One day, three countries

Well, Donna has left for home. When we were having dinner last night we were talking about the dreaded trip home - not because you are headed home, but rather because of the thought of 20+ hours flying in cramped conditions and endless hours of stopovers in generic airport lounges where it is impossible to get any sleep, or maybe even worse - the fast stopover that has you running from your arrival gate to the departure gate. Both Donna and I have exhausting memories of arriving at Gate 1 in Hong Kong and then needing to leave only one hour later from Gate 89 and the mad dash to get there in time. Unfortunately, she only has a 1 hour turnaround in Hong Kong again - hope the gates are closer this time Sis!

We left the Hotel Stella about 5:20 am to take her to the Airport and once she had checked her luggage through, left her at the departure point to come back and try to get some more sleep. You know what it is like when you know you absolutely positively have to wake up by a certain time - yep, you sleep with one eye open even through you have set the alarm - just in case! Huh - good intentions, but there is a construction site within easy earshot of the hotel - hadn't been a problem over the last couple of days because it was the weekend. This morning however is different . . .

And so we move out too. This begins the countdown for us as well and from here we are headed north towards Germany and Steph and Felix and then further north for London and our own departure. Don't have an exact date yet, will know by the end of the week I hope. (We are trying to change our tickets for a week later). We will definitely be home for Christmas though.

Before we leave Zagreb for good we are going back in to the old town for one last try to get a look at Ban Jelačić Square - the one spot that we have missed so far. But today is not to be lucky either - parking on a week day is just as bad as on the weekend, if not worse. Michael dives out at a Souvenir shop to get a few mementos and comes back with plenty to share with Donna as well. Nice. We also get a photo of the local tie shop - you see, neckties were invented in Croatia - go one guys say thanks! We head back in through the main commercial area to turn north and join the crawling traffic. With nowhere to park I am left wondering if they just drive round and round in endless circles!

Once we are clear of the city though it soon thins out. Today is very foggy. It looks dim and dismal, but apart from being rather dank, and despite being very cool (down to 13.5C), it is a very comfortable day for driving. We want to make one last stop at a supermarket here - I want a bottle of Orahovac (Walnut liquer) that I have come to like so much! I'll add it to the Pear Cognac I have to bring home - so from now I will be building Michael's alcohol allowance!! Don't worry though, my cigarette allowance is still intact. So we follow the signs for one of the Konzum Super stores and end up about 10 kilometres away! Still, shopping successful (we also bought enough of their lovely Jamnica mineral water - by far the very nicest we have ever tried) we re-join the motorway.

This part of northern Croatia is much like Slovenia for where we are headed en-route to Graz in Austria. Through the foggy mist, we can see mountains developing from the lowlands we have left. There is plenty of ploughing going on in the fields by the roadside - everyone is getting busy preparing for what feels might be a long cold winter. All around, we can see the smoke from the home hearths burning inside the houses. Without any wind, they curl lazily upwards in straight columns.

As we near the Slovenian border, the countryside gives way to more rugged scenery with deep chasms appearing between higher cliffs - oh how I wish we had more time to explore this part of Croatia. It has been a wonderful two weeks getting to know this jewel of the Adriatic and its people. But push on now we must. The motorway ends, with further construction going on ahead of us - boy Croatia is really in a road building blitz. And as the motorway ends, the traffic comes almost to a total stop. We crawl forwards so slowly that it doesn't even register a speed on the speedometer. Ah, this is the last kilometer before the border crossing. At least it gives me time to get one last look at the colours of autumn in their blaze of glory before winter and the white claims victory shortly.

As Croatia is not yet a member of the European Union, border posts are still manned at its borders. There is a huge traffic jam here - cars in three queues, buses and coaches in one and trucks in another. We join one queue hoping that there is not going to be any need to open theboot - I mean it is packed to the upper limit. As we get close to the officials, we can see the passengers on all the coaches disembarking to file past a border office and have their passports checked - no wonder there is such a long line of coaches. It would be faster for an official to get on the bus and check the passports - but hey, they are the ones in control, right!

It is much faster to be in the cars and none are being stopped at the moment thankfully - I think that the police are annoyed at the traffic building up that by now must be kilometres long. A police car has come to a screaming, angry stop at the border post just a few minutes ago. We get to a bored official who no doubt must have sore feet. He just glances at our passports and hands them back with a dismissive way. So we crawl forward about 50 feet and this time don't make the mistake of not stopping for the customs official. He doesn't even look at us before waving us through! Guess there is no hard and fast rule.

So we are now back in Slovenia and the EU. First stop is a roadside petrol station for a Vingette that we need to have in order to travel the motorways and main roads. And you can't get one for one day and have to buy one for a week for €15. That's an ouch as we actually need it for less than one hour to travel the 60 kms to the Austrian border where again we must buy a weekly vignette but this time we need it for about a 24 hour period as we are stopping overnight in Graz to have a look. And at €7.70 at least it is more reasonable. Ah, revenue raising in Slovenia is alive and well. As we are travelling the motorway, there is not much we can see of this area of Slovenia, but as with the more western edge, it is very scenic - rolling hills with villages in the valleys and copses of trees left standing on the ridges to minimise erosion and lots and lots of churches - some with tall spire and others with the more orthodox onion shaped domes. Bugger bugger bugger that our time is ending - there is so much more to see. Anyone want to finance us to keep travelling????

Graz is just 40 kms into Austria from this southern border, so it is not long before we are back into a city. The outskirts are very familiar looking - individual houses with fenced or hedged lawns. Once we reach the more urban areas, this gives way to medium density apartment blocks and commercial enterprises. There is the golden mile of car yards, lots of 'bars' thatare advertising scazntily clad women in provocative poses - ah, a (brothel) rose by any name is sweet I guess. There are also numerous casinos and gaming shops.

Austrian motorists here are about as crazy as the Italians, taking crazy crazy risks overtaking on this major road that is generally thick with traffic. And like many other European cities, the horn rules here as well. Gosh, you kind of forget how crazy a large city can be. Kate has no trouble getting us to our accommodation at Hotel Daniel which is literally right next door to the main railway station. However, it is as quiet as!!

The hotel is one of those funky modern types and our room is very interesting with a shower that has a glass wall that looks into the room! Hey Donna and Helen, aren't you glad that you are not with us now! Its very comfortable and that bed looks really really inviting after what has turned out to be a longer day than usual. So instead of going out for dinner, we give in to the dreaded takeaway from the world's largest chain before crashing. By tomorrow morning we should be ready to have a look around!

You know, we swore when we started out on this trip that we would not do the ten countries in two weeks thing that so many visitors to Europe do. Today proved us a little wrong I guess.

The hills are calling

Not sure what it is about the mountains, but they do call us. Maybe it is because we choose to live on one of the flattest continents - in a city without a single hill let alone a mountain. Today we are heading north into the Italian Alps. I want to try to find the little, well actually it was huge, church that we first saw as we made a very brief foray into Italy (so Mum could say she had been to Italy) in 2006. At that time, we had just come down the Brenner Pass from Innsbruck in Austria and found ourselves looking for the church whose bell tower we could see from high up the mountains.

There is no reason for us to hurry so Kate is taking through those back roads that Helen loved to hate! Ah yes, off the motorways. Up and over the hills and far far away. Round and round the mountain. And up it. And down them too. In this part of the world it is so easy to see how that borders are nothing more than administrative lines on a map. The landscape crosses them, the architecture crosses them and the cuisine just ignores them. We could just as easily be in Switzerland, Austria, or France that all abut this mountain range.

So we head away from Silea driving towards the north. The day is as hazy as any we have encountered to date. In fact, this is one of the things we will most remember about Italy. Our journey takes us through the outskirts of Treviso, passing through residential and commercial areas. It seems that there are quite a few historic sites here as well if the brown tourist signs are any indication. But we won't stop as it will take us 4 and a half hours to get to Brennero. Just outside town though we pass one of those 'what the?' sights! There is one of those large restaurants with an even larger carpark. It is called Gargantua and features this unusual statue encompassing the entry. Michael is delighted - he knows the story of this giant well. In fact until recently had a copy of the book of five stories written about the legendary giants Gargantua and Pantagruel! Strange what you see. And where you see it!!

And Treviso and its surrounding towns seem to be the home of the outlet malls. There are advertising hoardings littering the road that tout for business for all sorts of goods - many are for sporting goods. Turns out, this part of the world is crazy for winter and summer mountain sports. We push on behind heavy traffic until we turn off onto those smaller country roads and head up into the mountains.

This is a stunning part of the world. Just as breath-taking as the alps of France or even Switzerland. This is the land of the Dolomites and their adjacent mountains. The roads twist and turn often almost back on themselves as you weave your way higher and higher. We are again using the low gears, something we have not needed to do for the last couple of weeks. In fact, we are travelling for about an hour without getting past 3rd gear! At Feltre, there is a stunning memorial. We are not sure what to, the inscription is not very clear. It appears that it could be a memorial to a war battle and the local lives lost. And blow me down, less than a kilometre further on, there is another one - huge! This one flies the French flag.

And still we climb. We are back in the rural belt of Italy, where life is lived at a much slower pace. Its not long before the stunning vistas of the high mountains and the Dolomite ranges begin to tease us from behind the lower mountains. We are back in the Alps, although this is very definitely the sunny side - with some snow (permanent ice) only visible on the very highest of the peaks high above us. And yes, this is the stuff of postcards and National Geographic specials!

And eventually as we turn away from Brennero to return to our accommodation, we pass through the edge of Vipiteno. I am drawn to get off the road and edge into town - "Just let me check this out", I say to Michael. "Oh my God, it's it!" I exclaim. Yes, I had found the church!! Parrocchiale 'Nostra Signora della Palude' - the Parish church of Our Lady of the Swamp (Shrek anyone?) And even though it is literally just before 5 pm, the church still stands open and people are arriving to tend to the gardens in the adjacent cemetery - just like when we were here last time.

We enter the cool and now quite shaded church to have a look. I knew that it would not be the same as the sun filled sanctum that we found last time, but it was lovely just the same. In fact, it was more than lovely. Where last time we found a tired but loved place of worship, this time it is nothing short of majestic. The cracks in the masonary and the peeling plaster have been repaired. The huge pillars that support the roof that soars high in the heavens above have been given a coat of paint. And those beautiful ceiling frescoes that took our breathes away last time have been restored to their full colourful glory. Michael is particularly taken with the carved pew doors that seem to have been given a new lease of life as well. And the timber flooring at the front of the church has been replaced, as have the cracked marble flagstones that form most of the traffic areas. As we take a walk through the lovingly attended cemetery with gardens contained within every grave, we notice that the Chapel of Repose (complete today with a recently deceased) and the cloister chapel have all been restored as well. Their frescoes rival those in the church for their beauty.

And so, my aim for the day is finally met just as we are about to turn south for the trip home! I'm ecstatic! And Michael is impressed, so the long day through the beautiful country was well worth it. So now, I turn for the Autostrada del Brennero to get back to Silea in the shortest possible time. Yep, the dreaded motorway. Like the road we travelled on in the mountains across Umbria the other day, much of this motorway is raised on long bridges as it traverses across valleys through the mountains. This road however is in much better condition - as well it should be, it is the main connection Italy has with Austria and Germany.

As we travel south following the Brenner highway, we see castle after castle on almost every available ridge. Gee, this part of Italy rivals the Upper Middle Rhine in Germany with its 40+ castles. And just like in the Rhine, this is a big grape growing area. In the dtill afternnon air, we can hear this farmer ploughing long before we see him. In the dying light of the day, we pass Castel Beseno near Besenello. Sitting high on the hills above the town it is an impressive site as the last bit of sunshine hits it. Time and time again we see the clouds developing on the horizon and at this time, we can't be sure where the mountains end, and the clouds begin. And there are more castles to see as well, but the fast disappearing light and a moving car are no match even for the Nikon D70 and we can't get clear photos. (There is no way I am stopping at this point of the trip!)

As we are nearing Ca' Serena we can hardly see the beautiful big waning moon for the dirty brown haze that veils it from us. So, the haze that we left here in the Italian lowlands this morning does not have appeared to have lifted all day. Thank goodness we were 'up where the air is clean' for most of the day!

Hey Hey Hay

Or - Timber and steam all the way to Germany. We are sure that Poland provides most of the world's hay. There is so much of the country around here being harvested at the moment - and the yield they are getting is amazing, so we see thousands and thousands of large rolled bales - some still drying throughout the fields and some stacked. Every couple of days when we speak with Gen, she begins with hey hey hey, so I couldn't resist the title today!!

The Poznań Tourist Bureau puts out a series of information guides that are based around trails or routes of the best things to do in the area. We followed one the other day when we went to Biskupin and today as we head away from Poznań for the last time we are going to follow another - 'The route of wooden churches and buildings' before we make one last stop in Poland at a town called Wolsztyn and then turn west to Germany and 'Western Europe' once again.

We have left Fancy House in Poznań and already miss it. A home away from home, which, when you are travelling for a long time is not always easy to find. Thanks to Gosia and Kris for such a wonderful time. You have some new long-term friends who will wait for you to visit Australia some time.

We are following the one tour of the 'Wooden Churches and Buildings' route that does not take us too far from the route that we must follow to get to Berlin from Poznań. Except that we are following it in reverse of the suggested direction. We start with the Church of St Martin in Granowo, arriving just after 10 am when the morning sky is still a rich deep blue. The timbered church stands out starkly, but in such wonderfully sharp relief against this background. And there is a rather fancy bell tower adjacent to it. At first we don't think that the church is opened - but we eventually find a door that will open. Inside, the body of the church is grated, but we can see in to a rather plain church, with some baroque fittings but not with walls painted like the one we saw recently.

And so on we push. Now, the towns on this route are typically 15 - 20 kms apart, so we are able to get to see a few in the few hours we have. Next in line was Grodzisk Wielkopolski. At first we can't find it and instead have a look at their old market square with the town hall at its centre and a much later baroque church with some wierd dude atop its rotund tower. Then, as we are about to leave town we realise that the car is facing into the street with the timber church. But even the gate into the yeard is heavily padlocked. A pity really - the Holy Spirit Church is very plain and angular outside, but is the oldest on our trip today - dating back to 1633! A timber chuch that is still standing after almost 400 years.

Ruchocice is our next stop. Just off the 'main' street, St Ursula's Church is very nicely kept and in a beautiful garden of trimmed fir trees - the healthiest I have ever seen. It is obvious that this church, built in 1730, is still in regular use, but again we find the doors firmly closed. Hmm, maybe the locals don't like to share! There is not anything else to see here apart from some old barn buildings. The settlement is quite small.

In Rakoneiwice it is not a church we have come to see. Well, it is not a church any more! Instead, it issues deliverence from a different sort of hell. Once an Evangelic Protestant church (boy, they weren't taking any chances!) built in 1763, this building is very different to the others we have seen this morning. It is of post and beam construction and inside boasted two storied balconies. But we will never know whether it was as plain as we find the interior or whether it had been richly decorated. For today, the building houses the Museum of Fire-fighting in Rakoniewice!

You know, sometimes the quirky and different hide lots of little gems. And this one is no different. We enter, unable to find anyone and just start to walk around. The architecture of this once church is quite stark. But now, it gleams with polished brass of a very different nature! In this building there are fire engines that date back to 1786 when terrified horses were used to get water to the seat of a fire. Can't help but imagine that there were not too many fires that they would have reached in time!! Banners from the brigades of past hang from the two balconies - never to flutter in the breeze again.

This unique museum is this quiet little Polish back town has also got equipment from states and cities far away including Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Belgium, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia. Wow - what a collection so far from anywhere. By now, I am back in the car (sorry, there is only so much fire fighting stuff a girl can take - I think its another of those bloke things) when finally a young man working for the museum comes in. I don't think that they get too many visitors, so he is keen to show Michael personally around their collection. Thank you Hubert Koler - your generosity was really appreciated.

The other thing that Rakoniewice has are four colonnaded houses that look into a large market square. In the late 1700s the market square was surrounded by wooden arcaded houses that were characterized by two-tier peaks with beam ceilings. The majority of them burned down is the 'dangerous fire' of 1927 and today only four remain. Guess they are safe now that the Museum of Fire Fighting is within spitting distance of all four!

At this point we had planned to turn west towards Berlin, but there is a hamlet called Śmigiel that we can detour through that will only cost us an extra 15 - 20 minutes. So, why go here? Well, the church here is a composite design - part timber and part post and beam. BUT, somewhere around here are timber windmills supposedly so characteristic of this landscape. Despite our best efforts though, we don't see any. In the 18th century there were 3,500 of these windmills, but today there are only a few hundred - and darn we can't even find one! There are supposedly two, but - where? The poet Boleslaw Leśmain described them perfectly enough for us to see them in our imagination:
Rising above a fallow plain
A windmill, opened to all the world around
Creaks its wooden hoopskirt in a dance,
And throws a devil-like horned shadow on the grass...

And so we turn for the west. Each small town we pass through is built around the market square - not a bad thing at all - as this is where the local population would congregate, trade and exchange their news. Some are lovely and shady while others have become more functional place - areas of hot tarmac that provide handy parking! There is one town we go through where the speed limit is 20 kph - we soon learn why though - they have not tarred over the cobblestones like most others have done and to drive over them faster would certainly mean the death of at the least, your car's suspension! And then we come around a corner and see the most amazing sight. Now, to put this in context, we are out in rural rural Poland - well off the beaten track. And right here in front of us is the remnants of a palatial mansion and all the surrounding glory of what must have once been a very impressive estate. This was all once a private estate of the Kurnatowscy family and is only 100 years old. Very definitely it has seen much better days. The local young woman walking with her children could not have been more pleasant as she offers first Michael and then me a warm Cześć (hello in Polish).

Wolsztyn is famous because this is the last town with scheduled rail services that are operated under steam locomotion. As we drive around looking for the station or the Round House (not a turntable as Michael corrects me), we see lots of other interesting things, but not what we seek. So we decide to go back into the one way cobblestoned and chicaned town centre to the Visitor Information Centre for - well, information. And as I turn the corner to head back that way, there they are (Michael almost wets himself). 12 steam locos all in a line - shunted end-to-end, from tender box to nose. AND there are more in the Round House. The smell of the piles of coal in huge boxed pits in the yard takes us back years and if we listen really hard, we can hear the echo of a steam whistle, once blowed.

And the information? Turns out that those scheduled services are only on weekends and special days. And it turns out that our visiting their town is not a special enough occasion!
Before we leave, we have ice creams that we are dubbing the Salisbury Spires - with 14 tight swirls high above the cone (and more to the base of the cone), there is none of this loose Mr Whippy stuff. And it lasts long enough for you to eat it, not slop up quickly melting drips!

Westward we go, travelling where we can on the back roads. We are so over the motorways with big sound barriers erected on both sides. We continue to travel through small towns, observing a slice of the history of this region, and of the lives of the people today. And it is not all easy. You don't want to be a roadworker anywhere here - you risk your life every day with the only protection being the bright orange clothing you wear. And there are a couple more of those working ladies who face even greater risks I fear!

As we near the border with Germany, we have to re-join the highway. This would be a remainder from the days of border controls through non-EU countries. So it is raining lightly. One car dashes out from a service station on the other side of the road, cutting it fine between trucks hurtling past him and into our lane. Almost loses it - heading into a tailspin. Everything seems to go into slow motion, giving him time to recover control over his vehicle before once again we all rush. Boy, it was close - very close. But that was not the last example of the aggressive driving of the Polish. We are on a two laned busy road. But there are very wide verges. We soon learn that if an impatient fellow wants to overtake you, you head into the verge lane, pulling as far to the right as possible. And if you think this photos is bad, there was a worse example when we have one car overtaking us, and in the other direction a car is passing a truck that is overtaking a car - and all racing towards us! Egad!!!

Before we know it we are over the border and back into Germany. All of a sudden, the architecture has changed. More substantial buildings, smaller farming plots. We are headed for a suburb of outer Berlin on the eastern side called Köpernick where we managed to get accommodation. The roads are an absolute mess and the traffic horrific as we get near about 6 pm. The hotel has changed (ungraded???) our booking without consultation or advice - not sure whether we are happy or not, the room sure doesn't present as an upgraded one! But we have to remember that this is a part of the former East Berlin, and so is likely to be of a lower standard. Dinner is OK, a Schnitzel Buffet - try to imagine that. A variety of schnitzels, pork breaded schnitzel and chicken schnitzel in a mushroom cream sauce served with späetzle noodles and mashed potato with a salad bar that had shredded cabbage salad, shredded carrot salad, sliced tomato and potato salad that the Germans do so well. Who cares - we are just glad we have arrived!

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!