Week 29 - Bratislava and Vienna

One of the missions of the tour company (Overseas Adventure Travel and Grand Circle Cruises) is learning and discovery so we started Monday with a talk on autocracy in Hungary, which was very interesting. Then we headed out to the covered market, where Anne and I went to Aldi. Ha! We went to the first of many chicken meals, after which we got another Starbuck's then were on our way to Bratislava. That wasn't very long in Budapest but I was excited for Bratislava.

Unlike in Budapest, our hotel was centrally located on the main square of the town so we headed out as soon as we were done with supper. I loved the town immediately. It was small so walkable and I found some art that I wanted to buy but didn't have enough cash. Get this - we were supposed to eat all our meals on the boat so anytime there was a meal we had on our own, they handed us each 20 euros. Just one more round of lunch money and I'd have enough for the 2 pics I wanted. Anyway, there was a fun fountain right out front that did a light show that was synchronized to music each hour so we sat outside until bedtime. Nice.

Tuesday was a full day and started with a talk on the transition from communism to capitalism (interesting) then a walking tour of the old town. When we went by the man with the art, I ran over and used my second lot of lunch money to buy it. Yay! After the tour, Anne and I took a Bolt (Slovakia's version of Uber) to a local yarn shop that was wonderful. I found some yarn for myself and for Andrea as a thank you for feeding my cats. We were walking from there to Lidl to buy something for lunch when we passed a cute shop that was a co-op full of fun handmade items. I bought a few things there too and with a savory pastry from Lidl, we Bolted back and ate lunch in a park by the river. We had a couple of hours to kill so went to a cat cafe by the hotel for a bit. The cats were not super engaged but they were the first cats we'd seen so far. From there we went to home visits, which is another thing the tour company does. Four of us went to a woman's apartment, which was tiny and apparently the norm. She was lovely and told us all about life in Slovakia. Then it was back to the hotel to walk to a horrific folk show in a basement that was ancient and a total fire trap. We sat by the door so we could bug out if it was lame, which it was, but the band set up blocking our exit. They were so loud and the food was meh. The minute they took a break, we were outa there.

Somewhere over the course of the day I developed a small blister on my big toe. For some reason is throbbed all night. Throbbed like I was being stabbed with a pin every 2 minutes or so. I barely slept, like still awake at 4:30. Good thing it was a day with bus travel. We had a talk on Bratislava's next generation, had another chicken lunch near the hotel and headed to Vienna on the bus. Our hotel was right across from the main park in Vienna so we headed right there, found a bench near a pond (the pic is the view from the benches) and knitted until dinner, which was in the hotel. Afterwards, we went to the mall behind the hotel and found exactly what I was hoping for - supermarket sock yarn! It was in a SparExtra so technically the extra stuff that normally wouldn't be in a Spar grocery store but good enough. It was only 6 euros for a ball that would cost ~$18 in the US so I bought some for my knitting group. I survived on zero sleep and was loving Vienna so far.

I slept like a rock so was ready to go on Thursday. We started with a bus tour of the city then had yet more chicken in a hot basement restaurant so we left before lunch was over. We walked all over the palace area, starting with the rose garden, and then made our way to a yarn shop, which was very small and I only found 1 ball of sock yarn that was manufactured in Austria. Then it was back to the park to knit on our bench and wait for supper, which was in the hotel. We chatted with an American who was travelling with her dog and several people from the tour as we knitted away. It was a lovely way to end the day.

Friday was a mostly free day so we walked from the yarn shop that was near the hotel (the owner told me sock yarn was out of season (!) so I only found one skein to buy) and then crossed the river to a less touristy part of town and hit the best yarn shop of the lot. The owner was lovely and I bought some great yarn and my fave sock needles so I could cast on another pair. Always a good thing. We stopped at a cafe near the park and had a pancake thing called a Kaiserschmarrn that my friend Layton had recommended. Delish! There was a bus trip to a strange building Austrians seem particularly proud of then back to the hotel for a lecture on Austrian history and their neutrality. I clearly need to read a book on European history. After dinner in the hotel, Anne and I did a carriage ride with 2 other women from the trip. We just took the first carriage in line but neglected to ask if he spoke English. He didn't except for a few words here and there but he knew enough to say "Vladimir Putin good" and give a thumbs up. OMG! Despite him, it was a nice way to spend an evening in Vienna.

Saturday was an out and about day. We went to a cute down called Durnstein that was on the Danube. I took the opportunity to get my feet in the river because wading is one of my very favorite things. From there we went to Gottweig Abbey for lunch, which we ate outside on a gorgeous patio overlooking a gorgeous valley. Then it was on to an apricot farm where we learned so much about the process, ate and drank everything apricot and then I hit the gift shop and bought all the apricot things. We did not need supper when we got back to the hotel so 20 more euros went into my pocket. : )

On Sunday, we left Vienna, which I was sad about since I'd loved it all, except maybe the Putin loving carriage driver. We went to a town called Melk that had a big abbey that we toured before having yet more chicken in a restaurant that was super stuffy. I was so sick of sweating! From there we drove to Linz, which was the longest bus trip so far so lots of knitting time. Linz is an industrial town and was the last city on the Danube and where we would have disembarked from the boat. Our hotel was not near the city center but the restaurant made up for it. We'd been eating chicken at nearly every meal and vegetables were rarely on offer so when we saw a salad bar in the restaurant, I was thrilled and had a huge plate of salad. And they had beef and ribs as proteins so not chicken. I was a happy camper.

So our full week had us in 3 different countries learning at every stop and I'd found lots of fun yarn and made some new friends. There was way too much chicken but considering they had 4 days to redo the tour and find hotels and restaurants that could handle 100 people, I shouldn't complain. We had another day in Linz and then would be on the original itinerary because Prague had always been a hotel/bus portion of the trip. All good.