Two Days in Vienna & Bratislava

Feb 5

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As mentioned in our earlier planning post, we decided on two new cities for me and one new city for Mary Frances as we began our Thanksgiving holiday in Vienna and Bratislava!

[divider class="" ]Vienna (Thursday):

Vienna, the city of music and culture, is steeped with history dating back to the 16th century leading to its height before WW1 as the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Since I overslept the morning walking tour, I decided to venture out by myself and wander the streets. Turns out, I stumbled on the Christmas markets!Before lunch, I had visited all three! The Christmas markets are American farmers markets on steroids. There are many stalls each selling something different. Now, each market may sell similar things (i.e. candles and ornaments), but usually there were unique things at each market. Unfortunately, the weather was bland so I could not wait for nighttime and the lights to brighten the atmosphere![gallery size="large" columns="1" ids="879"]For the walking tour, I joined the afternoon session with Good Vienna Tours. I would say it was fairly interesting and took us throughout the city to end at the river! We began at the famous Opera house - rebuilt after near destruction in WW2. Next time, I will try and get tickets there for cheap as they have standing room only tickets released an hour and half before the show. Only cost is waiting in line.Next, we learned about great Austrian icons such as Mozart (music genius party animal), Queen Sisi, and King Franz. Mozart is the highlight since most people know about him! Rumor has it that he was a massive party animal, but he was beloved throughout the kingdom for his musical talents. Otherwise, I saw a bunch of cool landmarks such as the winter palace, St Stephens Cathedral, and the pretty streets of Vienna.[gallery size="large" columns="2" ids="921,916"]

Christmas Market:

At night, we ventured to the celebrated Vienna Christmas market. It is spectacular - especially at night! The Christmas lights are magically and definitely get you in the festive spirit! As expected, Mary Frances was enchanted by the scene. All sorts of shops, knit-knacks, and yummy smells! Instead of celebrating, I think both of us were slightly overwhelmed with the crowds and choices! Eventually, after several laps, we started to buy things left and right! It was so fun![gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="884,918"]

[divider class="" ]Bratislava (Friday):

We took the 10am train to Bratislava (Brava) arriving at 11am so we just missed the walking tour. The next one began at 1pm specializing in Communism history so we aimed for that. Our first impression of Brava was… well.. interesting. We walked through the local / new town, where we clearly saw the effects of Communism. Talk about boring architecture…During our walk through Old Town, we immediately became enchanted by the older buildings and the curvy streets. Now, we should have begun our trip here! We began the tour discussing Communism effects and how (give or take) a third of the people still miss their old lives. That is shocking… It is primarily the elder generation who lost jobs, way of life, etc. so I guess that makes sense? Within the first fifteen minutes, the tour had a sobering effect. We decided we would stay until the castle because at least we would get free directions there![gallery size="large" columns="2" ids="925,891,892"]One story that struck me was the government wanted to build a bridge connecting the Old Town and city across the river to new city. However, several historic buildings were in the way. So, communists just tore them down, destroying 1/3 of the old district and one of the few remaining Jewish synagogues after the war. The bridge has a famous restaurant at the top nicknamed, UFO, because those geniuses couldn’t be imaginative in their architecture! Anyways, from the UFO restaurant, since Bratislava is so close to Austria, you can see Austria from this restaurant. To prevent any potential problems, they blocked out the windows to the West so you couldn’t see it. Incredible!

Christmas Market:

Once we reached the castle, overlooking the entire city, we left the tour group to wander around the Old Quarter. Little did we know, we stumbled on another really cool Christmas market! Tis the season! All the markets were neatly organized in red roofed huts and had plenty of cool crafts. In addition, I had my first Kurtoskalacs! Or Trdelnik! I think it depends what country you're in as many claim this delicious cinnamon baked dough to be their own.[gallery size="large" ids="927,895,930"]Before long, our day was over (also helps it is nighttime around 4pm) and we made our way back to Vienna on the 4:38 train. Yes, I remember the time because all Vienna trains strangely left at XX:38!

[divider class="" ]Food:

While in Austria/Germany, one must eat schnitzel - especially for Thanksgiving. For every meal. Just kidding! For Thursday breakfast, I ate at the Naschmarkt at a cool organic cafe. It was a yummy bagel sandwich with a really good fresh mango smoothie. I was slowly preparing for the rough day! Since I kinda skipped lunch after feasting on the various Christmas market snacks, I was very hungry and very ready for my first schnitzel in three years!Thanks to my tour guide, we went to Figlmuller - one of the best schnitzel restaurants in Vienna - as evidenced by the lengthy queue and online reviews! According to the guide, they triple fry their schnitzel in lard which makes it nice and light and extra fluffy! Boy, it was yummy!! Sadly, we went with our guide’s advice and split a weiner schnitzel due to the sheer size. We were still hungry…At the Christmas market, we also got a fresh bratwurst filled with cheese!! Perfect compliment to my mulled wine. For foodies, Christmas markets are basically heaven. They contain all sort of goodies from tasty meats to sweets!In Bratislava, since we arrived around lunch time, we went to a hostel recommended restaurant located outside the old town called Viecha U Sedliaka. Please not ask how to pronounce it… Because it was off the beaten track, it was full of locals! We ordered Sheep Cheese Dumplings - don’t ask for the Slovak name because I can’t spell it or pronounce it! Mary Frances also tried the local wine - blackcurrent wine and I had the local brew.[gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="923,888"]Both were better than expected - especially the food. It is basically potatoes covered in cheddar cheese, topped with melt sheep cheese, then layered with fried onions, bacon, or sausage. Wow. When we were ordering, we saw two old locals order separate meals so we foolishly thought we could keep pace with them. Boy, were we wrong. It is such a hearty meal that we couldn’t finish it! The melted sheep cheese was exceptionally yummy combined with the sausage and potatoes!While also in Brava, we tried a roasted pig at the Christmas market. The bites reminded me of home. It was smoky, fresh, and extremely good. I wish I could have some now! Also in the market, I discovered my (current) favorite dessert - a fried dough circle covered in cinnamon sugar called Kurtoskalacs or Trdelnik! I would call it the European cousin of the churro. It was delicious!For our final night in Vienna, we went to a schnitzel restaurant, one of the best in the city, close to our hostel. Unfortunately, the reviews declined to mention the smoky atmosphere… Hence, we went to an old reliable friend - Figlmuller. Since it was Friday night, we had a bit of a wait, but it was worth it. Learning from our mistake the previous night, we ordered separate schnitzels. I ordered a regular pork schnitzel while Mary Frances stuck with the weiner schnitzel. There was not a bite remaining after dinner!