MY SUMMER 2005 TRIP TO SLOVAKIA
I tried really hard to book my flight directly through Internet, only to find the prices were really high. So I decided to call some travel agents. First call was to the agent I flew through in the spring, gave her all the dates for my travels and also for our daughter Julia, who will be going to university in Bratislava, first learning language and then if she likes it may continue her studies in Fine Arts. She was really busy and promised to call back in few minutes, she never did and thus lost a sale of two airline tickets, totaling close to CAD$ 3000.00. I called a new agent, ZELMA at METRO TRAVEL in Vancouver, gave her the same info, she was on the ball, found the flights, gave me the prices, better than I was able to find on the internet and promised to hold the tickets for me for few days until I make my final arrangements. You see I wanted Julia to be first accepted to the language class at the KOMENIUS UNIVERSITY, which by the way costs 3450.00 EUR equivalent to US$ 4152.00. This required scanning and emailing and faxing several documents and the application to Slovakia and receiving an acceptance letter. It took several days. Also I had in my mind to travel on June 21, but Zelma suggested that if I fly on June 14, I will save about CAD$ 400.00 on my ticket. I emailed my car rental company ADVANTAGE CAR RENTALS and after receiving my confirmation on the car, I booked Julia’s and my ticket. I am flying KLM and Julia will fly BRITISH AIRWAYS.

As usual it is very busy just prior to my departure as I always have to pack and repack and take things out of my suitcases several times, so I won’t be overweight. I keep on buying little things for months and suddenly there is so much stuff to take that I have to leave many things behind. It works the same way on my return from Slovakia. I seldom pack any of my personal things as I have everything in Slovakia.

First, I flew to Amsterdam. The flight was great, nothing major as I flew to Amsterdam before on several occasions. The Schiphol Airport has been getting serious uplift for several years and it seems to be finished in the main areas and it looks great with exception of the cigarette smoke as you can freely smoke at any European airport and I don’t like it at all. The connecting flight to Vienna is no good. I arrived early morning and had to wait six hours for my connecting flight, and then some passengers didn’t show up and due to the security, they had to unload the entire luggage and pick the missing person’s luggage. Then we lost our departure time window and we had to wait for clearance. So I arrived In Vienna about 45 minutes late. In Vienna I don’t remember telling you, you better have some Euro coins in your pockets if you want to get a dolly for your suitcases. You have to insert one or two Euros and you can take your dolly and load your suitcases. After unloading you take your dolly to its parking spot and you get your money back, same as here in Safeway. My friend MILAN ŠTEFÁIK arrived right on time in the parking lot, just as I was coming outside. We always load in the diplomatic zone, as it is empty most times.

At the Slovak border the Austrian and Slovak border guards do the checks together, you can get through also on permanent residency card as we were used to go to USA by simply showing driving license when asked. This will all change when Slovakia becomes part of the Schengen system in January 2007. The Schengen Treaty is a set of rules governing border controls between EU countries and between the EU and the bloc’s non-members. It became effective in 1999. The 98.5-kilometers long border strip with Ukraine will become part of an outer EU border. All other borders of Slovakia are with EU nations members. January 2007, the only border patrols you will be able to see will be at the Ukrainian border. When I was growing up in Bratislava this wouldn’t come to me even in my wildest dreams. I went to pick up my car right away form my friends at ADVANTAGE CAR RENTALS and soon I was on my way. Went to my home first unpacked some stuff and went to visit my friend PhDr. MARTIN MEŠŠA at the UĽUV folk crafts office. Here I learned of an excellent exhibit about Slovak Folk Costumes at their Centrum at Obchodná Street. Next day first think in the morning I went to the police station to apply for a new Slovak European Union passport. The fee is 1000 Sk and it takes up to a month to get it. They fill the application for you on the computer, take a digital picture, you sign the form and it is done. They are really understaffed, but very friendly and the processing is fast.  I sent two applications in early May for Maria, my wife and our daughter Julia to the Slovak Embassy in Ottawa, so I inquired at the office about the status of their passports. Well, there was no trace of them and that was disturbing, as Julia needs the passport prior to her departure in early September. I was told to come back and check with them in a week. I photographed the exhibit of FOLK COSTUMES at UĽUV next day......

BOOKS

KAROL PLICKA
ČESKOSLOVENSKO  
This book contains sepia photographs of Prague, Slovakia, Slovak folklore, some never published before.
He bas born in a family of Czech businessman on October 14, 1894 Vienna. He lived his childhood in Vienna and Česká Třebová. Already in 1899-1900 he was a member of choir Wiener Sängerknaben. When he was ten years old, he started to be in­terested in photography and con­structed a photographic instrument out of an old cigar box. Later on he pur­chased a photo camera and after 1919 started his collec­tor’s and photographic studies of Slovak folklore.
Until 1918 he was a member of army band and a singer in the choir of opera in Vienna. 1919-1923 member of Singers association of Prague’s teachers. He was a co-founder and conductor of the choir of Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1909-1913 he studied at the Teachers institute in Hradec Králové, 1914 he studied violin under Prof. Mařák in Prague.
 In 1927-1923 he absolved extra ordinary study of musical science and history of art at Philosophical faculty of University of Ján Amos Komenský in Bratislava...

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Vladimir Linder
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Burnaby  BC   V5C 1P6  CANADA  

BRATISLAVA TESTIMONY OF HISTORIC POSTCARDS  
BRATISLAVA SVEDECTVO HISTORICKÝCH POHĽADNÍC
This is a fantastic hard cover large format book 10 x 13 3/8 inches containing 574 historical postcards and photographs with many views of the city from the days gone by. It goes back to 1839 and the beginning of photography in Bratislava. It shows the first known picture of Bratislava by J. Deutsch from 1840-41.
The book is written in Slovak, German, and Hungarian languages. At the end of the book the complete text is in English.
It starts with a chapter: From the History of Picture Postcards. Followed by: Views of the City: Franciscan Square, Main Square,Clarisine Lane, Lawrence Lane, St. Michalel’s Lane, Lords Lane, Primate Square, Fishermen’s Gate, Ventura Street, American Square, Danube Lane, Gorki Street, Deep Road, Hodža Square, Hurban Square, Hviezdoslav Square, Jacob’s Square, Field Hospital Street, Factory Street, Jesenský Street, Kollár Square, Goats Lane, Cross Lane, Ľ. Štúr Square, Commerce Lane, The Palisades, Virgin Lane, Radlinský Street, Fish Square, Freedom Square, Square of the Slovak National Uprising, Dry Toll, Šarárik Square Rampart Streer, Hospital Lane, Štefánik Street, Štefanovič Lane, Windy Lane, High Street, Zoch Lane, Castle Street, Jewish Lane, District Square, Capucin Lane, The Daube Embankment, The Castle Surroundings, The Castle, Transpor, Church Buildings, The Fire Brigade, Culture and Education, Aerial Views, Bridges, Parks, Greenery, Foresters‘ Lodges, Catering, Recreation, Sport, Industry, Factories, Wine Growing and Wine Bars, The Military, Health Service and Welfare, Floods, The Fire in 1913, Exhibitions and Fairs, The Visit of Francis Joseph I in 1908, The Visit of Emperor Charles in 1918, The Incorporation of Bratislava into Czechoslovakia, The Last Farewell to Milan Rastislav Štefánik, The Bomb Attack on  March 13, 1939, The Bombing Raid on June 16, 1944.
I lived in Bratislava for the first 19 years of my life from 1950 until 1969 and I still remember many scenes of Bratislava captured on these postcards. It has brought back many memories and I would certainly recommend it and especially to people that used to live in Bratislava.

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SLOVAK HISTORY CHRONOLOGY & LEXICON
This book is in English
The book (350 pages) is divided into two sections.

The first section, the calendar, presents Slovak history from the first evidence about human beings on Slovak territory up to the events that took place in 1998 with notations summarizing important historical events and phenomena.
The second section is an encyclopedic dictionary with three hundred alphabetically arranged entries characterizing the most important concepts, institutions, and events. It includes genealogical tables of the longest reigning dynasties on the Hungarian throne, a list of all rulers and presidents of states to which the lands of Slovakia belonged (Great Moravia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Slovakia).
Six historians from Bratislava prepared this chronology of Slovak history (J. Bartl, V. Segeš, V. Čičaj, D. Škvarna-main author, R. Letz and M. Kohútová).
It is said that the way to the knowledge of the present leads through a knowledge of the past. Therefore, this book can be recommended to all readers, who are interested in the Slovak history as well as to those, who are involved in genealogical research.
We can only welcome this book trying to fill the gap because until now, Slovak history was not sufficiently covered and to a very limited extent in the English language.
It is not frequent to mention the translator’ s name, but an exception in this case is allowed, thank you David P. Daniel for your excellent translation.

Reviewed by: Miroslava Dulová

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Obrázkový slovník slovenčiny
ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAG
Author: Oľga Škvareninová
This illustrated dictionary is intended for each and everybody with the intention to improve his or her knowledge of the Slovak language.
It includes approximately 3 000 selected words, more than the basic thesaurus.
The dictionary is divided into six individual titles and accompanied by a register at the end.
The individual titles are:
People and their surroundings
Nature
Working environment
Transportation
Leisure and sport
Art and science

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SLOVAK FOLK DANCES
Mária Mázorová, Kliment Ondrejka and colleagues
This book is in Slovak.

It contains:Map of folklore regions of Slovakia
Detailed choreographies and songs including music sheets from following regions: ZEMPLÍN, GEMER, LIPTOV, GORAL, PODPOĽANIE, MYJAVA, ŠARIŠ and SPIŠ, NITRA and TEKOV, HONT, NOVOHRAD and ZVOLEN, TRENČÍN and KYSUCE, PODUNAJ and ZÁHORIE.
The text is supplied with 106 color photographs, 159 black and white photographs of the folk dress, folklore groups, prominent dancers and musicians in the authentic version; 388 black and white photographs of the dance motives performed by the members of some outstanding ensembles, 174 songs and folk scores, the folklore map of the Slovakia.
The work The Slovak folk dances is the complex and systematic publication from the sphere of the Slovak dance folklore and with it close associated kinds of the folk art, which were developing together with the dance, were influencing each other and formed often one entirety.
This work is the result of the needs and requirements of all those who are concerned with the folk dance and the folk art. It represents the picture of the past expressing that the Slovak folk dance and the folk art have kept substantially the form of the classic art because their characteristic elements can be found in all periods of the development and are preserved until the present time.
With the aim of saving our cultural heritage (folk dance, music, songs, dress) for the contemporaries and the future generations in its full beauty, the authors pass to the readers with high professionalism their life long knowledge and experiences acquired in research and professional work in the folk ensembles.
In the first chapters of the book the general characteristics of the dance folklore, the musical folklore and the folk dress in the Slovakia is presented so as their samples have been preserved for us since the old times until those of the beginning of the 20th century.
In the next part twenty folklore regions are presented in detail: the regions of Zemplín, Gemer and Horehronie, Liptov, Tatra’s highlanders, Poľana, Myjava, Šariš, Spiš, Nitra, Tekov, Orava, Turiec, Hont, Novohrad, Zvolen, Trenčín, Kysuce, Danube lowlands and Záhorie. The complete typical picture of the separate regions is offered. The location, settlement, the survey of many known dances, descriptions of the dances, musical folklore, folk dress. At those regions where the most peculiar Slovak dances originated, also the detailed descriptions of the dance motives are given.
The work is intended for all who admire the folk dance, especially for the dancing masters, young people who attend dancing schools, the amateur and professional dance ensembles. It will be of good use for the choreographers, dress designers and for all those who are engaged in the folklore and want to acquire further professional knowledge and experience in this sphere. But certainly it will please everybody who is interested in the beauty of the Slovak folklore, its richness and variety.
We believe that the book will inspire all its readers with admiration for the creation of unknown folk artists of the long and the recent past. At the same time it will help all bearers of the traditions to keep and propagate the most beautiful jewels of the Slovak national culture.

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Copyright © Vladimir Linder 2005-2006 
3804 Yale Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5C 1P6
The above article and photographs may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or redistributed by any means including electronic, without the express written permission of Vladimir Linder. All rights reserved.