Melk the Magnificent

We are staying at the Hotel Drei Kronen which is close to the City centre without being right in it. The room is very comfortable and nice and airy. The WiFi connection is fast and stable, and breakfast this morning looks very delicious. Looks delicious? Well, given that we ate so late last night, we are not very hungry! Scrambled eggs on seeded bread sounds just right, along with an orange juice and coffee.

The rain has really set in, so rather than spend half a day walking around in it, we opt to set off to Melk a little earlier than we originally planned. So, adieu Vienna. You will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Our journey through to Melk while not far takes us a good couple of hours. Because we have decided to leave earlier due to the rain, there is no need to hurry and we choose the non-motorway route – I mean we saw the motorway when we came from Salzburg to Vienna. We travel through the back suburbs of Vienna next to a fast flowing canal. The weather is dismal – at the best, raining lightly and overcast, at worst, raining so heavily that we have trouble seeing the road markings. It is nice though to see that Vienna’s stunning architecture extends out of the city centre and in to the outer suburbs.

Past the stunning summer palace – the Shönbrunn Palace, complete with the ‘royal’ yellow paint job and a pair of royal but rather surprised lions sitting guard at the entrance to the plaza. We don’t go in today – we are a little of the impression that seen one grand palace filled with gilt and glass and china, seen them all. And we still have to see the Palace of Versailles with Hels! We do however later see an impressive castle high on a hill and decide we might stop and have a quick look, but despite all our attempts we can’t find the road up to it. So we turn to Kate who seems to find a route – good old Kate! Alas, the road is blocked with a sign saying the castle is closed. Ah, well.

The road we travel is through lots of small villages – most of them between 500 metres and 2 kilometres apart. It’s starting to feel a bit like England! And here as we have found further east, the crops of the moment are corn and sunflowers. The sunflowers are getting closer to maturity and there are more and more of them standing tall with their sunny faces following their namesake. There are lots of quirky little touches in each of the towns. Such as:
+ the robot outside a mechanic’s workshop
+ the chemist shop displaying all the herbs used in their cures (supposedly!)
+ a local sign for an upcoming carwash – fundraising maybe?

We are now getting very close to Melk and I expect to see the magnificent Abbey around every corner. But no, we are coming in to the town from the back and we actually reach the car park (that we could not get in to when we came through here a couple of weeks ago) without yet seeing the Abbey. So we park the car and set off. The first view we get today of the complex from above the entry gardens. Down a stepped stairway with carved balustrading into a formal garden with sculptured hedges and fir trees. And up close it is just as stunning as from afar –although you don’t get the full view as the complex is so huge.

We have tickets for an English guided tour at 2:55 pm. But it is only 1:45 now so we decide to have some lunch first. There is a restaurant at the Stift Melk and the menu seems OK. I am determined to have schnitzel at least once before leaving Austria so I order the Weiner Schnitzel served with parsley potatoes while Michael has the Austrian braised beef with roast potatoes and fried onion rings with a butter and chive sauce. While one of the local equivalents of fast food, they are surprisingly good. The Schnitzel is huge, only lightly breaded and the meat cooked to perfection. And Michael says the same of his beef.

It is nearing 2:50 when we arrive at the meeting point for the tour. We don’t have long to wait for our guide who collects a very large group and heads off with a “All the people for the English tour follow me” at a fast trot across the large quadrangle towards the guest wing. Once there, we are split into two groups thankfully and she remains with our group while another guide takes half of the group. And so our tour is with the lively ‘local’ guide Angela. She speaks a beautiful English with the clipped accent that denotes it is not her native tongue. Angela is knowledgeable and eagerly and enthusiastically shares what she knows. She is happy to take and answer questions in English. I tell her that she is lucky to work in such a beautiful place and she genuinely agrees. We move up the Imperial Staircase to the Imperial Corridor were the much loved Maria Theresia stayed here with her retinue of up to 300 people, as well as Napoleon and his army of more than 1,000! While we don’t see into any of the individual guest rooms, the high baroque decorations and the magnificent art works set along the walls of the 196 m twin arcades are truly beautiful.

The Abbey is home to a community of 30 Benedictine Monks. In fact, it has been continuously home to this order for 900 consecutive years! Presently there is a contemporary exhibition on the history of the Abbey that only survived the reforms of Emperor Joseph II in the 18th Century because of its school. To this day it houses a school for 900 pupils between the ages of 10 and 18. It is a private Catholic school – but a very affordable one at only €80 per month – gosh, that is so much less than what it cost us to school our children at St Marys in Maryborough!

Today, only half the monks live at the Abbey while the others work and live in 15 of the parishes that belong to the Abbey in the surrounding towns. The historic exhibition moves through the good times and the dark times of the Abbey in a very sympathetic way with rooms lit by coloured lights to represent Benedictine symbolism. It displays many of the treasures held by the Abbey community including the most exquisitely embroidered cope, stole, gloves, hat and shoes worn by the Abbot responsible for the restoration of the Abbey. But this is more than a showpiece – it is brought out every Easter for the Easter Mass. (Oh, the gloves and shoes are not worn – they were custom made and don’t fit the present Abbot!)

Our tour then takes us through the Marble Hall that was used for lavish royal dinners and the like. It is interesting to note the door frames and gables above the doors are made from real marble, whereas the walls have been lined with stucco marble. In the centre of the floor is a massive grate where hot air was forced into the hall for heating. Similar to the other rooms, the frescoes are just as impressive with images depicting heroes of the Classical period and angels as the balance between good and evil. One fact I found amusing was that the Classical images were representations of the Hapsburgs who liked to see themselves represented as these gods and champions – oh, woe to the Heroic Age!

Angela then leads us out of the Hall and onto The Balcony which connects the Marble Hall and the Library. Walking onto The Balcony one has a commanding view over Melk, as the balcony is like the prow of a ship. However, when you turn around towards the Church facade you are smitten by an amazing sight. I don’t quite know whether these edifices were erected for the glorification of ‘God’, man or just purely to intimidate. Whatever the reason the façade is quite impressive as architecture with its imposing towers reaching towards heaven and the dome purely dominates the monastic complex. Between the two towers (…no, nothing to do with Mordor or Isengard) is a monumental statue depicting Christ carrying a cross flanked by two angels.

Leaving The Balcony we are ushered into The Library, which is no less impressive than the previous rooms. The bookshelves are inlaid and the collections of books have matching bindings, while peering down from its lofty ceiling – you guessed it….frescoes. This library boasts a collection of 100,000 texts, 1200 manuscripts from the 9th to 15th centuries and 600 manuscripts from the 16th to 18th centuries. The collection includes globes of the heavens and earth that were designed and constructed in 1690.

Here the tour ended and Angela suggested a visit to the Church would prove most interesting. However, she did point out that all the gold decoration in the Church is not solid but gold leaf. Mind you, only 4kg of gold leaf was needed to apply the decoration. Acting upon Angela’s recommendation we entered the church and were just taken aback by what we saw. There is just insufficient space and/or time to provide any adequate dissertation. So, our picture of the Church interior will provide some idea. One rather macabre inclusion are two sarcophaguses that contain the skeletons of martyrs from the Roman catacombs.

As we left the Church and made our way towards the exit, we noticed a sign indicating there is a movie depicting the history of the Abbey. We settle ourselves to watch the presentation when about halfway through it an employee enters the small auditorium, advising us the show is over and the Abbey is closing! Like good little sheep we all hurriedly exit. Obviously the Abbey operates to a very tight schedule, so we make our way back to the car park and set a course for the hotel.

The Hotel Der Post is in the main street of Melk. With the size of the Abbey, we had expected that the town would be larger, but no, it is quite small. Again the room is sizeable and thankfully the beds comfortable. But no matter what I do I cannot connect to the internet connection – which is frustrating because I always book accommodation that says they have good connection – and here, at €8 an hour, it is not cheap either – we eventually return the access cards and get our money back! Will check email on their connection in the lobby, but the blog uploading will have to wait until we get to Brno. Yes, tomorrow we are off to the Czech Republic for a week or so.

Neither of us is hungry, so we forgo dinner. In fact, I am just plain tired after a few very busy and long days so at 9:30 pm I go to bed and by 9:32 I’m asleep. Michael braves the continuing rain to dash out and get a few photos of the Abbey lit at night and I am sure you will agree it is impressive to say the least!

A night to Remember - forever!

The Hotel Národný dom in Banská Bystrica is hot. We slept last night with the windows open, me enduring the mosquitoes! There was a thunderstorm that yielded some rain later in the night, which cooled everything down just a tad - but not really enough for me.
And this morning is as hot as yesterday afternoon. And to add insult to injury, right on 7 am building works start up just outside our window - we knew they would, there are comments on booking.com's website about it.
But the rooms, while hot are nicely appointed. The outside of the hotel and the public areas however need major overhauling!

I had let the blog get away when the connection was so bad in Bratislava and it takes me all late last night and a couple of hours this morning to get it up to date. Michael comments that I have created a monster, but really, we will look back in time and be glad we have recorded our thoughts and impressions - of that I am sure! I am too hot to be bothered with breakfast this morning, but Michael goes down and has a light one - cereal and fruit. He said that they had a reasonable range on offer, but he too is not really all that hungry.

As soon as we get out of the room, we realise that the day is not so bad. Turns out that this stretch of the hotel has sun all day and is surrounded on three sides by other buildings - guess that explains the heat! Once we are on the road moving, with the windows down (we haven't been able to get the condenser pipe for the air conditioning repaired) it is actually quite pleasant.

We are headed back to Vienna to go to the Mozart Concert tonight - at the same venue where they hold the Vienna New Years Concert each year - the Musikverein which is a block behind the Opera House. We have reserved tickets - all we need to do is make sure we are there by 8 pm.

We looked at travelling north to see a little more of Slovakia and then coming in to Vienna from the north, but it will add more than 2 hours to an already 3 hour trip. So <sigh> on to the mtorways we go. After the journey of the last two days, the trip is comparatively boring. One light piece of trivia is that we left Banská Bystrica this morning on Route 66. Certainly can draw some parallel with its famous namesake - it is long and seemingly unending! (This reference would be familiar to those of you who watched the 1960's program "Route 66", featuring George Maharis, Martin Milner and introduced by Nelson Riddle's very recognisable theme music?) This then becomes route 77 LOL! And the roadworks continue. We are still amazed at the amount of repairs and road building going on and the scant regard for WH&S. Honestly, our guys would literally have heart attacks! And there is none of this 3 men to a shovel - they are busy and everyone is doing something productive. What is a little surprising is the number of police with their mobile radar guns that are operative near roadworks areas - maybe this is to compensate for the lax WH&S in an endeavour to keep the workers safe.

This is something of a laugh because while drivers do tend to slow done, some, around roadworks, at other times they drive like maniacs taking all sorts of risks overtaking. I am playing it a little more safe - I mean if the car were to be damaged . . .
We also encounter the radar police at the border crossing - although there are no longer any border formalities to be had, they infrastrucutre is still in place - including the traffic limits. And there they were, out of the heat in the shade of the border overpass, clocking heaps of people doing more than the 20 kph - I mean, there really is no need to go that slow any longer - but! Never let it be said that they let an opportunity go to waste!

Oh, and you remember how we lost the trucks? Well, today we found them all again! Heading for Western Europe of course - miles of them!

So we continue to travel westwards again - towards much more affluent areas. And as we leave this little country that has so many parallels in nature to Australia, there are reminders that all is not the same. From the manual labourers, forking hay into the back of trucks in the searing summer sun, to the kitsch gnome garden and the roadside fast food outlets - this one was jam packed when we came through last Friday - so the food must be good. We'll never know - we didn't stop.

Vienna is frenetic, hustling like a city going about its business. The traffic is chaotic as we arrive around 2:30 pm. One of the sights I had wanted to see was The Prater. We ran out of time last time and so figure that since we go within a kilometre os it, its as good a time as ever to go have a look. The giant ferris wheel is supposed to give great views over the City. Turns out that it is just like what Luna Park was like in Sydney in the 1970s.

Lots of rides - rollercoasters, dodgem cars, water slides, miniature train, merry go rounds and the famous big Ferris Wheel. Interestingly, you line up for your photo even before you board the ride! Then it is up you go in replica cabins based on the original design. Yes, the views are great, but you are too far from the Old City to see any significant detail. But there are great views of the amusement park below and the parklands setting in which it sits.

There are also great views of the Wien Praterstern railway station, one of the major railway stations of Vienna and you can see how busy the station is with trains arriving and departing all the time we are on the ride. And so, one circulation done, our ride is done - guess we can say, been there, been had!

We continue in to the City and around to our hotel that is much closer in then the youth hostel where we stayed last time. The Hotel Drei Kronen is not too far from the Opera House, so it should be easy to get in to the Mozart Concert nearby tonight. When we only stay one or two nights at a hotel, we no longer drag the suitcase out each time. Rather, we have a large carry bag that has all the basics in it. Tonight however, for the first time in a long time, we need to get our 'good' clothes out to attend the concert, so the suitcase comes in tonight as well! Parking is just down the street in a secure car park, so its not too bad.

The weather that was on the horizon while we were on The Prater has hit and just before we head into town for our night out, the rain starts. So it is a cab job. We get in to the Musikverein in plenty of time and join the hundreds of other people queueing to collect their tickets. The programs are very reasonable (surprise, surprise) at €5 each and so we buy one as a souvenir. Michael then poses with the seller for a photo. This is the venue where they host the Vienna New Years Day concert each year and it is a sumptuously beautiful building. Built in Greek Renaissance style, it is marble and gold, stunning proportions, elaborate statuary, ceiling frescoes and 10 huge crystal chandeliers hanging above our heads.

And that is even before the performance begins! We had purchased better tickets on the condition that we could get seats dead centre in the front row of the balcony - which we did! Except that no one told us there was a divider between the two seats! Didn't matter, but we each had to enter from opposite ends of the row. The view was magnificent with the full 30 piece orchestra in period costume right in front of us.

The program included works by Mozart and Haydn and featured two opera singers - Claudia Ema Camie (Koloratur Soprano) and Sokolin Asllani (Baritone) as well. The orchestra was conducted by Ewald Donhoffer. After 90 of beautiful music in a magnificent setting, the concert finished with Strauss - Blue danube waltz and then a hearty rendition of the Johann Strauss Vater "Radetzky Marsch" Op.228 with full audience participation being managed by the Conductor!

We are on a real high as we leave and who cares that it is raining? Oh, is it raining?! We have not yet had dinner, so at 10 pm in Vienna, we stroll with our heads filled with music and soon come upon the Imperial Hotel and it's restaurant and although we know that this is one of the more expensive restaurants in the city, decide to finish our wonderful night by treating ourselves to a special dinner.

And special it was. We are greeted at the entry door by Uwe Reithner who went on to serve as my personal sommelier. Together with our waiter, Erich Hahn, they ensured we had a very memorable experience. In this stunning silver service setting, they were helpful without being overbearing, there when you needed them and not while we were eating. They made sublime suggestions about the menu, discussed wine choices and even joked with us. When asked for the bill, Erich even joked "ah, you want to sign - or wash dishes in the kitchen!"

The food was delicious - I wish there was a better word to capture it. When Erich noticed that I was writing down our menu choices (and I told him about the blog) he went to bring me a copy of the menu to take away, unasked - see what I mean about service - pre-empting our every need. Gosh, how can we make choices from what is on offer, it all sounded so delicious. Nevertheless, we do eventually make the following choices:
Appetiser (compliments of the chef) and once this came we knew we were in for a special meal:
Roasted tuna with fresh herbs and included tiny little tomatoes, one dried the other fresh. With it I had a glass of Tio Pepe Sherry
Entrees:
Viennese Calf's Lights with Chive Dumpling and Fried Quail's Egg (fine slivers of heart and tongue done in a sauce with fine slivers of vegetables) Michael
Lobster Bisque with Armagnac and Lobster Dumpling (exquisite, served into the bowl in front of me, and "with a drop or two of Armagnac madad, or the whole bottle?") Maria
Mains:
Sauteed half lobster with Calamari-Red Pepper Ragout and Leek (artistically presented with the meat curling from its shell) Michael
Roasted fillet of Veal on Mushrooms with Polenta Souffle (served with baby vegetables) Maria. And with it a glass of Mantherhoff Reisling 2007 from the Lower Austria region around Vienna.
Desserts:
Gosh, we hardly needed them, but why would we not complete the night by finishing our meal with something sweet. When we told Erich that we wanted something light, he suggested that we have the Poppy Seed Parfait with stewed apricots from the set menu. So we agreed and it could not have been a better choice even though I could only eat half and Michael therefore got a very generous portion! This was subklime. The parfait was amazing but for me, the apricots were even better - forget your grandma's recipe here. They were sweet, sticky but definitely not sickly and had a hint of cardamom and I think rosewater - gosh, if only there was something like taste-a-vision so you could taste what it was like!

We finished our night with wonderful coffee and hand made truffle chocolates which we couldn't finish!
So tonight we have spent 4 days budget, but it is a night we will remember forever, finished in the company of a couple of new mates in Vienna - thanks Erich and Uwe - you made a memorable night the best!

Wien continues and through to Slovakia

We decide that we’d leave the car at the Youth Hostel this morning while we went back in to Vienna city for some more exploring. Now that we have decided to come back for a few more days, the pressure is off and we don’t feel like we have to rush around at a frenetic pace to see things. We need to leave here before 3 pm to reach Bratislava in time to check in to the apartment.

So we ride the tram in. Michael is sure that we got the 31 tram yesterday, but I feel that it was the no.2. The 31 comes first and once underway, it only takes a few stops to realise that it was not the one we got yesterday. No harm done, we got off at the next stop with the intention of changing to the no.2, and too late realised that at this stop, only the 31 called! So back on the next one about 15 minutes later. Its uncomfortable waiting – the day is really heating up. All’s not lost – we soon work out that we can pick up the tourist Ring Tram at the 31 terminus!

There are two places we really want to see today – the Karlskirche and the Votivkirche. Getting on to the tram where we did, we reach the stop at Schottenringplatz which is only five blocks from Karlsplatz and the church. The architecture all around here is very grand and all the streets, not just the Ring Road are wide. But the tram system is as busy as, with tracks and their corresponding lines criss-crossing all over the roads and especially the intersections. And there is little shade as we walk around to Karlsplatz – boy the summer is really getting hot!

Karlskirche, with its impressive domed roof, looks amazing in the bright morning sun. This church presents visually very differently from a lot of those we have seen recently. To start, there are two detached pillars that look very much like minaret towers in front of the dome-topped body of the church. And whereas we have not had to pay to go in to any of the other churches and Cathedrals here, this one costs us a discounted €5 each – on the receipt it says ‘maintenance contribution’ – yeah right, whatever! We walk down the corridor from the ticket seller and into the body of the church and WOW.

Now, there is a story to the building of this church (official name is St Charles of Borromaeus Church of Vienna). In 1713, the plague hit Vienna for the second time in two decades and more than 10,000 people died. Emperor Charles VI vowed to construct a magnificent church in honour of the saint – his name saint and patron of the plague! And this is the result. Famous architect Bernhard Fischer worked to achieve a symbiosis between Roman, Greek and oriental classical architecture with ideas from the baroque. The two towers are 47 metres high. Carvings on the towers reflect the life and achievements of the Emperor and the Saint.

And back to the inside. You walk into an elliptical nave with the most stunning dome 45 metres above you. It is covered in frescoes with the main message being the Saint petitioning the Holy Trinity to save the city from the plague. At the moment there is some major restoration work being undertaken and so, using the lift installed to get the workers up to the dome, we too can get up close and very personal with this amazing artwork that covers a total of 1,150 sq. metres! Up here in the heavens, the colours are greener than what they appear from the body of the church, and the figures are more squat and bigger than life. This allows people in the church to see the saints, angels, cherubim and putti in true perspective way above them. Michael continues his journey into the heavenly realm by climbing a further 121 steps into the lantern housing where supposedly the views are stunning. Trouble was that the thick glass was filthy and encased in a heavy metal mesh – too bad for a photo and almost too bad for him to even see out. Pity.

And the architectural triumph is fascinating. There are domes atop open domes so that it is only when you stand underneath that you can see the full glory of the frescoes. All the side altars have artworks by major artists as their features, and there is a stucco medallion to the side of the Marian altar that shows the feast day of my birth – the Annunciation (where angels told the Virgin Mary that she was to bear the Son of God).

The main altar is a work of art that truly venerates the Holy Trinity. The focal point (thanks to the very clever placement of windows) is the gilt symbol of the Trinity containing in Hebrew the name of God surrounded by an elaborate stucco nimbus of angels and putti. Below this, Saint Charles floats towards Heaven and his glorification. This statuary is known throughout the world as one of the masterpieces of the baroque age. And it is breath-taking (yes, yes, I know – I am holding my breath a lot at the moment!)

We could spend hours and hours here with all this special art, but the day is flying. A quick visit to the attached museum for Michael while I head outside in search of some cooler air! And outside there is a Mozart character dressed in full costume (I pity him in the heat) selling tickets for two different performances – Mozart’s Requiem tonight in the Karlskirche, and the Vienna Mozart Concerts. So after some quick discussion, we decide to book for the latter for Monday night. It will mean that we re-arrange our last two days here, but boy, we have to do this – it is in the Concert Hall where they stage the famous Vienna New Year Concert and we have dead centre, front row balcony seats. Cool, very very cool.

Oh, a postscript from here – the artist who painted the dome fresco, Johann Michael Rottmayr, also painted the frescoes at the Melk Abbey – all the more reason for us to make the time to go and have a look!

So, happy as larks, we leave Karlskirche to go back to get our last trip on the Ring Tram and go around to the Votive Church in Vienna. Too late, we will never make it, so instead we just jump on the U-Bahn (underground) for a trip of a four stops. Public transport here is excellent and we have found every tram and train we have travelled on to be immaculate.

The Votive Church has a more traditional façade for a church. And there is a story to this one as well. Following the failed assassination of Emperor Francis Joseph I, his brother Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian appealed for funds to build a church to be dedicated as a memorial for the Emperor’s deliverance. And so the church earned the name Votive as this is the term for an offering (mainly a religious term.) A competition was called for architects to provide designs for the new church. The young 26 year old Heinrich Ferstel was chosen as the successful architect. The terms of the competition were that the Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages was to be used as a guide – consequently many people think that the Church is much older than it really is, as a Neo-Gothic edifice built much later.

Now the church was designed as a memorial and not as a parish church so it was designed originally without seats – to be a vast open space reflecting space and harmony in the design. The plan was that it would house a hall of fame for great Austrians, but in a time when there was great conflict between the church and the state, this was fraught with danger. By imperial decree (1862) it was designated a garrison church and there are plaques dedicated to imperial riflemen, imperial regiments and even individual soldiers – especially those killed in the World Wars. Today however, its main function is as a parish church.

The building is beautifully proportioned and while dark, gives a sense of lightness and balance. The chandeliers hanging on long brass rods and beautiful, the stained glass windows vibrant in their upper arches and quite modern below. There are exquisite old frescoes painted in the side walls to the side altars and right across the back wall of the church. And as it was never designed to be filled with seating, special attention was paid in laying the floor of glazed clay tiles – the first time they had been used in Vienna.

The main altar sits under an elaborate canopy. Made of Laas marble, it is supported by columns of Egyptian alabaster between which there is glass mosaic inlays. The altar sits on a base made of the same marble and is made of gilded bronze with colourful enamel scenes. It is so beautiful. And it is surrounded by life-size statues of the twelve apostles. The arcades contain scenes from the story of Noah. Behind the altar are seven five-sided chapels. As I said, it is a beautifully balanced building.

It’s now time for some lunch and we either need to find something close to here, or get back into the centre of the City and battle the throngs. A short walk puts us at the Café Stein with its streetside al-fresco area shaded by mature trees and umbrellas. There are lots of locals having lunch – a good sign! Our waiter quickly brings us an English Menu, but it doesn’t have the daily specials on it, so he ends up translating anyway! We have:
Cous-cous mit feinem Ratatouille und geriebenem Parmesan (Couscous with Ratatouille and grated parmesan) Michael
Gebratened Hühnerfilet mit Erdnusscreme und Basmatireis (Chicken breast filet with peanut sauce and basmati rice) Maria
A coffee to finish and some timely advice from our waiter puts us quickly on a tram back to our starting point where we transfer for a No.2 tram back to the car.

But not before we got a gelato at this incredibly busy gelataria near the tram stop – Michael has a Moonlight (chocolate, coffee and syrup) while I had a Nougat one (a ball of green marzipan surround by chocolate and then rolled in crushed nuts) – lovely on a hot (32°C) day!

We leave Vienna passing ‘Gasometer town’ – gotta hand it to them – fancy giving the area where all the refinery and oil storage facilities reside such a catchy name! And once we are out of the city, the landscape changes – not subtly, but almost instantly – to one of a large flat basin with gently sloping hills around the perimeter. There are lots of grass and grain crops here and wind turbines all lined up in military fashion – very straight row after row. They could be waiting for the commanding officer to walk the ranks on inspection!

The road systems here in Europe are amazing. We have all seen photos of the big clover leaf interchanges in the USA, well think clover leafs over clover leafs, or adjoining each other and you can start to picture some of the big ones here. And then there are the double roundabouts – boy it was daunting the first time we came upon one (but we are old hands now ¦:-> ).

And every time we cross a border at the moment, we have to stop – not for passport checks or anything, no, to buy motorway vignettes (stickers) for the windscreen. The on-the-spot fines for not having them are large enough that only the really foolhardy (and maybe Mick!) would chance not getting one.

And so we reach Bratislava, past ugly concrete flats that are a reminder of the fairly recent communist rule here. And as we pass over the Danube river under the modern UFO tower (pronounced Eu-fo) the four turrets of the castle are in the same vista. There can’t be too many places where the ancient and the modern reside beside one another, both as striking as the other! I love Kate, she delivers us to the apartment we have for the next two days without a hitch. And while the outside of the building really does need some TLC, the one bedroom apartment is lovely and modern. AND only 300 m from the Old City. Tell you more about it tomorrow!

Michael finds Tesco and gets a load of veges to stir fry for dinner – whoo hoo, we truly miss them in this carb capital and protein province area of the world! And then there is this cute little pat of butter - I am holding the milk only so you can see the real size of the butter!