The bus in from Bratislava took all of an hour to commute us between two different country's capitals. The concentration of powerhouse cities in this part Eastern Europe is alarmingly compact, hard to believe that all these people (Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians and Austrians) feel a pang of patriotism for different nations.

Em and I had heard much of Vienna and as neither of us had visited it we thought we best not pass the opportunity up to see some of the tremendous displays of expired empirial wealth and power. Vienna serves up examples of the immense power of the Habsburg Dynasty that ruled the region with both diplomatic and military aplomb from the 14th Century all the way up to World War I.

Our first night in Vienna was a gem. We unpacked into another dormitory and got out into the streets pretty quickly to get out of the dorm atmosphere. We were recommended a nice place to have dinner in an outdoor international food court by the dudes at the hostel. So we took their words of advice and after a late afternoon stroll, we happened upon the food court. It was sensational, not only was there excellent food (cuisines from around the globe) but a massive imax-sized screen was giving a free live feed of the evening's opera from the Vienna State Opera House. Having never seen an opera, I enjoyed it. It was another first that I have had the privilage of experiencing on our wide and varied trip this year. Not sure whether it is really to my taste going forward though.

We only had a couple of days in Vienna also as we really wanted to get some down time in Prague after a pretty intense time of hop-scotch-travelling. The next day Em and I just opted to spend the day, the whole day, wandering the historical streets of Vienna where monumental edifices line the city centre. We walked and walked and walked and walked. Still, it was a good way to get an idea of what Vienna has to offer - for our next visit I suppose. Onwards to Prague.