DATELINE: September 2nd, Krems an der Donau, Austria
And to think that for the last month I was calling this place ‘Krems the Shithole.’ Yes, I really did, and I hadn’t even been here yet. I know, right? But it’s not my fault. I started tracking the weather of our various destinations for about a month prior to our coming here and well, Krems was always 5 to 10 degrees Celsius cooler than everywhere else. Well that just blew my little mind because like really, how could this be? Why? Easy answer – I had the mountain Krems, not the Danube Krems. So there are two Krems? What the fuck, over!?
And this Krems is most definitely NOT a shithole.
This is a hippie craft fair with food trucks and a DJ in a town square in Krems an der Donau. Everybody here ripping darts (that’s smoking cigarettes for you non-Canucks), drinking beer and being weird – fucking awesome!
But . . . we have issues now. The Danube’s water levels are dangerously down as most everyone has seen, so we can’t sail into Vienna tomorrow. Instead, everyone’s bags are again packed and will be sent off to Bratislava first thing in the morning while we humans head into Vienna (still in Austria). Tomorrow night baggage, peoples and new boat unite in the Slovakian capital. Sort of sucks but whatever, sometimes that’s traveling, isn’t it?
DATELINE: September 3rd, Bratislava, Slovakia
Tonight we’re back on the boat, a different boat, but identical to the one we just left this morning in Krems an der Donau, and we even have the same state room number. In the end the whole process was quite painless; we go touring in Vienna and our suitcases come here to Bratislava with no bags lost and everybody happy.
Okay so Vienna, capital city of Austria. Big city, very busy, Imperial, Baroque (also some Greek and Gothic Revival) . . . often described as a city built as an expression of absolute power. It won’t make a lot of sense unless you understand that little Austria wasn’t always so little, and this Vienna here was the Capital centre of a huge Continental Empire that lasted almost 1,200 years. That empire collapsed in 1918 at the end of World War One and the family that ruled it (the Hapsburgs) were forced to leave, but the Austrians have not forgotten that they were once a ‘great’ people. And how could you not, this place is unreal.
Part of the Hofburg (Winter) Palace, the new part lol.
Spanish Riding School – World Famous – part of the Hofburg Palace Complex.
Ballroom at Schoenbrunn (Summer) Palace.
Okay, while I was touring the palace Max, Sheila and Mike went on an e-bike tour around Vienna, and while on their tour they rode by a ‘naturist’ section on the shores of the Danube. Yeah, they came back after seeing titties and dicks (not that they wanted to) and I got this guy outside the palace gates, dressed like that and singing “Jolene,” the Dolly Parton song. We’re not sure who had the better experience.
DATELINE: September 4th, Bratislava, Slovakia
We came into Bratislava last night by bus, it’s about an hour and 15-minute drive from Vienna. You know how every place you see reminds you of someplace else? Well this country reminded me of the rolling Foothills of Southern Alberta, home as it were, so I think maybe Bratislava has a special place in my heart.
I don’t know about you, but I think I could live on this street.
Watching a tram go by. The Canadian Embassy is just up the street to the left and the building on the right is Bratislava Reduta – home of the Slovak Philharmonic.
When we were kids this was all part of The Iron Curtain. For many years these people to us in the Western World were the enemy, entirely because they were allied with the Soviet Union (they had no fucking choice). I couldn’t imagine these cities having any beauty, culture or even blue skies. Yet, here we are, it’s 33 degrees Celsius and the sky is indeed blue, and I think I love this city of Bratislava. Don’t know why either, I just feel it.
That’s river cruising though, some places hit and some places not so much, but don’t dwell on it too much because you won’t be there long anyway. I’m not complaining, this is a wonderful way to dip one’s toes into Europe, because you see a lot of cities and towns in a very short time, but it’s difficult to form an emotional attachment to any one place when you move so quickly. That’s why I was surprised at how much Bratislava affected me. But we’re moving again; at 7:45 tonight we sail to Komorom, Hungary (it’s the closest we can get to Budapest on the Danube – yeah the damn low water thing again).
So, see you in Budapest, or maybe Zagreb or Ljubljana. You know, we might actually be having fun here.