My flat

For obvious reasons, it did not seem wise to announce on a public blog where I was living in Bratislava. So I'm writing this in my last few hours on the fabulous high-speed broadband connection in my flat, as I wait for the limo to the Vienna Airport.

Previous Fulbrighters urged that we live in Old Town, which sounded good to me. I love historic neighborhoods where I can walk around and explore, something I miss in California. After studying real estate listings on the web last summer, I settled on a building right in the middle of everything on Hviezdoslavovo námestie. Its proximity to the Opera House at the end of the Plaza was a huge attraction, as I wanted to attend the ballet as often as possible and was wary about getting home after dark.

My building was the gray one here on the right. My studio, facing the plaza here, is on what Europeans call the third floor and Americans call the fourth. The building has a lift (whew!). On the left you see the ugly gray guardhouse used for access to the U.S. Embassy complex, including the buildings left of mine.

All U.S. embassies are apparently on high-alert for terrorists, truck bombers, and who knows what else. Several uniformed guards were stationed around the outside of that guardhouse 24 hours a day. Indeed, one was usually stationed at the entrance to my building. I was told in September by the management that there was some concern my building might be used as an escape route by a would-be terrorist. I was not so worried about truck bombers, but it was nice to know that, after an evening performance of the ballet, the route to my building was well-lit and swarming with guards. And, if a female with an American accent screamed for help, it was nice to think it would get noticed, although that was never necessary.

I had an absolutely spectacular view. Andrew Sullivan's blog has a feature called "The View from Your Window," and he posted this one, looking west to the Castle and St. Martin's Cathedral.

My neighbor on the other side was the Czech Embassy (the building with the blue doors), a newly restored office building, and the German Embassy at the end of the block. Quite the neighborhood!

I did not have a balcony, although many units do in that building. A much larger flat with a balcony was available in September, but with the sinking dollar, I decided to opt for the smaller studio. As the dollar just kept sinking last fall (and still is), that was a good decision in retrospect, although that meant that I did not have room to entertain guests and visitors.

If future Fulbrighters in Bratislava want to contact me privately for housing advice, I would be happy to oblige. I got some great advice from my predecessors, and I'm happy to do the same for others.

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.