August 18, 2022
Budapest is very charming. There are lots of big parks, plenty of tree-lined boulevards and no buildings over 6 stories, except the Parliament, the larger churches and a few castles. It is clean and safe and the people are warm and very hospitable. No one honks there horns there! Most locals speak english, especially those under 40, and that means a great percentage of people speak english because Hungary seems to have a very young population.
The Matild Palace was a great base camp, the staff made Gym and his lovely sidekick feel at home and their room was very comfortable. However, it was time to move on. With the riverboat cruise having been scrubbed just as they had arrived in Europe, it was incumbent on our intrepid duo to see a little more of Europe before returning home. They decided to spend some quality time in Vienna. Situated only 250 kilometers away and with so much to see, it was a no-brainer add-on to the newly improvised itinerary.
Gym liked the Matild so much that he booked a sister hotel in Vienna starting on August 18th. He looked at taking the train to Vienna but then found a car service that would take them door to door with a stopover in Slovakia for a couple of hundred euros. The driver spoke english and provided some local flair to the five-hour trip which included a 2-hour pit stop in Bratislava. Our travelers never had to touch their luggage and it was a great way to see another country in between Budapest and Vienna.
Bratislava was was a fun place to visit. First the driver took our travelers to one of the highest elevations in the city to see the views. It was also where the Red Army chose to build the Slavin War Memorial for those in the Red Army that gave their lives, fighting the Nazis in WW2. Gym followed his dear wife to the top of the memorial in the 35C heat. There they were rewarded with some great views of the city.
From there they drove down to the very enchanting old town and the driver let the intrepid duo have 90 minutes to explore. After scaling the monument in the heat, Gym suggested the first stop should be a gelato shop. There being no disagreement, they proceeded directly into the nearest gelato emporium and ordered something cold and calorie-dense. Once fueled up, they wandered into old town with no real goals in mind but sometimes that is the best way to approach things. It turned out that around every corner in this hodgepodge of cobblestone streets, there was some interesting. Whether it was public art, an old church to explore or a shop to tempt the tourist with some unique Slovakian offering it was all delightful. After concluding the walkabout they met the driver at the pre-determined time and were soon on the highway to Austria. As they drove across the border Gym thought that Slovakia required a return visit someday.
The driver proceeded directly to the the new basecamp in Vienna. It seemed we had just crossed the border and we were in the suburbs of of the city. Then almost to the minute of the promised arrival time they reached their destination. The Bristol Hotel on the Ringstrasse in Vienna was their new temporary home. The Bristol was situated well between the Hofburg Palace and Belvedere and across the street from the Vienna Opera House. The location was perfect!
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