I am a day late with this post but I was so beat last night that, by the time I got all the pictures loaded and edited, I could not come back up to the lounge to post. We had a long hot ride yesterday of about 30 miles. This picture was taken as we were approaching some locks--we go through 11 of them and drop about 200 m on our way down river.
Our trip was not along the Danube but through the countryside, We did however cross a couple of substantial bridges, the first being over the March River.
Our first stop was Schloss Hof, the palace of Prince Eugene, who was a defender of the Austro-Hungarian empire during the reign of Maria Theresa. The palace grounds are quite extensive and the rooms are decorated in Baroque style.
I particularly liked this chart they had on the wall describing the types of wigs.
Mostly we rode through farm land and a few little towns. Stephanie and Hal were continually out front on their electric bikes while some of us (me and Anne mostly) were huffing and puffing up the hills.
We crossed the Austrian - Slovakian border a couple of times--here is the 2nd bridge we crossed, this time across the Danube into Slovakia from Austria,
then met our ship in Bratislava. We had time for a much needed shower and then joined a bus and walking tour of the old city section of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Here is a picture of Eva, our tour guide in front of Michael's Gate, the only remaining gate from the Medieval fortifications.
Here is the tour bus that brought us up the hill to Bratislava Palace as well as some shots of the palace.
This is a picture of the Novy Most bridge across the Danube connecting the old city and the newer sections. Hard to tell but what you see in the background are hundreds of cement boxes built during the communist era where younger and less well off populations now live. After yesterday in Slovakia and today in Budapest (I am writing this on Wednesday night), I think the communists should go down in history for the absolutely ugliest architecture ever unimagined. The bridge is a marvel of engineering with the entire span supported by the two columns visible--nothing in the river. There is a restaurant on top called the UFO!
Lots of great architecture like the opera house
and I love odd details like this sign with a golden dragon
the brass crown in the street that marked the route of the coronation processions
and this famous piece of sculpture on the sidewalk called "Man at Work"
there was also a street musician playing a harp...
Of course lots to say about history but it's all getting a bit blurry. Suffice to say that greed and monetary gain were the drivers for the split of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the 90's, but at this point--so our guide believes--they are content with the arrangement.
This is a picture of the Novy Most bridge across the Danube connecting the old city and the newer sections. Hard to tell but what you see in the background are hundreds of cement boxes built during the communist era where younger and less well off populations now live. After yesterday in Slovakia and today in Budapest (I am writing this on Wednesday night), I think the communists should go down in history for the absolutely ugliest architecture ever unimagined. The bridge is a marvel of engineering with the entire span supported by the two columns visible--nothing in the river. There is a restaurant on top called the UFO!
Lots of great architecture like the opera house
