To Bratislava and Beyond

Rain, rain and more rain!! It rained all day today, over 3 countries!
After breakfast, we made the decision to spend a little more time in Vienna because we felt like there was so much more to see that we didn't get a chance to experience yet. I think you could spend a week in Vienna and feel like that though. Luckily, we were able to stash our luggage in the hotel luggage room.

We Missed the Schatzkammer :(

We decided to head to the Schatzkammer where the crown jewels, a thorn from Jesus' crown and other cool things are on display, so we walked past the Museums Quartier in the pouring down rain to the Hofburg only to find that they were closed on Tuesdays! I guess I should have learned my lesson by now to look online to figure things like this out first, but Tuesday?? Who is closed on a Tuesday?

Kaisergruft - Maria Theresa's Tomb

We were disappointed to say the least, and with soaking wet shoes, walked over to the Kaizergruft (under a church), which houses the coffins of many past Habsburg elite. Wow. The coffins were very elaborate! Very worth it at about 4 Euro, even in the freezing rain.

I definitely underestimated the weather here, I brought mostly tank tops and shorts etc. but it has been hovering around 55 degrees or less for the last few days. I desperately need some boots!!

Bio-Bar Cafe

We ate lunch at a super awesome organic vegetarian place (which took the cab driver like 15 minutes and 10 Euros to find even though it was 1km away - but hey it was pouring rain and freezing cold) called the Bio-Bar. We had fresh squeezed pomegranate juice and a great lunch. Was definitely a good Google find, local and lots of character.
As soon as we metro'd it back to the hotel, we packed up the VDubs and booked it out of Vienna, we'd spent way too many Euros the past few days!

Block Housing

We debated on going to Bratislava or go straight to Budapest. We figured we would probably never plan a vacation to Slovakia, so we decided to go for it. We got there in about an hour, and like the other boarder crossings, did not get stopped. It had been pouring the entire drive to Bratislava, as we entered the city, there was a very 'industrial' feel to it most markedly, the functionalistic, block style apartment buildings.

Space Craft 'New Bridge'

We drove around the city for a little while, seeing the odd, space craft like bridge, which in our opinion looked a little ill-constructed (the windows may have been blown out at the top?), and the Bratislava Castle. It was still raining and the wind was whipping, so admittedly we never actually got out of the car, except for gas and Kris pulling over to re-shut the hatch, so maybe we didn't give it a fair shot. In any case, it was still interesting to compare the cities we had been to with Slovakia's less progressive feel.

Finally, we took off for Budapest, and I have to give Kris props here for being such an awesome little VDubs driver in pouring down rain and high winds, with all of the road construction and trucks between Bratislava and Budapest. I can't believe we didn't get sucked under a semi with the way the wind was blowing. The one thing we saw a lot of when we got close to Budapest were the miles and miles of Sunflower fields! The would have been so pretty if the sun was shining.

Cosmo Hotel

We checked in to the Cosmo Hotel, which seems to be in a nice shopping/tourist area. We are right next to the Danube river and close to most of the tourist attractions, and the hotel (oddly pink and purple color scheme) is fabulous! We went to a Greek place around the corner for dinner which was really good and great service. Then we headed to a bar that was recommended by the manager at the Greek place. We took the metro (same 15 minute learning curve we experience at every metro) and made it to the bar, had a few drinks and then finally time to rest!

To Bratislava and Beyond

Bratislava, Slovakia