Prague, Czechia to Bratislava, Slovakia to Vienna, Austria
Woke up early and packed
Breakfast at the hotel once again. Once again delicious. We’d become hooked on automated cappuccino machines.
Hit the road- next stop Bratslava, Slovakia!
Noticed in Slovakia and Slovenia: Even when listening to Spotify, the local news breaks in for announcements on the half hour.
We crossed the famous “UFO Bridge” (twice!)
Once inside Bratslava, we had to pull over and search for one of the recommended locations. We weren’t far from Otto!, a chain in the area. We headed there and then needed Google translate to figure out how to pay for parking. Seriously, a life saver! Sylvia had beef broth and a coke, I ordered a grilled cheese (filled with something similar to kimchi) and a hot black tea. Our waitress had on cool customized cons that I had to take a picture of to send to Vix. We passed a memorable statue dedicated to actor/comedian Julius Satinsky, which I took photos of mostly to look up who he was. Bratslava seems like an up and coming city and I would love to go back to spend more time and explore deeper. Everyone at the restaurant was so nice and helpful.
An hour drive to our hotel in Vienna, the Imperial Riding School. At first it seemed rather stuffy, especially coming from the eclectic and humorous interior design of the Mosaic House (Prague hotel). Upon further inspection, however, the design was just subtle and gorgeously refined. They had elevated the horse and riding accessories by incorporating every detail with them. It was still whimsical, but more refined.
Right away we packed up our dirty laundry, which has been piling up since we got here, and took it up the street to a laundry to have cleaned. Will be ready for pickup tomorrow.
Continued to walk into Vienna proper and hit the main city center/tourist area, then continued up to see the Danube, hoping for some vibrant walking areas like Prague. Instead, we found a river area that was surrounded by mostly industrial wasteland. It was very disappointing. We later discovered our mistake: we did not go north enough to hit the Danube. What we saw was the smaller and less utilized Donaukanal. I have heard that the Danube riverwalk section of Vienna is exceptional, so we have to go back!
Made our way back to the hotel and had a beetroot tartar and I had a couple cocktails, a Just Now (with passionfruit, ginger, elderflower, and vodka) and a Whiskey Sour (substituted Woodford for the Jack Daniels they listed in the ingredients). It was well made.
Went back to the room to rest for a bit and looked into restaurant options. We wanted to try a full Austrian meal tonight because Sylvia’s dad is on a strict diet and needs to stay away from the rich, fatty meal dishes the area is known for. So we picked Gasthaus Poschi, a small neighborhood eatery. Sylvia had the mushroom soup with chanterelles. I had porcini tortellini. She also had an Apricot dumplings for dessert. Those folks sit and eat all night! No one is ever in a hurry when dinner is involved.
The downtown section near one of the Art Museums was doing some sort of party, while the area itself was lively.
We then walked down to Cafe Sacher Wien, but were turned away when we got in line as they would be closing in half an hour. Will try again tomorrow.
Walked back to the hotel through more tourist area, then on into the quiet, Truman Show like set-looking area that is near us.
(18,403 steps)
Vix’ Day
Description here – Gambling night out
