Day 16: A Tale of Two Cities

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

What the Dickens, a literary quote?

I know, it's very scary dear reader, I knew the quote, but never what book it was from. Okay so the only reason I have found out now is because I went online to see if I could find something witty, sharp and cutting to say about the title of this post and pass it off as my own. Instead what I discover is that not only is this book by Charles Dickens, but it has a great opening line that really sums up my time here in Austria. Shame then the book is about Paris and London (thanks Wikipedia). Therefore I have no choice but to start this post again.

Day 16: Brat Camp

I decide to try again with the good intentions I had on Monday, doing something of worth before I leave, I'm pleased to report that today I've been successful. It's my last day off before I return to England so Paul and I decide we are going to take the Twin City Liner river catamaran to the Slovak Republic. Bratislava and Vienna are the two closest capitals in Europe only 60km apart and both situated on the Danube, so the journey even by boat is a little over an hour.

We arrive at the departure point in good time but are held in a queue for 20 minutes, only one window is open at the kiosk and it's slow service. 7 minutes before departure they open a second window, we're served but told there is only one seat left, the next boat is at 16:30 (it's nearly 12:30 now). We ask if we can book a seat on the return journey from Bratislava instead ''i'm sorry it is full, we have tickets on the 22:30'', travelling by boat at night seems a little pointless ''maybe there will be cancellations on the 18:30" he continues, we ask if that is an option and he explains that at the captains discretion 12 seats on the top deck are released an hour before departure time. It's a beautiful day so we decide we'll try our luck when we get there and start to make our way to Bratislava by train using our accreditation.

We arrive at the Sudbahnhoff and it's feels like we've been thrown back to some nasty, dark, communist type era, it's quite a depressing building (although the picture doesn't do it justice) and far removed from the other remarkable buildings in Vienna. We're given all sorts of strange directions to our train, take the stairs up a level and turn left, when they actually mean go downstairs and take a right, we're both very confused and then it dawns on me, it's Wednesday, of course, opposite Wednesdays, how foolish of me.

A few ascents and descents, lefts and rights and we finally find what we're fairly certain is the train to Bratislava, as pointed out here by Paul.

We climb aboard and settle into our sumptuous 1st class seats, I take a look around and realise they are no different to 2nd class, oh well.

Whenever I find myself at points of transit in foreign countries be it airports, railway stations whatever, I always have a sense of excitement and anticipation about moving on, much like i'm in one of Michael Palin's travel documentaries, today is no different, even though I know I'm coming back again.

When we arrive at the main station in Bratislava it's in an even worse state than the one in Vienna, yet somehow I feel it has much more character, much more of a story to tell, this is probably aided the train covered in graffiti stood at the next platform.

As we walk into town we pass several beautiful buildings that have fallen into a poor state of repair, one in particular is in a terrible condition, the roof is missing tiles and all the exterior rendering is cracked, it could easily be a five star hotel but I much prefer it's faded grandeur. A short distance further and we discover a building that is immaculate, it's the Presidential Palace and we're lucky enough to witness changing of the guards. They're all in their military colours, but neither Paul or I are convinced that their sunglasses are military issue.

The tourist information we have for the city promotes itself as 'The Big Little City', we're rapidly discovering Bratislava IS a small city, we walk another kilometre on and arrive at the castle, I can't remember what it was called, but I can recall that the information in the leaflet said there had been documented settlement on the site in the Little Carpathians since the Iron Age (yes Jon that's true) and almost certainly before due to it's strategic location in central Europe. The leaflet also said that the silhouette of the castle at night was reminiscent of an upturned table, now that's my kind of fact.

The view over Bratislava from the castle is beautiful, I always like seeing cities from a higher vantage point, I enjoy getting a sense of it's topography and the different buildings that characterise it. We walk down from here to into the old city to explore further.

The old town is incredibly beautiful and very clean, it obviously helps that it's a beautiful sunny day, but I'm taken by the colours of the buildings and the more modest size and styling of the architecture in general to that of Vienna, it's more like, a me kind of city, like you know? I'm also pleased to see the restaurateurs have taken a sensitive and sympathetic approach to their environment, it's all very tasteful and there isn't a touch of neon anywhere (and I still like it). It seems such a shame when you realise this place gets swamped at the weekends by stag and hen do's from the rest of Europe.

Slovakia is still reasonably cheap compared to the rest of Europe, I've taken out 500 Koruna but have no idea how much money this actually is, I have to text Matt to find out, he kindly informs me it's £13.10p in the market today. We stop for a quick drink before continuing our tour, when we move on we discover a small group of musicians warming up for a performance, we stop and watch them for a moment or two, I'm thrilled when I recognise the songs as show tunes from My Fair Lady, why didn't I think of that musical on Monday night, oh I'm a good girl I am.

It's getting late so we decide to head down to the river to see if we can get tickets for the boat, the weather is still good so we're optimistic. I'm told we have to wait 10 minutes before he will speak to the captain, there are other tourists lurking near the ticket booth, desperate I suspect to get their dirty hands on these tickets too, we're in position 1, I'm not budging, we must have those tickets, I feel like Veruca Salt, I'm going to get on that boat if it kills me, or the captain says no, either way is good (well actually that's bad really isn't it?).

The 10 minute waits feels like forever (when it lasts 10 minutes), finally the guy calls the captain, "ya hallo"
something in Slovak
"ya"
what are they saying?
"ya"
This is agony
"oh ya, okay"
We're in, the captain is going to let us hop aboard tonight.
"Er Dan"
"Yes Paul"
"I don't have my passport"
Paul has made an illegal entry into another country without his passport.
"Bye"
Of course I don't really say bye, I tell him to just get a ticket and blag it, there almost certainly won't be any border control on the way back if there wasn't on the way in.

The boat departs and quickly reaches it's cruising speed of 50kmph, it's overtaking everything on the river, it certainly is exhilarating being on top (and these are the cheap seats?).

It takes little over an hour to get back to Vienna, it seems a shame to have spent so little time in such a beautiful city, I make a resolve to return. As we disembark Paul identifies two officials with the word Policez on their jackets, he has no choice but to make excuses, fortunately a little white lie about not needing it on the way out is enough to appease them, well that and the queue of people behind him.

We return to the hotel via the go-karts in the park, there are rumours there is going to be a big night tonight as several people are flying home tomorrow, both Paul and I are tired and want to go to bed, not together of course, to our own beds.

I get to my room, hurrah I've finally resisted a late night out, I decide to write up todays blog entry, when I finish I look at the clock and realise it's 2am. Damn.