Barmy Brits in Bratislava & West-European Wien

Hello from Vienna!

Gee it's cold today! Raining constantly... eew. Just got a mail from a friend saying that in England they've been having 25 degree weather! Grrrr!

MY FEET ARE WET! This is a big thing at the moment. Wet feet are just icky! In addition to the scarf (which is still not bought!) waterproof hiking shoes are next!

So.... I was really sad to leave such good friends in Poland! I caught a train with Grzegorz and Agnieszka to Zwardon, then a rail-replacement bus to Cadca. They left me at the station, and left to go back home (with a ton of cheap Slovakian alcohol!). From Cadca it took a few hours to travel to Bratislava via Zilina.

So... I arrived in Bratislava at about 3 or 4 pm, and went to the information desk. At the counter were two finnish gals who were talking to the attendent. I overheard that there wasn't much accomodation... I was getting a little worried! I asked them (over a couple of ppl in the queue) if they had accomodation, and they said they did, but had the last left in a fairly cheap hotel. Then they asked if I was there for the game.

Uhhh... game? I was really confused... it turns out that tonight near to Bratislava, the English soccer team plays the Slovak team! Consequently, *ALL* the rooms in Bratislava are booked for tonight (I'm serious!!), and most for friday. This was thurs night, so I was in luck. There were twin rooms available at the hotel kyjev for 1800 slovak crowns (approx AUD$90) for 2 ppl. So I met Mel from Korea (originally), more recently from Sydney (the last 5 years), and we got a twin room together.

Sooo... it worked out OK. We met Jon and Matt... English soccer fans... who were also staying at the same hotel. After a quiet afternoon (had to take time to stock up on jaffa cakes) we all went to the pub... and.... no one drinks like the english! I had a few pints, but I let them go a few rounds on their own! I also tried tequila with nutmeg and orange??!?! I prefer the lemon and salt! (So Dom, I guess that's what else I've tested... in addition to the plum vodka at Tomek's parent's house!! )

So the next morning, I left Mel (who is now in Czech Republic), and went with the english lads to look at the Bratislava castle... it was OK, but the building was rebuilt.... doesn't have anywhere near the character of the Krakow castle and museum. It was pretty foggy actually... on a nice day you can supposedly see for ages!

I never knew how many words use "y" 's... I'm using a German keyboard and the Y and Z are swapped!!!

Also... just near the castle there is a big bridge, and abouve the bridge ( I mean like maybe 70m high or more) there is a cafe! We just had to go... it was some huge feat of the communist government to build it in the 70's. It's got to be the first lift that I've caught that goes on an angle! That was not too bad, you didn't realise that it was weird until it stopped! (when you felt like you would fall over!) Walking into the thing was strange too. It's not that large inside... and the way it's designed makes it seem like the floor was crooked... maybe it was! We never really worked that out! The tables must've been level though... our coffees didn't go rolling off!

So, we went, grabbed food and I left the other guys to see more sights as I headed for the hotel (to grab my bags) and then to the train station. I was asking them about getting to the train station.

"Nahh, no point catching a tram... it was only a few stops, right? Should be easy enough to walk" (- Matt and Jon)

All I can say is ... HAH! I was walking with my 20KG pack... it took ages... I got lost... it was all quite bizarre! I thought "OK, I came by tram, I'll follow the tram tracks and electricity lines".... bad idea! They actually have electric powered busses in addition to electric trams and normal busses... I had to backtrack for a while... in the end I found the station, and got a ticket to leave from Bratislava at 5:50pm.

Arghh... 5:50 is late... I wanted to leave at 4! So I arrived in Vienna at 7pm, when all the tourist infos were closed etc.

In a way that is kewl though... Self dependence is a good thing... I mean... I'm carrying around so much travel reference material about accomodation, transport etc that it'd be a shame not to use it.

So, I called some hostels and found one that had rooms available... (so many are full cos many of the English ppl are staying here and commuting to the game!) I was trying to find my way to one when I met Jenny and Betsy, two sisters from Seattle. They looked equally as lost as me, and I'd rather be lost in a 3 than by myself! (strange how that works!)

We eventually found this hostel "wombats", and it's REALLY nice... It has a pub as well, so it was great to meet some of the ppl in the hostel and play some pool etc. Today I washed clothes *YES I LOVE WESTERN EUROPE ALREADY!* and wandered around... but like I say I'm a bit chilled... which is why you're getting such a long message! Pretty bad idea really, cos internet access is expensive!

Anyway... tonight I'll try to hit the town whilst staying thawed. Hopefully I can meet up with Silvia... an Austrian girl that Shan gave me the contact details of... so I can get a local perspective!

Stay kewl (warm) and dry ppl!

Sam.

Posted by Sam at October 12, 2002 10:55 PM