Monday 29th May Bratislava- Vienna

We travel again today. Bratislava is a nice place and although we only really spent time in the very touristy old town and the river Danube , it was a pleasant couple of days.

Today we catch a catamaran to Vienna. Roughly 2 1/2 hours of watching the world go by...

Interesting to see our Botel from the river.

Accomodation in Vienna is in an apartment in Leopoldstadt, not quite in the centre of town but everywhere is easy to get to with the transport system.

This area is also close to Messe Wien, the convention centre where our conference is being held.

Bit of a sweaty walk  to our place from the ferry where we dumped our bags and headed into the main square, stephanplatz. Bit hungry and thankfully stumbled upon a schnitzel shop almost straight away😄

It is really hot in Vienna, very unexpected.

Whist we were having a very cold beer, it was decided that some culture was required!! Always the best ideas come with beers.

Onto a tram and hoping that we were going in the right direction we were heading to the belvedere palace. One museum that has a significant collection of artist Gustav Klimt and some Monet as well. They were pretty impressive to see. Also some pretty magnificent gardens.

Back to town for a wander and to find somewhere for food. Stopped at a "pub" near st Stephens, looked quiet, but out back it opened into a large and busy beer garden. Great service ( with a joke and a smile) from Andrew. Now fed and beered we made it home.

Sunday 28 May 2017

OMG Wedding on board last night, congratulations to the happy couple, but really did you have to party with loud music until 3am....

Anyway we were up and back into the city for coffee and breaky, at mood's, wonderful strong coffee. Just as well!!!! Because we had promised ourselves we would walk up to the Bratislava castle (Bratislava hrad). 

Like all these places I suppose, long history back to before 12 century. The place was burnt down late 19 century, however rebuilding has been almost completed .

Next stop liz's church, named after princess Elizabeth who was born 1207, married in 1221 and devoted herself to charity, and austerity. Her husband died in 1227 and her in 1231. Such a lot in a short life. Anyway there is a pretty blue church in Bratislava named after her.

The afternoon has been devoted to rest.

Yesterday, we were having a chat to some of the crew and were telling us how chef makes a fabulous Halusky ( traditional Slovakian meal made from old potatoes and lots of cheese, kind of sounds a bit like a gnocchi). Chef has promised to make it for us tonight.

Having seen how shabby the staff were today post wedding, we weren't totally sure it could happen..... But it did. Great meal although very strange night, 1 staff member, the bar ran out of beer, restaurant closed so we sat up on the deck, really odd

Anyhow, good with the bad

Saturday 27th Budapest - Bratislava

I can't quite describe the sadness of knowing that good coffee is just around the corner and we plan our pre train travel around the early morning brew only to find (as we wait outside with anticipation) that Expresso Embassy does not open on Saturday !!!!!

With heavy hearts we board the metro and head off to Keleti station, way too early.

Train travel, I think is wonderful at the best of times. Sitting back and enjoying the scenery that passes by is something really special. Trying to get back to your seat with hot coffee as we cross the Hungarian - Slovakian border just after stopping at a staion and picking up an enormous gaggle of Slovakian women is also pretty special too......

Arriving in Bratislavia,( capital of Slovakia, population of approx 480,000 and part of the EU)

 packs on and we make away towards our accommodation for the next two nights, Botel Pressberg. That is not a typo by the way! It is a Botel, a hotel on a boat. Very novel.

The railway station is on the opposite side of town from the river Danube so we wandered through the old town including through st Michaels gate.

First impression of this old town is it is just that, very old ( artefacts have been found dating back to late stone age) and full of history and culture. It is beautiful, but as we pass bar after bar full of loud European bucks and hens,  It feels an awful lot of that beauty has been diluted and forgotten.

After lunch in the very busy old town we crossed the"New Bridge" to have a look at the UFO tower.

98 m above the river and obviously stupendous views across Bratislavia. Apart from the expected great views of the castle and the city, it was also fascinating to see how flat the landscape is and the hundreds of wind turbines that head off into the distance.

 

Back into the old town and we continued to explore. Being a Saturday the place was packed with people. One favourite thing, were the random bronze statues around. Including the very cute guy coming out of the drain whose name escapes me as I write.

Dinner, beverages and some fabulous people watching before heading back to our Botel.

The Hungarians and slovakians have been so much fun. Their sense of humour is very similar to ours so they get our bad jokes!! But they have been incredibly warm an accommodating to we tourists as well

Friday 26th Budapest

Last day in Budapest....

Friday is food day. Started with caffeine sustenance at fabulous coffee shop we discovered by following the magnificent scent. Called Expresso embassy and it did not disappoint, great pastries as well and a very cheeky barista.

Toddled down to the Danube again, near the parliament, and jumped on the # 2 tram that runs along the river. Noted to be one of the most scenic tram journeys around with views across to Buda. We did the whole journey as the tram only travels backwards and forwards , it was great to get out of the cbd as well and have a bit of a look. We crossed the pretty green bridge in order to have a closer look at the church in the Rock, yes there is a church in the rock.....back across. Back on the Pest side we headed to the obligatory Central markets, built in the 1800's. Always have to visit a market, love the locals going about their business-literally, and the colours, smells; everything that goes with fresh food!

After that on the metro to sus out the train to Bratislava next day, quite easy really as the metro meets the "international" train at Keleti station. Imagine that a train you can catch to a different country, can't even do that to Tassie😄. 

Having done that went for a gawk at the rather upmarket New York cafe in the Boscolo hotel. Very nice, wasn't really that expensive €6 for a cappuccino.

After that we needed proper refreshment; a beer. We somehow found ourselves in a ruin bar (how does that happen?). As the pictures show:- barely habital.

BIG walk back to Central market to gather provisions for a meal at home. We are staying in a fabulous apartment so we think it would be fun to cook at home with a few lovely beverages thrown in. Pretty early to bed as we are very weary with all this last minute walking training.

Thursday 25th Budapest

Beautiful day in Budapest , so we are heading off to the Szechenyi  Baths. The hight of decadence as you will see from the photos. Looking at the number of locals that we are sharing the pool with, I think this is certainly something of their daily ritual. Bit like the morning surf in Australia !!

The outside pools were glorious in the sunshine and inside there is a choice of 11 pools of varying temperatures. There are also steam rooms, saunas massage rooms etc, etc and all this was built in 1903.

There is even a beer spa, no they don't actually waste beer in a tub. You do actually sit in the thermal water, have beer ingredients mixed in and endless beer to drink within the time allocated: sounds like a challenge! We were however on best behaviour and declined the experience and saved €20

Walking back from the baths and we walked through a huge square " heros square" although in my ignorance I'm not entirely sure who all the heros are, my bad....

It is huge and  impressive. 

As is Andrassy Hutca ( street / road) which appears to be the main boulevard heading back into the CBD.  

Glenn and carol visited the Terror Haus along the way. This is a museum depicting the horrors of war and the building was formally the Nazi headquarters in Budapest. 

Stuart and I declined and preferred to toddle around the streets and have coffee and a look around.

"Dirty beer" training continued this afternoon on one of the boats permanently moored on the banks of the Danube. Very nice outlook.....

Evening spent also along the river enjoying the magnificence of all the building when they are lit up.

Parliament, Buda castle and the citadel at gellert hill.

Wow,wow,just wow.....

Wednesday 25th Budapest

No one sleeps in anymore.. Out the door quite early considering its a holiday!!!!

I think it's only appropriate to have the first stop be the Danube and certainly helpful to gather our bearings in a new city for all of us.

Bought back to reality very early as we come across a monument " iron shoes on the Danube "

This is to honour the huge number of Hungarians, many of whom were Jews, who were killed as they were  fleeing into the Danube to escape the arrow cross militia ( roughly equivalent to the German nazi party). That is our understanding, please free to enlighten us.

On a much lighter note, we then joined a free walking tour that was hugely entertaining and took us to most of the sights and sounds that were on our to do list. They told of the history of Hungary and gave inside information of how best to enjoy Budapest.

We hecked out the parliament building ( will need to return at night tho, as it is pretty impressive when all lit up), walked across the chain bridge, then taken up a very big hill to Buda castle and all that is on the other side of the river from Pest. Finally inside the underground hospital built under the castle I the naturally occurring limestone caves; amazing.

Huge day of walking and it seems that our walking training has also begun now. 

"Dirty beer"training is much more fun.......

Tuesday 23rd may Paris - Budapest

To quote, I think Audrey Hepburn ... Paris is always a good idea!,

It makes me sad to leave so need to start planning the next visit.

Pleasant morning just wandering around the banks of the seine, brekky with more pastries and headed to the forecourt of the louvre. Just filling in time until we head to the airport.

Arrived in Budapest at the same time as an absolute cracker of a thunder and hail storm. Very grateful that we had already landed.

Found our accommodation for the next four nights and headed out for dirty beers and our first Hungarian meal

Monday 22nd may

Very unlike Parisians this morning as we rally to get out the door by 8am ish.

We have a plan to go on a tour of the Saint martin canal( including underground) and locks in the city.

We became aware of this on a previous trip to Paris as we wandered around and did some investigating.

Stumbled upon an awesome cafe with nice coffee and a huge selection of pastries, so many choices, so little time. Of course we had to sample several…

Great trip on the boat and thoughoughly enjoyed the novelty of the underground bits and traveling through locks; very foreign feeling.

Afternoon spent on the left bank, found Shakespeare's bookshop and the narrowest lane rue du chat oui Peche again to show Glenn and carol.

Bit more wandering to find a suitable spot for the next phase of our dirty beer training.

Dinner tonight was quite a highlight.  Tiny local, very French restaurant. Food was exceptional. Confit duck, steak au poivre and copious amounts of lovely red wine. Lucky choices really as the menu was only in French, with rough translation from the waiter. Thomas the waiter was hilarious and even scored a couple of cheek kisses from carol. He even picked liz's dislike of "blue" steak! 

Sunday 21 May

21/5/17 made it to France. 

Actually going via gaungjou with China Southern was pretty good, long day to then long overnight to Paris with reasonable sleep. 

The plan is to hit the ground running so as to make the most of only a couple of days in Paris.

Well we all got a sleep but of various quality and quantity. We are all a bit irritable today but after being fortified by cafe creme, all seemed to be well in the world again....

Got train into Paris proper at cost of €10 each, short walk( if we didn't get lost!) to our digs. 

After bags dropped off, long walk (training you see) to get coffee on way to Rodin sculpture garden to photograph ourselves with "the thinker" .

Continued to wander left bank to pay homage to that great metal structure known as the Eiffel Tower.

Gone are the the days of wandering underneath the tower, well you still can but the entire square is fenced off and one must line up to go the through security before going in. Another sign of our changing world.

Metro to commence our dirty beer training, we must train you see ( for those in the dark, "dirty beers" refers to the intake of beers at the end of the day before cleansing rituals begin. This became a well known event on our previous walk on the camino in 2013.

out for early dinner then an early night I suspect.