Well that was a long travel day. First train leaves Heidelberg at 9am and arrives in Salzburg at 2pm. There was meant to be a 9 minute connection time, but as my train was running late i only had about 3 minutes to get from platform 9 to platform 4, including navigating all the stairs up and down the platform. But at least i made the connection. Next was the bus from Vienna main station to Bratislava. I was meant to have 30 minutes to find the bus station, but same deal, train running late on;y gave me 15 minutes. Managed to find it with a few minutes to spare.

So i arrived into Bratislava at 6.45pm and walk to the apartment, but the host is running late, so i am left standing in the zero degree cold for half and hour. Anyway once settled in i feel rather relieved that i made it without any missed connections.

So the first day in Bratislava is rained out, with next to zero visibility with a thick fog. Still managed to get out and walk the streets and visit a nice warm shopping mall, where i could dry out. This would have to be the first time where staying indoors was probably the better option.

My next day is a day of stupidity. Alan is arriving at Vienna airport at 12.30pm, so i take the 1 hour bus ride from Bratislava to meet him when he arrives. Well after waiting for 2 hours and he does not appear i get a little concerned. My first thought that immigration is questioning him for some reason. So i find an information booth and the lady calls through to immigration, and she tells me he is not there. She advises me to go to the Emirates help desk and see if they can help. The lady at the Emirates desk looks up Alans booking and tells me exactly where he is, he is in the plane right now and will land in 24 hours time. Whoops!! Guess i got my days very muddled up. Oh well, after having been on an emotional roller coaster for the last 2 hours, i head back to Bratislava, only to do it all again tomorrow. Yes a day of stupidity, somehow i managed to get his arrival date wrong, and did not check this before i left the apartment.
Once back in Bratislava, which by the way is shrouded in a very thick fog as well, i console myself with a long walk in the drizzling rain.

A bit of deja vu as i head to the airport again, but this time i am not disappointed. In fact it is Alan who finds me. I took a seat thinking he will be some time before coming out into the arrivals hall, so i took a seat. Next minute there is a tap on my shoulder. Alan only traveled with carry one luggage, so he was able to exit a lot faster. Man it is so good to see him!

After arriving back to Bratislava, we head out for a long walk in the city shrouded by a very dense fog. The Christmas stalls are doing a great trade, plenty of people out enjoying the cold weather.

Now Bratislava is not a famous destination, so there are no special things to see or do, which in a way is a nice change. You get to experience a taste of life in Slovakia, without the masses of tourists. The city has a small but nice Old town built next to the river. There is a castle on a hill above the old town, but with this fog you can barely see it.