The Course Of Understanding part 3

3. OOPS, SLOVAKIA IS A RELIGIOUS COUNTRY!
Before leaving Prague I had also found the addresses of the Czech Embassy in Bratislava and several good (read: cheap) hostels. I also glanced at their locations on an Internet map. I wrote down the addresses, and, armed with a vague memory of where tourist information was located, I decided to pretend I was ready. I woke up dark and early at 4:30 (after going to sleep at midnight due to last minute packing), and reached the bus with at least three minutes to spare. The bus trip was completely uneventful: working through the middle section of Les Miserables and dozing a bit. The only worry on my mind was that I had not discovered the thing I was missing. Of course everyone knows that there must always be something you forget, and I’ve given up hoping to beat this law, I just hope it’ll be something unessential, especially on a trip like this. About the time we were crossing the Slovak boarder, and I was mentally going over my plan in my mind, I took out my address paper to review it. At least, I tried to. Being unable to find the paper, I realized that it had sadly fallen prey to Murphy’s Law. I was actually relieved by this, since it was not nearly as bad as other items that Murphy might have chosen as a sacrifice. This meant I simply had to find the tourist agency, and everything would go smoothly once I could ask all my questions. My only added concern was that I was now placing a lot of emphasis on the helpfulness of the people at the information office. But hey, that’s their job, right?!
I arrived in Bratislava a little before 11, instantly feeling an unwelcome familiarity with the streets around the station, the gypsies standing by the bus doors to request (read: demand) money, and the crowded dilapidated buildings blocking the sky. I attempted to make a B-line from the station, through the center, and straight to the tourist office (an ordeal of an hour and a half in the last trip), and was immensely pleased with myself for making it without a single wrong turn and in 20 minutes! Maybe my past experiences would make Bratislava a good choice after all! I was also pleased that the streets were very quiet (hushed background voice: "toooooo quiet...."), and there were not crowds of tourists to contend with. The quaint "historic center" actually started to look a little charming. I came to the desired, all-important information building from the side, and felt the uncertainty before I saw the problem: no one was inside. I walked to the door: closed. Sign on the door: "Sunday blah blah blah" And a little below that: "12:15 blah to blah blah 1:30." I pressed my face to the window and peered in. Yep, that sign wasn’t kidding! I’ve never seen a more perfect example of "clear as mud."
So, there was still a chance that the office would open at noon. Hope never dies from a single blow. I retraced my steps a bit to visit the neighborhood Tesco, which seemed to be one of the few places open. Tesco is the Wal-mart of Europe. I actually like the Bratislava Tesco quite a bit. They actually have poster-board! You’ve no idea! They also have maps of the city, of which I made a mental note. If I ended up being on my own for this one, I needed to start listing all my resources.
I spent about 45 minutes wandering the store, because it was better than sitting in front of the office. By the way, it was cold that day. Mostly cloudy, probably around 40-45 degrees with a nice wind. The elements were a major consideration.
I finally returned to wait at the office... for about an hour. Around 12:00 I started looking for someone to go and unlock the door; around 12:15 I went to stand in front of the door myself; around 12:30 I sat down on a stone wall and started reading; and around 1:00 I started making my own plans. That little paper with addresses started to feel not-so-dispensable.
Having walked through the center three times already, I had noticed that everything was closed. This means everything. Prague is quieter on Sunday than other days, true, but in the center you’d never know what day is was: "the tourism must go on!" However, Czech Republic is an atheistic country, Slovakia is strongly catholic. Bratislava was shut down for the Sabbath, tourism notwithstanding. Lord bless their dedication, and I was officially left with little more than a prayer. Here I was in Bratislava, and having gotten this far it was possible I wouldn’t be able to find the embassy!
I returned to Tesco and bought the city map (exploit resources!), not suspecting in the least that I was getting more than just a map. I then proceeded to give myself a headache trying to remember the glimpses of maps I’d seen on the internet. Really, I never thought I’d need to remember them. Plan A had been finding the addresses; plan B was asking at the Information office... who keeps a plan C? Also, I had found the address for a "Czech Center" which could easily be different than the Czech Embassy. If they were different things, I could just ask at the Czech Center right? Wanna bet that they’re open? Me neither.
After about 20 minutes of staring at the map, I was pretty sure I recognized an area down by the river. Hey, the Danube, going right through the middle of the city: shouldn’t be hard to find, right? After two hours, an unwanted self-"guided" city walking tour, and a violent clash of opinions with my map (take note of this!), I was standing triumphantly before the Czech Center (less than half a mile from Tesco, as the crow flies). After a few moments of uncertainty, dramatically scripted to top-off the last two hours of worrying about it, I found the nearby door for the Czech Embassy, along with the hours for Visa application. Location: Success!