Bratislava and Vienna

The Hofburg Complex, Vienna

My brother, Caleb, and I had been working out how to meet up over the Christmas vacation, and finally settled on seeing Eastern and Central Europe. I had my eye on the lower eastern European countries (Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, etc) while Caleb was interested in Poland and the Baltics. We finally settled on the mildly ridiculous and ambitious plan of seeing 7 countries in 18 days: Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.

Bratislava

I arrived by myself in Bratislava, sick with a really bad head cold and the feeling that I had no clue why I was there in the first place. After the plane touched down, I watched a drunk Slovakian man hit on the flight attendant then slip on some ice on the tarmac. More scary than funny, at the time. It was cold, but no colder than Brussels, so I felt right at home. With just a backpack on my shoulders (Ryanair requirements, so I had to pack light), I hit the town.

The Bratislava castle sits high atop a hill, many steps up. Recently restored, it has a beautiful interior courtyard and group of statues.

Right away I realized I had no idea where I was going, so I made friends with a family who I overheard speaking English. The father was British, the mother Slovakian, and they (with a pair of children in tow) were visiting the mother's family for Christmas. Interestingly, the father worked for Kellogg's and had made many business trips to the US. They put me on the right bus and accompanied me to the first Christmas market of the trip, in their historic district. No photos of Bratislava, so here are a few I snatched from the internet.

The main square.

To be honest, outside of the historic district, Bratislava was not my favorite city. Not quite as bad as the Bratislava scene in Eurotrip, but not the nicest city, either. A lot of remnants of Soviet interaction were left on the city, and not in the most positive way. At the end of the day, I frantically searched for an internet cafe to get in touch with Caleb and then waited it out in the train station. We hopped on a quick train to Vienna and got in touch with our couchsurfing host for the night, two Austrian sisters named Laura and Katharina. We hung out with them for a while, then went back to their place to crash and prepare for the next day of sightseeing.

Vienna was a beautiful city. Though gray and cold, the buildings were undeniably gorgeous. The city has a regal quality to it, which I suppose is to be expected from the former seat of the Hapsburg Empire. It was also the most expensive of the cities we visited, but due to our lovely hosts, that didn't end up being a problem.

The grounds of the Belvedere Palace (now a museum).

One of the entrances to the gigantic Hofburg Palace complex.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

A large Christmas market.

A Greek Orthodox Church

After a day of meandering about rainy Vienna (we got lost the most in Vienna than in any other city), we found ourselves in an old 70s chalet-style bar, shaking off the cold. The place had a wonderful, regulars vibe to it, and it was just what we needed at the time.

Though we originally had planned on staying at Laura's and Katharina's for only 2 nights (and planned to figure out where to stay on the night of Christmas Eve), they ended up being amazingly gracious hosts and offered to let us extend it. In Vienna, families typically celebrate the day of Christmas Eve (rather than Christmas Day), though Christmas Day is also a holiday. As we had nowhere to go and had made friends with the girls, they invited us to the informal party their parents were throwing at their nearby flat.

Laura and Katharina's chatty, interesting father.

The girls invited us to stay the night of Christmas Eve at their flat, though they would be at home with their parents. It was such a nice gift and a great way to end our time in Vienna. We could not have appreciated it more!