Bratislava

Another good day, and I am glad to say that it was at a little more reasonable pace than the previous two!

After talking to my dad for about an hour last night, I ended up not getting to bed until about 1:30. So, the Vienna Boys Choir was crossed off from the agenda. I did go to Mass instead at St. Augustine Church, which was a true spectacle. Mass took a full two hours, fully loaded with a large choir, complete orchestra, organist, and soloists. The Mass music was Haydn's B major mass. It was completely over the top by today's standards, but it was what I wanted--Mass rolled in with a free concert by world class musicians. After crossing these two things off the list, I walked through downtown a bit before heading to the train station with the goal of Bratislava.

My one main Vienna complaint was the lack of a central train station, as today was the 3 rd different one I utilized in 3 days. I almost missed my train due to the maze of construction and lack of descent signs. However, I made it and soon arrived in Bratislava.

Bratislava is a very communist scarred capital which is in the midst of making a big turn around. Evidently there has been a huge economic upswing. This is another place that we wouldn't have really considered going to 10 or 15 years ago. The downtown city center is now bustling and completely pedestrian only. Even with that, my guide books said I could get a complete grasp of the city in a few hours--and this was completely correct. Furthermore as my book warned, some of the peolpe did come off as rather cold and standoff-ish. However, I did really enjoy seeing the city. I did the walking tour in my book, and then climbed up to Bratislava castle to take in the views of the city and the Danube.

After enjoying the beautiful day, I set out to find my first good meal in quite a few days. I settled in a restaurant with Slovak specialities. I first went with the national dish of dumplings with sheep cheese and bacon, which was absolutely delicious. Seeing at how that only cost me 5€, I ordered a second dish of beef goulash--equally as scrumptious and cheap. With a belly ache, I made my way back to the train station for Prague, Czech Republic.

Here I am in Prague ready for a full day of exploring another of Europe's greatest cities tomorrow! While I am excited, I am really looking forward to picking up dad in Berlin the next day. We are going to have one very fun week...and no, I will not subject him to the pace I have been keeping for the past few weeks! We will go about the same speed that I planned for mom and Andrew.

I hope you have a great start to your week! I am looking forward to seeing so many of you in just over a week back in the States.