When you leave the Main Square, you encounter another quirky street statue named Schöne Náci. This was actually a real person (schöne German for beautiful, Náci short for Ignac Lamar) from the early 20th century, a mentally ill man, who walked around Bratislava and greeted people in his velvet frock and by courteously bowing to them and using the phrase Küss die Hand (I kiss your hand) in Slovakian, German and Hungarian (source). Another famous street statue is Cumil (The Watcher), a statue of a man looking out of the gutter and with his own street sign nearby that says "Man at work" (in English mind you!). I wonder what is his work, since all he does is observing the passers-by :-) Cumil is probably the most famous street statue in Bratislava and there are usually tons of tourists taking photos near the statue. I had only few seconds to snap a photo of him without someone squatting nearby.
Asian family trying to take photos near the real Cumil. There is also a fake Cumil, who wants money, if you want to take a photo with him. Now tell me, why in the world would I want to pay to take a photo of a real person dressing up as Cumil, if I have the real Cumil 2m away for free? Somehow I felt his business idea is flawed. And I only saw crowds of people taking pics around the real Cumil, not the fake one... sheesh... funny Slovakian.
But before we went to the castle, we went to a Slovakian restaurant to try the famous Bryndzové halušky. And that was an experience to remember. Wait for my next post, which will be about the food.
![[Bratislava map]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4941531498_4d9e35ca17_o.jpg){kind=link}
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