We started out the day at our local Budapest coffee house. It was out 3rd visit, great food, great location to us (just below our apartment). Then we were off to the races as soon as our amazing driver/tour guide, Michal, showed up at our apartment. We were worried this DayTrip service might be too good to be true, but we were wrong it was better than we could even imagine.
Michal drove us along the Hungarian countryside telling us fact after fact and story after story. We learned a lot about when and why Czechoslovakia split into the 2 countries it now is: Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Then, our first stop was in Bratislava, Slovakia, which is the big red dot on the map below to give you an idea where it is in relation to our drive.
We rode in a 7 passenger van with lots of room to stretch out, and for some people sleep. I didn't get a picture of one sleeping Owen who will remain nameless.
She woke right up, once we rode in to Bratislava and started some history lessons. Apartments in Bratislava were the prototype for communist housing assigned to everyone in all eastern block communist countries. They were only colorful in Bratislava, everywhere else they were just grey. People referred to them as rabbit homes because so many people lived in one building block. This was just a small section of them, we passed by miles of them. Each building was like its own neighborhood community.
Once into the city center, we walked up the hill to the Bratislava Castle. It used to be yellow, but has had a facelift in the recent past.
We walked and talked and learned all that Michal was gracious enough to share.
Under the communist control, he explained to us that you could practice religion, but there were some caveats. Some churches were torn down, the churches that were not, you could attend. But they recorded who was going to church, and that information was used to decide what jobs you could get and what neighborhoods you could live in.
Standing under the castle, you could look across the Danube at the Austrian border. Michal told us that many people tried to swim the Danube and cross into Austria, not many made it. It was pretty hazy today for a clear picture, but you can see how hard that would be to see something you might look at as freedom, so close but yet so far.
After lots of steps up, a history lesson, and lots of steps down, this sign told us what we needed to do. Go towards beer and fun...
So we found the beer and fun. Kelly and Johan had their first IPA for days and I had a Slovakian whitbier. Michal got himself a non-alcoholic beer and quoted Crocodile Dundee, "well, you can live on it, but it tastes like sh!¥."
Then we were on our way again, we stopped to take a picture of this centuries old Roman Empire wall.
We made an impromptu stop for some delicious Austrian cappuccino, sandwiches, and pastries.
And then made our way to Kreuzenstein castle just 30 minutes outside of Vienna. All of us saw it from afar and said now that's a real castle.
Then we saw it up close, and were even more in awe. This castle originally stood in the 12th century and boasted never being conquered until the Swedes came in during the 30 year war. Then, they blew it up before they left. It lay that way until 1874 when a Count Johann used the ruins to build a new castle. Just some fun facts that are made even better when you are traveling with a Swede named Johan.
After a long day of traveling, probably felt even longer for poor Michal, we made it to Vienna. He dropped us off safely at our hotel, gave us lots of tips for our time in Vienna and Prague, and we said our farewells. We highly recommend Michal for any trips you can snag him for... Our next tour guide has a lot to live up to.
Considering our hotel was minutes from the State Opera House and standing room tickets were only 4 euro each, we took in a show. The building was beautiful.
The foyer was beautiful...
And the theater was beautiful. We did find ourselves wishing for a fancy balcony seat.
But here are our standing room seats. We were smashed in close with a lot of other poor people wanting to try out a show. I am not going to say we stayed the whole production, but I'm also not going to say how long (or short) we stayed either. In our defense, it was hot, cramped and in another language...
So we found our way down the street and into a Viennese restaurant around the corner from our hotel.
And then a night cap at our new fancy home for two nights.
Took a group effort to figure out that we had to insert our room key into a holder to turn on the lights. And this also turned on the fireplace tv on the wall. Not too shabby.
Time to catch some sleep in that bed and plan for a whirlwind day in Vienna. We have a lot to see in just one full day here. We can't waste a minute.
gute Nacht!