava: Rudnay Square and St. Martin’s Cathedral

Anyway, we mounted the steps to investigate the cathedral.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:40:24
Bratislava: Steps up to St. Martin’s Cathedral

The door on the side facing us, the south side, was closed, so we walked around the east end and north side, and there found an entrance.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:41:14
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:43:08
Bratislava: On the north side of St. Martin’s Cathedral:
• The copper-roofed Chapel of St. John the Merciful
• Bratislava Castle in the distance


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:44:06
Bratislava: Tower of St. Martin’s Cathedral


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:44:06 (detail)
Bratislava: Tower of St. Martin’s Cathedral (the coronation church of the Kingdom of Hungary between 1563 and 1830), topped by a gold-plated replica of the Crown of St. Stephen, the coronation crown used by the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:44:28
Bratislava: Entrance to St. Martin’s Cathedral. Note the housing for a hoist on the roof.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:46:00
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — left (northern) aisle


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:46:32
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — centre aisle


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:47:06
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — stained glass windows at the apsidal east end of the choir


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:47:44
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — right (southern) aisle


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:48:24
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — north side


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:49:14
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — south side


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:49:46
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — statue of St. Martin on horseback dividing his cloak with a beggar


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:50:28
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — choir


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:50:40
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — choir


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 10:51:18
Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral — organ

Leaving the cathedral, we returned to Panská Street, and turning left we entered a café at the first corner on the right: “MONDIEU Café • Chocolaterie • Desserts”. When the waiter came, he said, “Dobrý deň!”; and I asked him to repeat it, because it sounded like the Polish expression (though with reverse word-order) that I’d learned when preparing to meet Piotr: “Dzień dobry!” “[John] had a Czech beer,” Janet noted significantly (for I was hoping for local Slovakian beer), “and then a double espresso, and I had two strawberry and lime ‘mocktails’. Yum! I had to have another as they were the most delicious non-alcoholic drinks I’d ever had. Sweet puréed strawberries with lime and ice.”


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 11:35:22
Bratislava: “MONDIEU Café • Chocolaterie • Desserts”, Panská 27


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 11:40:14
Bratislava: “MONDIEU Café • Chocolaterie • Desserts”, Panská 27

From there it was only a couple of blocks, including crossing Hviezdoslav Square, to the busy main road skirting the Danube, then across that to the ship.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 11:46:38
Bratislava: MS William Shakespeare (“UFO Bridge” in the background)


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 11:47:54
Bratislava: “UFO Bridge” and Castle

We went back to the cabin to deposit our Vox boxes and freshen up, then went up to the lounge. Janet had a cup of hot chocolate (initially, the machine produced only hot water, but Boris the barman went over and fixed it), and I had a bottle of Köstritzer Schwarzbier from the bar (12:08), the same as I’d had in Brandenburg on 4 May 2007. As we set off, I took a couple of last photos of Bratislava.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 12:50:06
Leaving Bratislava: St. Martin’s Cathedral


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 12:50:28
Leaving Bratislava: Castle

We went for lunch. I had a glass of “Spätburgunder” (according to Wikipedia, which I managed to access later, the same as Pinot Noir) red wine, and Janet had a Fanta (13:18).[iii]

[iii] 13:18 was the time that the friendly waiter George Rizea put the order through the till, then brought us an invoice slip to sign. We probably ordered and received the drinks shortly after we arrived in the restaurant for the buffet lunch, though. He was welcomely proactive, “Would you like soup, sir?”, “Would you like cheese, sir?” He reminded us of late actor Anton Yelchin, who played Pavel Chekov in three of the Star Trek reboot films.

After lunch, we went back to the cabin. Janet did this and that, and wrote up her holiday journal. I went aloft, because an announcement had come that we were about to pass Devin Castle.


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 13:57:12
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 13:57:12 (detail 1)
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 13:57:12 (detail 2)
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 13:58:34
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 13:58:52
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 13:59:10
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:00:28
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:02:10
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:02:10 (detail 1)
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:02:10 (detail 2)
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:02:22
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:02:38
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:04:02
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:05:10
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:05:10 (detail 1)
Devin Castle and environs


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 14:05:10 (detail 2)
Devin Castle and environs

Back in the cabin, I managed to get internet access using the Asus netbook/tablet; so I sent Chris another e-mail:

From: Джон Эдвард Купер
To: Chris Woodhead
Date: 7 July 2018 at 14:25
Sky is blue, but the Danube is still green. That Roland fellow gets about. There's a statue of him in Bratislava.

I looked up “Veltins” (14:25–14:31); as I thought, it’s German. So on a Dutch-owned ship, the draught beer is German! Ashore this morning in Slovakia, I was served Czech beer! Looked up “Spaetburgunder” and “Zweigelt Gmeiner” (14:41–14:45), the wines served yesterday and today. A lecture-cum-presentation by Riviera Cruise Director Viktoria Sarkany, “In the footsteps of the Habsburg Empire”, had been re-scheduled from 16:45 to 15:00, because the later time was when a FIFA World Cup match quarter-final between England and Sweden was to be played; so we went to to the lounge to find seats a little before 3pm.








Viktoria’s handouts

Janet wrote: “I found this 45 minute [talk] very interesting and learned quite a lot. I enjoyed history at school because we had teachers who made the subject fascinating.” I took my notebook, but the only notes I made were, “Habsburgs came from Switzerland”, and a couple of web addresses, “www.habsburger.net” and “sisi-in-england.com”. A lot of the facts and figures that Viktoria presented went over my head, but her talk was interesting nonetheless — especially when she said that the family motto was “Plus ultra”, and also when she mentioned that it had a Spanish branch. I wanted to show her the photo with “Plus ultra” that I took last year at the Alhambra, Granada; but when I went back to the cabin and tried to switch on the Asus netbook/tablet it wouldn’t respond. That upset me a bit. Janet continued: “After that, we moved to the other end of the lounge because a ‘fuckball’ match… was to be shown on that big screen [that Viktoria had used for her presentation].” I had a 0.4ℓ glass of Veltins (16:04), and Janet had a hot chocolate from the machine and some cookies that were always available on a plate there. At the aft end of the lounge were some shelves with books with two huge armchairs in front of them that dwarfed those who sat in them. It was in them, though, that we sat. Later, Janet had some cake (it was put out as part of the “16:00–16:30 Afternoon tea and coffee”). I ordered another 0.4ℓ of Veltins, and Janet had a “mocktail”, a Shirley Temple (16:58). I went back to the cabin, and this time the Asus came to life when I switched it on. I managed to access the internet (17:16); but I found my “John Edward Cooper’s Notes” on the blog-hosting website Blogger, on which I’d posted the “Plus ultra” photo, unavailable — blocked, I suppose (17:31). Facebook was also similarly unavailable (17:32). But oddly, I could get access to my material posted on Google Drive (17:32); so I brought up “6 September 2017” (17:34), in which also I’d posted the aforementioned photo. I looked up other things as well during the session (to 17:05). Janet wrote: “[John] had returned to the cabin… to check whether his computer had ‘come back from the dead’, so since he was gone so long, and as it was 5.30pm by then, I got his beer and returned to the cabin. I was relieved to find his computer was working.” At some point, I took the computer, found Viktoria, who was now at the Riviera desk on the upper deck near the reception area, and showed her the photo (below). She’d given the motto as the Latin “Plus ultra”; but this appeared to have it as “Plus ultre”, which she suggested might be Spanish.[iv]

[iv] In fact, it is French: “Plus oultre”. There’s an additional “o” hidden in the folds of the ribbon.

Wednesday 6 September 2017 — 09:33:56

After 6pm, we showered and changed. I looked out, and took these photos:


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 18:13:50
Young guy with inline skates near Vienna


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 18:15:12
Young guy with inline skates near Vienna


Saturday 7 July 2018 — 18:19:42
Barbara Pipeline Bridge: natural gas pipeline bridge on the outskirts of Vienna

We went up to the lounge for Eszter’s 6.45pm talk about tomorrow’s visits to Dürnstein and Melk. She mentioned the castle where Richard the Lionheart had been imprisoned, and that there was a “difficult route” up there and a longer, more roundabout but easier alternative route. I had a sparkling white wine aperativo and Janet had a Sprite soda-pop (21:08 on the invoice slip). Then at 7pm we went for dinner. We sat at a table for four at the rear of the restaurant near the starboard side. No-one ventured to join us. Although the menu was a nouvelle cuisine-style seven (or so)-course affair, there was something I could choose in every course. So I felt a lot happier than I had done when I sat down yesterday. Janet had another Sprite and I had a glass of “Zweigelt Gmeiner”. We saw highways and buildings through the windows; but I’m not sure when I realised that it was Vienna. Back in the cabin, I transferred 103 photos from my camera to the WD Elements HDD (21:05–21:09). Viewed them all in Windows Photo Viewer and rotated 19 that needed it (21:11–21:14). We were both in bed by ca.9.30pm.


[Sunday 8 July 2018]