We arrived in Bratislava yesterday (22 May), after a 4.5 hour coach ride from Prague. On our way to Bratislava, we stopped in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic (~500,000 population) for a quick lunch in the city’s downtown. After arriving in our hotel in early evening, we had a delicious group dinner in a local restaurant that served traditional Slovak cuisine. Then everyone was free to spend the evening as they chose, although a number of us spent time socializing at the hotel.
Today began with a 9:30 am tour of Bratislava. Unfortunately, the weather has been cold and rainy here, so half of the tour was given on the coach (as opposed to entirely walking). Everyone reconvened in the evening for rehearsal at the Jesuit Church of the Holy Redeemer. In the middle of our rehearsal, a Mass unexpectedly started, and we had to stop rehearsal (we were supposed to have from 5:30 until 6:30 to rehearse, and we had to stop at 6:00). None of the concert organizers even knew about this second Saturday evening Mass.
Despite the disruption and the less-than-desirable weather, we had a beautiful concert, which was very well attended and very well received. Both the Czech and Slovak audiences were excited and pleased that we had brought with us the music of Dvorak, which they consider one of their own.
