Vienna was one of the few places where we would be staying two nights. We woke up refreshed, and waited until 10 am, when our landlord switched our room to an apartment downstairs. We then headed out the door, walking outside towards the Karlsplatz station, passing through several fresh-food markets, until we found ourselves in the museum district. We passed the Vienna State Opera and a theater, where we were accosted by a man dressed like Mozart who implored us to stop and take in a show that evening. We politely declined, but attempted to take a Tabitha picture. The man rushed us (understandable, given he was working) and James failed to complete the photo.
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| Walking through some of the Vienna street markets. |
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| The Vienna Opera house in all is a magnificent building. |
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| Vienna is the home of Mozart, so it is no surprise that his music is still cherished here. |
After leaving the Opera, we walked to Vienna’s central library/museum, where we re-evaluated our map and day’s strategy. We also took the opportunity to stop in a small exhibit hall that demonstrated some of the vibrancy of Vienna’s current artistic efforts; here, Tabitha also took a moment to consider one of the exhibit’s pieces.
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| James and Tabitha took in some culture at one of the museums in Vienna. |
After the exhibit, we walked towards the University of Vienna and spoke with some of the students there that were planning a protest later that day. We heard about how the students were upset about planned budget cuts, and we wished them a safe protest. Instead of protesting, we visited the “Votiv-Kirche” or “Church of the Votive.” In the nearby “Rathaus Platz” park. From the dark, we walked to Parliament to take some pictures and then took the train back to Wein Miedling station for our second country of the day, our trip to Bratislava, Slovakia.
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| The students protesting outside the university - it appeared to be a well attended demonstration. |
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| The Church of the Votive, which had surprisingly few votive candles. |
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| The Museum of Military History - which was housed in one of the largest buildings we have seen. |
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| Tabitha got involved in the action at the Military Museum. |
Our trip to Slovakia was uneventful, and while we did not have to pay for our trip to the Slovakian border, we had had to purchase separate tickets to make it across. Once we arrived at Bratislava, we were immediately struck by just how much poorer it seemed in Bratislava. In fact, James was very nervous, and told Erin it would be ok if we they did a quick visit and then headed back to Vienna straightaway. Erin laughed, and said she hadn’t come all this way just for a quick visit and no dinner. And, as we headed toward the city center, and away from the train station, James began to feel a bit safer and agreed that it would be alright to include dinner in the trip. Our first stop was Bratislava’s main palace, which was manned with traditionally-costumed Slovakian guards:
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| Tabitha in front of Brassalkovich Palace in Brataslava. |
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| Guards protect the Palace from intruders, or more likely, just stand there looking cool. |
We also began to see glimpses of the main Slovakian Castle far up a hill in the south-west section of Bratislava:
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| If you look closely, you can see the castle at the end of the Slovakian street. |
Instead of heading to the Castle, we wandered into traditional old-town Bratislava in search of the main square, as well as a traditional meal. We found both, first examining a number of small town-square market areas:
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| In the city center of Bratislava! |
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| Tabitha appreciated some of the music in Brataslava. |
Then, we sat down for our Slovakian meal. Erin had Slovakian chicken with pickled vegetables while James had goulash:
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| James's Slovakian goulash, which didn't have any pasta in it - unlike the American version of goulash. |
Dinner completed, we walked back to the train and headed back for our last night in Vienna.
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| The train station in Brataslava - which was a decent walk away from the city center. |
