June 19th, 2012

Day 31: Edinburgh, Scotland, Bratislava, Slovakia & Vienna, Austria

I was up and packing all of my things into one backpack this morning at about 4:45. I caught the 5:30 airlink bus out of the city center to the airport and was through security and waiting at my gate by 6:30. Travel plans have gone quite smoothly so far (knock on wood)!

I slept for most of the 2 and a half hour flight to Bratislava so I almost got a full night sleep in all! When we landed in Bratislava, I headed straight to the tourist information center since I hadn’t done much planning around the time I’d have to spend here. He gave me some great advice, sent me on my way to catch a bus to the center of the city and I was off!

The first thing I thought when I stepped out of the airport (in my doubled up sweatshirt & jacket) was ‘holy shit it’s hot.’ It was at least 80 in Bratislava today! This was my first real wake up call that yeah- it is mid-June and it should be this hot. I’ve been in moderate weather for the first half of summer and almost forgot what my summers were usually like!

I got off at the train station stop where I’d be catching my train to Austria later so that I could check my backpack and just travel lightly for the day. I changed into shorts, put my bag away and hopped back on the bus into the center of Old Town.

After I popped into a tourist information center, I got a user-friendly map and started my trip around the city center. I visited a bunch of museums in the city (but only went into 1- The Museum of Jewish Culture in Slovakia), several token landmarks (like silly statues and public art displays), walked along the Danube river (which is ironic because that was the ‘name’ of my bed in the hostel in Edinburgh!) and even explored the crypts of a church! I tried my best to learn about each of the places I went from the guides/employees since I was kind of lacking a tour guide/historical knowledge of the city, but that was a great plan and I learned so much. Here are some photos from the day:

St Michael's Tower

Hlavne Namestie-the main square in Bratislava

Schone Naci- a statue of an old man who used to parade the streets greeting everyone with his top hat

"The Watcher"

"Paparazzi"

The fountain in front of the Slovak National Theatre

Um.. what?

Street art exhibit

New Bridge along the Danube

Walk along the Danube river!

More of the Danube

Crypts in the basement of the church

An Old Town street!

Menorah exhibit in the Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava

Pointers used by Rabbis

Jews being sent out of Bratislava during WWII

Information on Slovak Jewish deportations

At around 4:30 I made my way back to the train station to pick up my backpack and buy my train ticket to Vienna. The train was very pleasant (awesome air conditioning) and pretty empty so it was a comfortable ride!

After I got to Vienna, I called the hostel and got directions from the train station so that I could check in. I made it there (after getting lost a few times, standard) and got all settled in! By the time I was sorted and relaxed a bit in my room, it was about 7:00pm. I went to the bar in the hostel and got a drink and was soon talking to a whole assortment of people- from England, Peru, Canada and more. I had another drink and then decided it was time for me to go grab some dinner! With some suggestions from the front desk, I wandered my way down the street that the hostel is around the corner from (actually the main shopping avenue in the city) and decided on an Italian place called Vapiano’s. It was a place where you chose your past sauce ingredients (I went with the usual tomato sauce, garlic, oninos and mozzarella), they cooked it right in front of you and then added in the cooked pasta (again, of your choice). It was absolutely delicious! After that I came back to the hostel, talked to the Canadians a bit more, and then headed to bed. I felt like I was coming down with a cold so I tried to sleep it away!

Favorite part of the day: The Old Town of Bratislava- it was so quaint and I really enjoyed wandering the alleys and streets without having to worry about cars!