Day 228, 17 February 2013, Bratislava, Slovakia. I think it was an advert for Concorde, way back when... Breakfast in London, lunch in New York (and luggage in Rome!) This is probably the closest we've come to it - Dinner in Italy, breakfast in Austria and lunch in Slovakia! The sleeper train was magnificent. Just designed for very tall, slim, Austrian types - once our luggage was in the compartment, we had to climb over it to get to the bed. Which wouldn't have been so bad if it was our compartment. I've got a cold (thanks to one half of Italy being contagious and the other half in the process of catching it). I quite adequately got us to the right platform, train and carriage. Then went into compartment 51/55 instead of 61/65. Darn. Once safely ensconced in our proper compartment we got the brief from the formidable blonde Sabina. All very efficient in the kind of way that makes you feel like meat after it's been through a grinder. By morning and after several naughty grumble words, we'd finally trained her that two quiet raps on the door was enough to attract the attention of people in a room the size of a large WC. Half a dozen loud and rapid fire bangs on the door was not strictly necessary - it was not as though we were out in the garden! But all was forgiven because along with a decent choice of breakfast items, they provided a half bottle of wine each and chocolates. And a good night's sleep. It was amazing to wake up this morning roaring through snow laden Austrian countryside. Couldn't believe it when we emerged in Vienna - probably minus 4 degrees and a very watery sun. With stunning Austrian efficiency myself, I went to the ticket counter, picked up the pre-booked tickets for the next leg of the trip (sleeper to Krakow, Poland) and also got tickets for the next 2 days - the great "BratisLover" deal. Only €15 return each for a train ride to Bratislava - capital of Slovakia. In fact, Vienna and Bratislava are the two closest capital cities in the world - only 64 km (40 miles) and the Danube river separate the two. And a fair bit of attitude (hello again Eastern Europe!) We arrived at the hotel at 10.30 am and whilst we're 99% sure the room was ready, there was no way we were getting our grubby mitts on it until the official check in time of 2 pm. We haf procedures. They vill be followed. So we headed off on foot to explore the Old Town - even stopping in at the Dubliner Bar for a coffee. There were 4 customers altogether and then none - as some bright spark thought using an angle grinder and a hammer and doing renovations behind the bar was perfectly acceptablle practice during opening hours. I'd like to say it's cheap - but it's not. So having checked out a few of the sights we checked into what turned out to be a fabulous room with a bathtub! Yay! First bath since Christmas.... Probably not leaving the room for 48 hours. We did however head a little further down our street to the restaurant at the Backpackers Hostel. Which on first glance sounds daft and not like us at all - but it had the best food we've seen since London (not including our pizza/pasta/risotto fiesta in Italy obviously). Italians aren't into sauces at all. Grill the meat. Put in on the plate. Expect praise, is closer to it. But tonight we had a salmon fillet with saffron sauce and crispy roast potatoes and also a pork fillet with dumplings and a mushroom sauce. And a starter and 2 desserts and wine for only €28. It's close, it's inexpensive, it's our new favourite place. Bring on a cooked breakfast tomorrow!
(Today's picture taken just prior to St Michael's Gate, into the old town)