Bratislava, Slovakia

The 13th and final country on our European adventure turned out to be Slovakia, though only because Vienna and the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, are the two closest European capitals. They're separated by only about 50 miles or around an hour train ride. We couldn't pass up the chance to jump off from Vienna (sometimes called the "Gateway to the East") to go east behind the former iron curtain - always fascinating - another time (previous times being Prague and East Berlin).

Bratislava borders both Austria and Hungary and is split by the Danube, which as you'll recall from the last post was bursting from its shores at the time of our visit. At right you see the Nový Most ("New Bridge") straddling the river, with its famous "UFO" restaurant on top.

Laura and I didn't have any significant plans for Bratislava other than to walk around, get a feel for the place, and take advantage of cheap Eastern European food and drink. (On that note, Slovakia just recently converted to the Euro in January.) We briefly walked up the hill to Bratislava Castle, which provided an excellent view of the city. Below you see the spire of St. Martin's Cathedral.

St. Martin's Cathedral
The view also afforded us a glimpse of the many identical Soviet-era panelák (or panel buildings) on the other side of the Danube. These are pre-fabricated concrete buildings that provide a hideous addition to many city skylines in the former Eastern Bloc. You can find a picture of Slovak panelák on Wikipedia.

Meanwhile, the old parts of Bratislava were very attractive and inviting. Below you see Michael's Gate (at center), built around 1300. The streets were lined with sidewalk cafes and people happily enjoying the sunny weather.

Michael's Gate
We also stumbled by a market for artisans and those hocking tourist swag during out walk through the city (seen below).

Small Market
This statue of a jovial Napoleonic soldier was a favorite of ours. He's like an old chum when you lean over the bench with him, but he's just a creepy Frenchman when he is leaning over your shoulder.

Napoleonic Soldier
You can find more pictures from Bratislava at Flickr.

Melk

During our visit to Vienna, we used the city as a home base to see some other nearby sites. Our first day trip was to nearby Melk, Austria, a sleepy and picturesque town located right on the Danube River (at right) and known for Melk Abbey. Below you see two views of the colorful city, one from a high point and another from street level. Laura and I enjoyed walking the streets of the quiet town and of course happily stopped for a quiet lunch at a sidewalk cafe.



Melk Abbey was quite a site to behold. Although an abbey has been on the spot for many centuries, the structure seen today was built in the early 1700's in Baroque style. Due to recent restoration, the brightly colored abbey gleams, and the ornate stylings occasionally give way to some surprisingly modern interior exhibits involving neon lights and lots of glass.

Melk Abbey

A statue just inside the entrance


Melk Abbey also contained some very nice gardens, through which we took a stroll.

Grounds of Melk Abbey
Melk is an incredibly picturesque town, and we have many more photographs that you can see on Flickr. Wikipedia also has some very nice pictures of the interior of Melk Abbey.

In returning to Vienna, we had planned to take a Danube River boat for part of the trip, but we were startled to discover the entire region was in the midst of some heavy flooding. The Czech Republic saw the worst of it, but even the Danube River in Melk was nearly bursting from its shores. I read that the Albertina Museum in Vienna - where we didn't personally see any obtrusive effects of the heavy rains - even had to relocate some stored paintings from a leaky underground storage area.

The boats in Melk, of course, were not running on that day, so we took the train back to Vienna.

Vienna

For our last sojourn outside The Netherlands, Laura and I visited Wien, Österreich - better known in non-German circles as Vienna, Austria. The name Österreich literally means "Eastern Empire" and like everything we saw there, hearkens back to the days of the Hapsburg family and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As Bill Bryson says in Neither Here Nor There, "No one clings to former glories as the Austrians do..." This is evident in the grandeur that permeates much of the city center, from the palaces to the prominent monuments to national heroes like Mozart. (Another famous Austrian whose name popped up proudly and frequently was, of course, Sigmund Freud.)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

While in Vienna we were pleased to see several palaces. Below you see Laura standing in front of the Belvedere Palace, which houses the Austrian Gallery. We also visited the impressive Hofburg Palace, whose interior we viewed as part of an exhibit centered on the lives of Emperor Franz Joseph (1830-1916) and his wife Empress Elizabeth of Bavaria, or Sisi (1837-1898). Sisi was beautiful, mostly absentee, and was assassinated in Geneva in 1898. Since that time the image of the beautiful and mysterious empress has been romanticized, usually for economic gain. Franz Joseph was still emperor when his heir, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914 and the dominoes of WW I began to fall. He died before seeing Austria's defeat.

Laura in front of Belvedere Palace

The dome of Hofburg Palace

Wien is also a little famous (or infamous) for its wine, which we happily sipped at local heurigen (wine gardens). In the mid-80's Austria found itself at the center of a scandal when it was discovered that many wine producers were using anti-freeze (ethylene glycol) as a wine sweetener. Today, all of that has been cleaned up and we were able to enjoy our wine in a very nice outdoor atmosphere without worry of side effects like nausea and death.

During our exploration of Vienna, we also happened upon the opening weekend of the Music Film Festival at Vienna City Hall Park. The festival features free nightly film and music events for nearly two months (ending August 30th). There is also a tremendously cool "food circus" on location, containing some 20+ different cuisine offerings. Everything was there - Italian, Japanese, Turkish, Indian, Australian, Mexican, just to name a few - and Laura and I had such a hard time deciding that we went back more than once. This was more than a glorified fair atmosphere; the event was decidedly upscale and everything was of extremely high quality, with no paper plates or plastic silverware to be found, for example. Below you see the huge movie screen erected in front of the town hall surrounded by seating for 3000+ people. (The Viennese really know how to do summer entertainment.)


Many of Vienna's best sites are located in and around the Ringstrasse (Ring Road), so in addition to riding the tram around the ring, we also borrowed some of Vienna's city bikes (found at racks throughout the city) to ride it at a more leisurely pace. Below are a few pictures we took. The first is a monument to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a famous German writer. Next you see St. Stephen's Cathedral; the nifty roof was rebuilt in 1952 following WWII fire damage. Finally, one site that I found particularly interesting was the Soviet-built Soviet War Memorial, which honors Red Army soldiers who died in the Vienna Offensive. It is not particularly beloved in Vienna and has many alternate names, most notably "Memorial of the Unknown Rapist."



Soviet War Memorial