austria, hungary, slovakia!

Here I am again....two posts in like a week! A lot of reading all at once.....I hope you all don't mind!!!

Last week, John and I were here, in Heuchlingen. I had a normal week, just looking after the kids. Ok not completely normal.....;) John was on holidays, but he actually did ironing twice while he was here!! Yes, TWICE! He ironed his own clothes! And, he even said 'Gee they look better when they're ironed don't they?' Hehee!! It was a really good week, we got to just hang out, go for walks, a bit of a bike ride, and just kinda relax. We also played a few games! There are a couple of games that I've found here that I really really like and will be bringing home with me!! So, we played those......I really got to see John's competetive side!!!! It was a lot of fun!

As I mentioned at the end of the last post, John and I went to Vienna on the weekend! We left on Friday, travelling to Stuttgart by train. John went a lil earlier and went to the Mercedes Benz museum, which was being renovated and was pretty much closed....! I had a tiny look around before we met up again and have realised that I really need to go there and check it out properly!! Sometime! Anyway, we stayed in a youth hostel and got up very early, (4:40am), caught a taxi to the airport and flew to Vienna, getting in just before 8! It was nice to fly with someone else for once, not just alone!! I learnt Texas Holden Poker...... :/

It was raining in Vienna....lovely. Basically, we had some brekkie, then wandered around a lil before catching one of those hop-on hop-off buses that took us around the city. It really is a pretty city. Would have been nice to see it in sunshine!!! Oh well......We went to three museums, which was pretty interesting, but a big plus was that we were out of the rain :P. One was of old armoury, one from Ephesus, and the other of old musical instruments.

We headed back in to the city, found some lunch - sauerkraut and wurst!! Mm...mmm! There was a city festival on, so that was cool. Despite the weather, there were soooo many people! After watching some street theatre....about a guy who finally did a number 2.....quite funny really! ;) Imagine people dressed up like people in Mozart's time, on rollerblades, telling a story, THAT story, without words - only sounds, facial expressions and body movements!! :)

Marty, John's friend from Budapest had recommended a café to go to, so we headed there. Sacher café it was - very famous apparently!! We had a Sacher coffee and a piece of original Sacher torte! Was very very yummy!! It was when we were halfway through it that Marty rang me asking where we were! I had organised with him to meet there at this time, and I had gone to the wrong place!!! There is a Sacher Stube, Café and a Bar...we'd gone to the first!!!! Oops!! Oh well! It was still a surprise to John, who hadn't known when Marty and Judit (his fiancé) would be picking us up. :)

They drove us to the imperial Palace of Schönbrunn, which is in Vienna. We got there pretty much at closing time, so we weren't able to go inside. We walked around it and through some of the gardens, which were amazing! Very beautiful! Even on a cold and rainy day like that!! We walked up to the top of the hill behind it, and the view from there was amazing! Very impressive. I don't have any photos, cos I didn't take any myself - John did, so when I get some from him I can show you all! :)

They also drove us to 'Hundertwasser: KunstHausWien'. It was a house built in 1989-91 and it's just a very funky looking building!! It was also closing time when we arrived, so we just looked at the outside and in the entrance/reception area. The first thing you notice when you walk in, is that the floor is uneven! It was really really cool! Again, I didn't take any piccies on my camera.....(I dropped it in Genova and the front 'bits' kinda broke off, so it's a lil naked now...been trying to avoid using it as much!!) I'll try and get a couple from John! But, if you look it up on the net, you'll find it - I did! ;)

After that, we drove to Györ, which is where Marty grew up. We did a lil shopping at Tesco, and it was so weird seeing eveything written in Hungarian! It's such a cool language, I gotta learn lil more!! :) His mum had some food ready for us, which was delicious!

On Sunday, after another lovely meal, we headed off to Bratislava - the capital of Slovakia!! It wasn't a very long drive, which was good! There are a lot of ugly apartment buildings on the outer part of the city, which wasn't nice to look at, but the rest of the city was really pretty! We had a look at the castle on the top of the hill, and guess what?? I actually have some photos of this! :) It took a few tries to actually get the castle in the background! It was very cold that day, and up there it was windy as well!!!

After that we walked through the central part of the city, (which is all blocked off from cars so that people can pretty much walk anywhere without the fear of being run over :P), and it was really really pretty! Apparently it's been fixed up over the years so that it is a nice-looking place. We then went to the Schokocafé, and paid only €1,50 or 50SKK each for a hot chocolate! It was sooo yummy! And, there were so many different flavours!!
Check out this chocolate fountain thing!! YUM!

One of the things I've noticed lately, having travelled here there and everywhere, is all of the tulips! There are so many around! And I love them! They're so pretty! I think, and this is really weird for me, cos I'm so not a flowery girl, that tulips are my favourite flower!!! :) I'd put up a piccie, but I'll save the space for some other photos. This is just some statue we found :)

Anyway, we left Bratislava and drove to the Devin castle ruins. It was destroyed by Napoleon in 1809. It was cold and wet, but it was so interesting to see this castle! It is on the top of a hill, right where the Danube and the Morava rivers join. By the way, the Danube is, at the moment very high, and there is so much water! In some places, the water is only 100m from the road (maybe...not sure exactly, but there was lots of water.....!!). Basically the Danube is flooded. :)
Back to the castle ruins! We had a look around, and as it was once again near closing time, only just made it into the exhibition part, which is inside the mountain. Like, you go down these steps, and there were caves to go into. Was really cool. :) This photo is from the top, and the Danube is in the back there.

We headed back to Györ after that. I tell you what we were all very glad to get back in the car after being up on that hill!!! ;) Another yummy meal was prepared that night, and we were stuffed! As there was something happening in the city, we went for a walk (Marty, John and I). It was a nice walk, and it wasn't even as cold as it was during the day! Crazy!

Yesterday we slept in a lil and then made our way to Budapest. We went via Esztergom, where there is a huge basilica. Hungary's first King, Stephen the 1st was born here, and then later crowned here. That was cool to see as well, although the rain was definately making things a lil dreary!!

We dropped Judit off at her parents' house and then went on to the airport in Budapest. we got there at about 2:35, with my flight at 3:30. All good! Well, not really, cos John and I had to say goodbye, and you know what, I'm gonna admit that I cried! In public! It was difficult to leave after spending 3 weeks together. :) It won't be long before I'm back!

Anyway, that's all for now!!
I hope it hasn't been too much for you all....
Let me know how you're all doing, I'd love to hear from you!

Lots of love, Vivien