All I can say is... What an Experience!
We decide to take the train to Slovakia instead of drive. Third country of our trip. We don't have a vignette for our car, we don't know about parking.......... It just seems easier to take the train. It's a one hour ride and we can easily get to the train station from our apartment. We leave Vienna early with plans to go to Bratislava, have lunch and head back to Vienna. Good thing we both like to roll with the flow because this does not happen.
The train ride is very good. We have our tickets stamped on the Austrian side. We have both had experience with European trains so we know they will be stamped again once we cross the Austria/Slovakia border. Our seats are comfortable. Jim is in the window seat, I am on the aisle seat. We watch the scenery go by. We fall asleep.
I wake to someone gently rubbing my arm. It's a very soft touch and I wake slowly........... Then I open my eyes. There stands Helga. Not smiling. She wants our tickets. I reach over and wake Jim who also wakes up startled. He hands me the tickets. I hand them to Helga. She stamps our tickets and I'm fairly certain I "almost" see her smile! Maybe.
We arrive in Bratislava with no problem. We walk around the train station for a while just taking it all in. We then head out to find the tram station that will take us to the UFO (You-fo) tower. This is over the river and had a very famous restaurant at the top. We are heading to the Information desk but can't seem to find it. We head up to the window of one of the vendors and she points us in the right direction. She is very friendly and we feel comfortable. We head to the Information desk.
The nice lady barely speaks English but we are able to get directions to the tram station to buy tickets that will take us to the UFO.
Following signs in Bratislava is a little bit of a guessing game. There are words..... And there are arrows. The words we don't actually understand and the arrows don't really point in the correct direction. However, we manage to find the ticket windows to purchase the tickets for the tram to take us out to the UFO. First problem - the ticket window lady speaks NO English. We are playing the point and guess game with her. We love a challenge though so we continue to point and guess until we get tickets that we feel are correct and everyone is smiling. Side Note: We did not speak louder thinking that would make her understand. :-). We head off to find our tram. Problem One: Our tickets say - Bus. We were originally told to take the tram. We head back in to the ticket station and approach the window. Different lady this time. We try to explain our dilema. We don't want to take a bus, we want to take the train. She smile an empathetic smile and tells us the tickets work for ALL public transporting in Slovakia. We hang our heads and go back to the tram.
We have no problem getting off at the correct stop. It is directly in front of the bridge that we have to walk across to get to the UFO.
Yes, I have to walk across a bridge. Yes, there is a river underneath. Yes, it freaks me out. Yes, Jim laughs at me.
We make it though. We find the elevator that goes up to the restaurant. We talk to the people that are on the elevator with us. Very nice people that warn me I will likely be scared because the restaurant moves due to wind..... Trucks going across the bridge below....... People walking.......... Birds flying by.......... The earth's rotation (you get the point). They are right. It moves. A lot. However, I put on my brave face and have an absolutely wonderful lunch. The food is fabulous. The service is spectacular and the view......... Oh My Gosh! Perfect lunch. Afterward, we realize there is a lookout tower we can go up to. Do we do it? Of course!
We are becoming familiar with Slovakia and after lunch, decide we are not quite ready to head back. There is a large castle at the top of a hill. We want to see it. We figure out how to get up there and off we go. Along the way we are learning about Slovakia and it's history.
We learn about the churches and religion, we learn about the politics and wartime stories. We have a really good story about Jim and a red laser beam but it's a story for later. :-)
We end up spending the afternoon at the castle. So much fun!
We then climb down the hill and head back to Vienna.
Yet another successful day!
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