so the crazy thing about Vienna being in 'central' Europe is that it is quite CENTRAL! Budapest is 3 hours away by train, Prague is 5 hours away and another capital city, Bratislava is right around the corner.
So I was going to take another boat company but the idea came to take this one, roughly the same price, but with this one breakfast, dinner and desert were included. here she is, the Empress Elisabeth! She was quite the bigger lady than I expected....I thought we'd be...maybe 80 people, instead we were probably more around 300-400 people! Craziness...
And we're off! This is actually looking backwards towards northern Vienna where we took off from...
There is little Leopoldsberg church that I've taken photos from and then put them on the blog....
This area of Vienna along the Danube is called Millennium City...
No comment...brazen, no?!
Here we are sinking in the lock....we used to be up where the waterline is...
Waiting to be let go....took forever, ARGH!
So about an hour later we hit Hainburg along the Danube...this is roughly the last Austrian city....
The Celts were here...oh those stupid, unable-to-organize anything Celts! Lost Europe that way....way to go, ya bunch of eedjits!
This is Devin castle where the Mark river flows into the danube. The Romans built fortifications here, the Hungarians did as well....the Turks later on...Napoleon's soldiers blew it up and now it is the border between Slovakia and Austria...
And about an hour afterwards we see Bratislava off in the distance!
When I lived in my dorm in London there were old drawings all over inside that showed a town called Pressburg. I am fascinated by old drawings and would look at them a lot, but I never knew where Pressburg was....well...when it as part of the AUSTRO-Hungarian empire, the name of Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, in German was Pressburg! So cool to see it now in person after all this time!
And thar she be - Bratislava Castle! THE landmark of Bratislava/Pressburg...
That building off to the side is the new Slovakian (they only recenlty got their independence from 'CZECHO-slovakia) parliament building....
Lookin' good! This is more or less the viewpoint of many of those old drawings of Pressburg I saw in London! So cool to think that 300 years ago someone was drawing those drawings from this viewpoint....
Looking good....shall we go see what Bratislava has to offer?
Promenade along the Danube....
Slovakia is in NATO, the EU and now they have the Euro....it would be quite cool to go see the parts of Slovakia some of my interviewees/reserch peeps came from. Apparently it's beautiful mountains!
Here is a Pestsaule (Plague (usually built when the plague ended and the people were grateful) Column) with the castle in the background...
And here we are...downtown Bratislava or Pressburg as the Austrians would have called it. This was for hundreds of years (after the Turks conquered Budapest) the 'seat' of the Hungarian empire and this is where numerous Austrian rulers were crowned 'King' or 'Queen' of the Hungarians, i.e. Maria-Theresie...
On the left is the Danish embassy where Mozart supposedly played a concert when he was around 6-years old...
This is the Austrian embassy in a building where Mozart is reported to also played a concert for Marie-Theresie...
On the left is the building that served as the Hungarian parliament building until Budapest was reconquered...
There is St. Michael's Gate in the background...
A better view of the parliament building...it was interesting to hear our guide just be very matter of fact as to how Bratislava was Hungarian, Austrian, etc...other places aren't as relaxed about how other cultures used to control/own their lands...
Here is old City Hall surrounded by French, Greek and Japanese embassies...
The rest of the square...lots of restoration/renovation works going on...they've done a good job methinks :)
I dedicate this Souvenir market to my dad who would've haggled them all into surrender! :)
This is a plaque in memorial to the Prague/Czechoslovak uprising in 1968 against the Commis and Soviets...
This was the Archbishop's palace. Napoleon and the Austrian emperor signed the Pressburg Peace in this building after the battle of Austerlitz....
Here's the National Theatre of Slovakia...pretty snazzy , no? It was funny...our tour guide wanted to talk to me more after the tour was done, I think it was cuz she doesn't speak English and wanted to 'get to know' an American...it was funny...I was kind of like 'sorry nice Slovakian lady, but I only have till 3:30pm! My boat leaves at 4pm!'
Isn't this funny?! It is a sculpture coming out of a sewer drain! I just thought it was funny...
I am just hanging out...
'Hi! I have a hat! And a Harry-Potter-almost-like Zag on my coat!'
Here we are back at St. Michael's gate...
other side...
This church looked nicer on the inside than the outside....
Maybe cuz this was on the outside....no comment...
Here is where the President of Slovakia lives...
Better view...
Changing of the Guard...all lookin snazzy in their shades...
Interesting how all these 'Imperial' Austrian/Hungarian cities have some of the same look to them...
I saw these and thought of my Mom....
Love you Mom!
Here is the 'don't worry Mom, I am alive and well' photo :)
here is the Slovakian parliament building...our tour guide told us that a majority of the Slovaks did not want independence from Czech Republic...apparently it was something that the politicians decided to do....go figure, politicians doing something that the people don't want...shocking, I know ;)
An interesting, but decent-looking building...
Another view of the castle...
Looking at the 'UFO' (New Bridge) bridge over the Danube....click the pic and you'll see what I mean...It is so interesting how they built the commi high-rises across the river...it was very common to do the same in the GDR. Cheaper to build new high rises than renovate the old, ancient downtowns...
Panorma!
So here we are at the castle...don't know who this guy is...I didn't recognize his name, must be a Slovakian/Slav hero (it said from around 898)...
Almost everything in Bratislava was under renovation, methinks someone got a 'birthday' present check from the EU :)
The inner courtyard...
The inner courtyard...
Looking out through the doors...you can see the commi high rises in the background...
'Camelot! Camelot!....'
That's what came to my mind when seeing the castle up close....
Panorama of the old city below...
I dedicate this to my sister Suzanne, since she is the arteest and I need her to explain this to me LOL! :)
Looking back at the castle...
What a nice little town, no? I really liked Bratislava...it's like a smaller, nicer Prague and Vienna put together...I'm a fan :)
Here is what I mean...it's called the 'UFO' New Bridge...
This was a new thing, they had the pedestrian/bike part of the bridge under the bridge away from the cars....I thought 'what a great idea!'
I wanted to cross cuz and see the 'viewpoint' of all those London drawings of Pressburg from the other side of the Danube...cuz techncially I was ON the boat earlier...
Middle of the Donau shot...big German tour boat docking...
If you keep on going down the river, you'll hit Budapest! And then Sarajevo! And then Romania...and then the Black Sea!
You can see the UFO in the shadow...so more or lesss the TRUE point of view of the castle from the London drawings is obscured by the New Bridge....oh well...
Love how the bridge framed this pic! There is my boat in the lower right-hand corner, castle and parliament up on the hill...
They literally gave us just enough time...we got in a little after 12pm, we had a 1-hour tour and then just enough time to go see the castle, and then cross the bridge...
"U WUK MAHVEWOUS!"
Hello Empress Elisabeth! Did you miss me?
One last glance....
Au revoir, Bratislava!
Jah-koo-yem! (Thanks in Slovakian)
Devin castle again, we're almost to the border of Austria...ALREADY?!!
We made it! :) We're now in Austria ;)
This is Hainburg...we're just going to make the same trek back to Vienna now...
Thanks for the welcome, Hainburg!!
Probably would be cool t go visit that Burg-Fortress, but no time for now...can't you tell I'm busy writing away on my dissertation?! :)
Looking back...Austrian flag flying....
I thought the way the sun reflected off the 'lines' of the bridge was cool (reminds me of a 'gateway' thing that does the same thing at Fairbanks airport)...
And the sky got cloudy...I was fine at this point, the day had been wonderful and I was so grateful for that!!
I spent about $60 for this trip...admittedly that is a lot, but when I thought about it...3 hours down the Danube, 3 hours back, breakfast and now a buffet dinner...it seems that this would cost a lot more in the States...I feel I got a good deal and I am glad I went...
And then to relax on the deck...and watch this beautiful sunset change and change and change...
Just beautiful...
It was amazing to watch as it got later how the sunset changed...
Beautiful, no?
Granted this was 'sunset' setting on my camera, so artificially more orange than it would've been, but still...'living fire' across the sky....loved it!
Here we are heading into the lock...doesn't it look like we're encountering UFO-land in outer space or something? :)
The only downer to the boat ride was that both times we had to wait in the lock forever (I guess they'll only do it with 2 boats in there)...
But the moon was to our backs...'Que bella e la luna!"
Now hitting Vienna...even though this was fuzzy, I loved how the reflections in the water...they looked like sparklers or something....again, 'living light'...it was beautiful....
Safe and sound in northern Vienna! Thanks Empress Elisabeth for the great ride!
I would definitely recommend this to anyone in the area....
And now, off to beddy-bye....
