I left Brno later than expected, and with quite a hangover. Destination: Mikulov, the heart of Southern Moravian wine country. I'd planned on staying the night, renting a bike and touring some wineries, but these wine drinking-types always book ahead - the place was full. I settled for a stroll around town, then after booking accomodation elsewhere, got around to trying a few wines at a local cellar before leaving. Only possible after negotiating the village drunk in the doorway who was being served cask white by the litre in the shop!
Thus I headed to Bratislava, capital of the Slovak Republic. I got in to my hostel, an obviously communist built building that houses students during term, fairly late and hit the sack. The next day I started my tour with Bratislava Castle - it was closed for restoration. Wandering the old town was nice, and the national museum was great, but I just wasn't inspired very much by Bratislava. Perhaps a little to do with my motivation levels lacking, everyone I met along the road who had been there also thought it was 'nothing special'. That evening before dinner I went into an art gallery - not usually my thing but recommended. It was a display on 'geometry in art', and had the inner surveyor in me all excited. Don't wave that abstract stuff near me... Dinner was 'halusky', a Slovakian specialty of mini potato balls in a thick goats cheese sauce (bryndzove). It was delicious.
The next morning I jumped on a fast boat along the Danube to Vienna. The whole city took me by surprise really. I'd originally planned on 'finishing' my trip in Vienna because I knew it would be a fabulous city to visit, but after a couple of weeks travelling I was looking forward more to moving onto the next stage. It didn't take long walking through the city to be mesmerised though. The first port of call after dropping by my hostel, was a Wiener Schnitzel for lunch. After orientating myself I visited the museum of Vienna, a well laid out, simple exhibit that was free. Afterwards I paid 1E to register for the city's free bike service. Most of the cities I have been to now over here have something similar. In Vienna you pick a bike up from any station, and as long as you drop it back at another within an hour you pay nothing. I put it to good use in Vienna, as my hostel was a little way out of town.
Day 2 started with a visit to Schonnbrun Palace. It was full of the usual imperial grandeur, but had a sense of being lived in more recently than others I'd visited. Which it was - in one room was the bed that the last Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Josef, died on in 1916. I took a bike into town after that for a visit to the Architecture museum, which was good but a little too much information. In the afternoon I visited the Naschmarkt, which was full of stuffed artichokes and countless other things to do with food, including barrels of saurkraut & gerkins selling by the kilo. A felafel roll and baclava fueled my walk over to the Hundertwasserhaus, which wasn't all that interesting to me - it looked like a sub-standard Gaudi replica. Far more interesting was the Postsparkasse (1906) designed by Austrian architecht Otto Wagner.
The following morning I indulged in a slice of Sacher Torte, from the Sacher Hotel - ie the original. Expensive, but oh so good. I also had a look inside the state room of the national library, before jumping on a flight to Amsterdam in the afternoon. Having not organised any accomodation, I set straight to finding something upon arriving in the city around 10pm. I knew I was in Amsterdam when I just about got stoned walking into the common room of the first hostel I walked into. I don't know whether I like Amsterdam. I think I do, but every British and American backpacker I met who raved about the wild nights out there, smoking at the coffee shops, turned me off a little. It's bloody expensive too.
Anyhow - I was in Holland to visit some friends and family who I'd not seen in awhile - since I'd lived in Holland for 6 months when I was 15. So I headed out to Nijmegen after my first night there, and checked in with family De Vries, where I'd stayed. It was great to see them again, and spend some time visiting my old haunts from 10 years ago. I also headed over to Westervoort where I had dinner with Thea and Andre - and Coco their parrot (who I remember from my first visit there in 1990). Before leaving, I stopped by the local coffee shop that I'd always ridden past, but been too young to enter, for a joint. A much nicer experience than I imagine it would be going to one in Amsterdam.
My next stop was Bergen Op Zoom, where Dr Nik is now living and working. We had a great weekend together, getting drunk with his work mates on the Friday night, then heading down to Antwerpen (Belgium) the next day for a 'culinary' festival. The food was good - the waffles were good - the beer was good - the town was good. We also caught a free concert of a few percussion groups in the main square before leaving. It was a great day that we had almost missed out on before making the decision to go.
I spent one more night in Amsterdam with Tom, also a De Vries and the closest to my age when I was living with them, before leaving the country. It was only a short visit to Holland (6 days), but it brought back a lot of memories. Also a pleasant surprise was how much Dutch came back to me just in my few days there - I thought I'd forgotten all of what I learnt 10 years ago but it seems it was locked in the back of my head somewhere. I think I'd kind of written Holland off when planning this whole trip - there's nothing to climb there! But being there once again, it felt very familiar, and reminded me of the fact that half my family comes from there.
Thus I headed to Bratislava, capital of the Slovak Republic. I got in to my hostel, an obviously communist built building that houses students during term, fairly late and hit the sack. The next day I started my tour with Bratislava Castle - it was closed for restoration. Wandering the old town was nice, and the national museum was great, but I just wasn't inspired very much by Bratislava. Perhaps a little to do with my motivation levels lacking, everyone I met along the road who had been there also thought it was 'nothing special'. That evening before dinner I went into an art gallery - not usually my thing but recommended. It was a display on 'geometry in art', and had the inner surveyor in me all excited. Don't wave that abstract stuff near me... Dinner was 'halusky', a Slovakian specialty of mini potato balls in a thick goats cheese sauce (bryndzove). It was delicious.
The next morning I jumped on a fast boat along the Danube to Vienna. The whole city took me by surprise really. I'd originally planned on 'finishing' my trip in Vienna because I knew it would be a fabulous city to visit, but after a couple of weeks travelling I was looking forward more to moving onto the next stage. It didn't take long walking through the city to be mesmerised though. The first port of call after dropping by my hostel, was a Wiener Schnitzel for lunch. After orientating myself I visited the museum of Vienna, a well laid out, simple exhibit that was free. Afterwards I paid 1E to register for the city's free bike service. Most of the cities I have been to now over here have something similar. In Vienna you pick a bike up from any station, and as long as you drop it back at another within an hour you pay nothing. I put it to good use in Vienna, as my hostel was a little way out of town.
Day 2 started with a visit to Schonnbrun Palace. It was full of the usual imperial grandeur, but had a sense of being lived in more recently than others I'd visited. Which it was - in one room was the bed that the last Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Josef, died on in 1916. I took a bike into town after that for a visit to the Architecture museum, which was good but a little too much information. In the afternoon I visited the Naschmarkt, which was full of stuffed artichokes and countless other things to do with food, including barrels of saurkraut & gerkins selling by the kilo. A felafel roll and baclava fueled my walk over to the Hundertwasserhaus, which wasn't all that interesting to me - it looked like a sub-standard Gaudi replica. Far more interesting was the Postsparkasse (1906) designed by Austrian architecht Otto Wagner.
The following morning I indulged in a slice of Sacher Torte, from the Sacher Hotel - ie the original. Expensive, but oh so good. I also had a look inside the state room of the national library, before jumping on a flight to Amsterdam in the afternoon. Having not organised any accomodation, I set straight to finding something upon arriving in the city around 10pm. I knew I was in Amsterdam when I just about got stoned walking into the common room of the first hostel I walked into. I don't know whether I like Amsterdam. I think I do, but every British and American backpacker I met who raved about the wild nights out there, smoking at the coffee shops, turned me off a little. It's bloody expensive too.
Anyhow - I was in Holland to visit some friends and family who I'd not seen in awhile - since I'd lived in Holland for 6 months when I was 15. So I headed out to Nijmegen after my first night there, and checked in with family De Vries, where I'd stayed. It was great to see them again, and spend some time visiting my old haunts from 10 years ago. I also headed over to Westervoort where I had dinner with Thea and Andre - and Coco their parrot (who I remember from my first visit there in 1990). Before leaving, I stopped by the local coffee shop that I'd always ridden past, but been too young to enter, for a joint. A much nicer experience than I imagine it would be going to one in Amsterdam.
My next stop was Bergen Op Zoom, where Dr Nik is now living and working. We had a great weekend together, getting drunk with his work mates on the Friday night, then heading down to Antwerpen (Belgium) the next day for a 'culinary' festival. The food was good - the waffles were good - the beer was good - the town was good. We also caught a free concert of a few percussion groups in the main square before leaving. It was a great day that we had almost missed out on before making the decision to go.
I spent one more night in Amsterdam with Tom, also a De Vries and the closest to my age when I was living with them, before leaving the country. It was only a short visit to Holland (6 days), but it brought back a lot of memories. Also a pleasant surprise was how much Dutch came back to me just in my few days there - I thought I'd forgotten all of what I learnt 10 years ago but it seems it was locked in the back of my head somewhere. I think I'd kind of written Holland off when planning this whole trip - there's nothing to climb there! But being there once again, it felt very familiar, and reminded me of the fact that half my family comes from there.
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