Next stop after Germany was Austria, where we toured the cities of Melk, Linz, Durnstein and finally, Vienna. Durnstein was a gorgeous little town we walked around at night, which had a tiny cemetery on a hill. What was interesting and kind of creepy about it was that, since they were unable to dig graves, they had stacked up all the bones in a stone room in the cemetery instead.
Vienna was rather like any other major European city, only with much better chocolate. We didn't stay very long, and while pretty, I just didn't feel the same kind of pull I felt in Germany.
The next city on the list was Bratislava, in Slovakia. Having only been a country since 1992, it still has a lot of history, and a lot of really awesome statues. I have to say that I was really quite enamoured with them, as you'll see from the photos.
I tried to read some of this guys poetry when I got home, but alas, there wasn't much of it in English, and it was a little blood thirsty for my tastes.
Hans Christian Andersen stayed a night in Bratislava, and apparently this qualifies you for statue status. I love how they worked aspects of his stories into the statue.
This one was across from the German Embassy, and represents a famous Brother's Grimm fable, in which a boy drinks from an enchanted spring and is changed into a fawn, while his sister chooses not to, and remains human.
I had to take a picture of Andy Warhol. His parents were Slovakian, and its a pretty random statue.
A random Bratislavian street, one of the many we toured in our few ours in the city. Such a pretty city. I had no idea I would like Slovakia so much. A few buildings had cannonball damage from Napoleon's time, with some even retaining the actuall cannonball in the wall. Apparently these were placed there, as buildings that suffered cannonball damage paid lower taxes.
I forget the story behind this guy, but he's on t-shirts and postcards and seems to be pretty famous.
Our schedule on that particular day was pretty hectic, so we only got to spend a few hours in Bratislava. We had the rest of the afternoon and evening to sail on to Budapest, where we had the next day to tour, and the day after to disembark. In all honesty, I was rather sad to be ending the cruise down the Rhine and the Danube - I had seen some amazing towns, particularly in Germany, and some beautiful scenery along the way. If ever you get a chance to do it, I'd definitely recommend it.
We got into Budapest late at night, and the entire city was beautifully lit, even the bridges. It was gorgeous, and I only wish the photos had turned out. The photo above is of Heroes Square, on the Pest side, which is across the road from the avenue where the communists would hold their marches. All the best architecture, statues and monuments seem to be on the Pest side.
Spectacular views from the lookout on the Buda side of the city. I think I prefer the Pest side though. Both sides are so different, its like completely different cities.
After disembarking the ship the following morning, we made our way to the Buda side, where we stayed overnight before catching a train to Prague. And what a bloody long train ride that was, consisting of about three different trains since we had to keep changing.
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