The Romans wanted blood, and there was plenty to be had at the annual game fixtures and at special events celebrating triumphs, festivals, and political campaigns. The biggest and best of the annual tournaments was the state sponsored Ludi Romani or "Roman Games" which were the main Roman pastime every September. The games are held each July :) in Bratislava's district of Rusovce, behind the Church of St. Magdalene, on location where the only Roman military camp (named Gerulata) in Slovakia that was a part of the Roman Empire had been built. We had drizzling rain this time but the atmosphere of the Games was really good. Well worth sitting down and watching.
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The castle Cerveny Kamen (The Red Rock) was built roughly in the l3th century as a royal frontier castle. Among the landmarks of the castle's history and appearance were its owners. The castle became the property of the rich Fugger family whose wealth hinged on the extraction of ores containing Cerveny kamen non-ferrous metals in central Slovakia, as well as on commerce and financial transactions. According to the grand commercial plans the castle was rebuilt into an impressive Renaissance fortification in which the estate administration was combined with commercial activity and erection of spatious storages for reloading of goods. The reconstruction of the castle commenced in 1537 and continued until the former half of the l6th century.
The castle has a unique complex of monumental cellars, as well as an extensive collection of original household artifacts. The castle gallery contains works from old masters, predominantly from Central Europe, and there is also a very good military exhibition.
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This Saturday and Sunday only, all public places were for free in Bratislava. Free antique tramway, free museums, exhibitions. Also the weather was really nice and warm, inviting everyone to come out and walk. So I did. There aren't too many pictures in this album as I didn't walk too many places, only around the centre of the city. Still the atmosphere was something to enjoy for everyone.
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This is the result of a winter that took too long. Lots of snow and glaciers up in Schwarzwald began to melt causing floodings down the flow. Fortunately, unlike the last flooding, the water level did not rise as high as to flood the city. By only a few inches though. Best see for yourself.
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Au dessus des vieux volcans,
Glisse des ailes sous les tapis du vent,
Voyage, voyage,
Eternellement...
After 10 long years at last. The big OE again. February 2006 was the month to go to see old friends and places in Australia and NZ again. Most of the people I knew then simply passed to oblivion in the meantime but some of them stayed. Thanks a million to you. You know who you are. I cannot wait to go there again. I hope it won't take another 10 years. All of the pics here are batch retouched . This means that unlike all other times, this time I could not be bothered to individually check every single picture. There were more than a thousand of them. I cropped and lightened them all to the same extent. That is why some may appear slightly overexposed while others may appear underexposed. If you are interested in a particular pic please let me know and I will retouch it just the way it is supposed to be.
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