Bratislava

 Today, we took a day trip to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. We had thought about a day trip to Salzburg or Budapest but both of these cities are 2.5 hours away. Bratislava is only 1 hour from Vienna (which makes them the closest European capitals) so we chose that and we are very glad we did.

It was an early start but a really smooth coach ride to Bratislava. Once we got there, our guide Ivan took us around the city and told us so much about the history of the city. It was really informative. Once we were finished with Ivan, we were free to enjoy the city at our own pace.

We started with coffee at the Konditorei Kormuth.  This is a coffee shop decorated in the style of the 18th century. It is beautiful. You get your tea or coffee in decorated china and the cakes are absolutely delicious.

Next, we headed up to UFO. This is a huge tower which straddles the Danube River. At the top, there is an observation deck and a restaurant (our guide steered us away from eating there because of the prices). The view from the top was spectacular.

After UFO, we had to go to Bratislava Castle which overlooks the whole city. As much as we  said we were done with steps, in order to get to the castle we had to walk up a lot more ****ing steps. It was worth it. The castle is currently used for government offices so the main purpose of our visit is to walk around the circumference of the castle and admire the view. It was hard work getting up there but it was worth it.

Our physical effort warmed us up for lunch. There are so many lovely restaurants around the old city of Bratislava. We had a lovely meal even if the wine pours were a bit measly!

Next stop was the Blue Church of Bratislava which is a very unusual church coloured inside and out in a baby blue. I would love to actually go to Mass in this church. It is really adorable. There was a lovely park near the church. We sat down and relaxed for ages in the lovely cool greenery next to a fountain listening to a group of older Slovakians who gathered in the park to chat on a Sunday afternoon.

We travelled back to Vienna by boat. It was a lovely trip along the Danube. We were watching the sun set in the west as we travelled which made me think about the Slovakian people during the Communist era. Did they look down the Danube watching the sun set and thinking about the Western world out there?

Day 1 in Vienna

Beautiful weather in Vienna today. 24 and breezy. We started our day on the Hop on, Hop off bus. We have used these buses in many cities. This wasn't as good as some but we still got to see some of the major buildings in Vienna, particularly on the Ringstrasse.

Next, we went to Aida for coffee and cake. You can't come to Vienna and not have coffee and cake. I don't know why so many tourists queue up at the Sacher Cafe when you can get all the beautiful cakes (including Sacher Torte) at other cafes.

We had a debate about which gallery/museum to visit. Clare and I have diametrically opposed tastes. I like all the masters, she loves modern art. She won so we visited the Albertina Modern. After that, Clare and Ian has a quiet spell in a park while I did a tour of the Vienna Opera House. It was originally built in the 1860s but suffered quite a bit of damage in WW2. The front half of the opera house is all original while the back half had to be reconstructed.

When we met up again, we hopped on the tram to find Allergiker Cafe, where we could get gluten free food. As it was getting late, the kitchen was closed but god bless the owner who made us Viennese hotdogs for lunch. 

Our last stop for the day was the magnificent St Stephen's Cathedral. We had gone in there earlier in the day but there was a Mass on and, being the good Catholic girl that I am, I didn't want to be disrespectful, so we decided to come back later. Like other cathedrals we have seen, the scale is hard to wrap your head around. I don't know how they managed to build such high walls and ceilings.