Bratislava is so underrated! Budapest tomorrow!

I took the train to Vienna last Friday which was quick and easy. I showed up at Wombat's Hostel which was just as good as I expected. A little bit pricey considering it didn't include breakfast, but worth it for the atmosphere. They give you a coupon for a free beer in their bar right when you walk in. The scene is so good there that a lot of people stay at other, cheaper hostels and just walk over to Wombat's to hang out. There was a massive bed in the lounge area that fit about 15 people napping in the afternoon. The bar was open till about 2 or 3 am every night. My room was absolutely huge, could have fit a lot more than 6 bunks in it. I didn't do too much on Friday around town. Just walked into the city center for a bit and looked around. There is a huge outdoor screen showing the the live opera almost every night. I never made it to the opera, but at least I got to see a bit from the outside. I bought some groceries as well, 3 breakfasts and 3 lunches plus a few beers for 9 euros! I hung out around the hostel and met some cool people at the bar downstairs.

On Saturday I went sightseeing. I got a 72 hour public transport pass and went to the main cathedral in town, St. Stephen's, which was impressive. I walked along the Danube for the first time. I went to the palace (Schonn Brunn) and walked through the amazing gardens for quite awhile. There were some really cool fountains and a great view of the city from the top of a hill. I went to the market next, which had a flea market as well on Saturday. The place was packed with people. When I got back to the hostel, I found out that I had picked a great time to come to Vienna. Saturday night was a once-a-year event called 'Long Night at the Museums' I think would be the way to translate it. Every museum in town (there are 94!) was open from 6 pm to 1 am and could be entered for one flat rate of 13 euros. This was an incredible deal considering most museums were 10 euros each. I went with an American guy named Mike who was staying in my room. I wish we had planned it a bit better and mapped out where we would go, because you definitely have to pick and choose which museums you want to hit. We did see quite a bit though. We saw one of the main art galleries which had a lot of Dutch and Flemish art, including some Rembrandts. It also had Greek and Egyptian sculptures which were very cool. Next was the Natural History Museum which had a lot of interesting rocks and minerals, including a 60 kilo amethyst and a bunch more! Next was the Treasury which had crowns and swords and stuff from the Hapsburg empire. Next was the Leopold Museum with a huge amount of contemporary art. We ate dinner somewhere in there as well, and left the last museum at nearly 1 am. Back to the Wombar for drinks!

I went sightseeing on my own on Sunday. After a long ordeal, I made it to the massive cemetary south of Vienna. I thought that one in Paris was big, but this one dwarfed that one. There are over 2.5 million people buried at this one! I had to wander for quite awhile before I found what I was looking for: a special section with the graves of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, and a couple of others. They all had really impressive headstones. I love Vienna's art and musical history, it was definitely a popular place! After that I went to the Belvedere Palace and gardens. These gardens were pretty amazing as well, and the art museum was really nice. It had a big collection of Klimt works, he is pretty much the most famous Viennese artist. His most famous work was there, it's called The Kiss. Ended up back at the Wombar as usual. The bar was packed because one of those huge groups had piled in to the hostel that day. I was hanging out with a couple American guys and a Canadian girl when the awesome bartender announced that every time a song came on, the first person to yell out the artist got a free shot at the bar. The bar was mostly filled with Aussies, so maybe the 4 of us had an advantage considering most popular music comes from America. The four of us nailed the first 20 or so songs!!! We usually all yelled the artist right when we heard the first note, so the bartender just gave a shot to each of us. I didn't pay for a drink the rest of the night and we stayed until 3 am when the bar closed! It was a whole lot of fun.

I went to the Sigmund Freud museum the next day, which is in the apartment he used to live in and work out of. It was nothing special, but I am glad I got a picture of the famous couch! Though I doubt it was the same one... I saw another impressive church, then headed back to the Wombat for a nap. Monday evening I met a cool Aussie couple. I found Mike and the four of us headed to a local brewery. Took awhile to get to it, but it was definitely worth it. The pub had a really good atmosphere and they had some bizarre beers on tap. The first one I had was the hemp beer, which somehow tasted like how I imagined it would, minus the mental effects. We had the chili beer next, which was really hot! Had a great night and ended up back at the Wombar of course. The Aussies and Mike went to bed, but I stayed until close again and met a bunch of fun people.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I hopped on a bus to Bratislava! I wish I could have taken the hydrofoil down the Danube, but it was just too expensive. You can actually take it all the way to Budapest, though that is 60 euros or something. I took a 6 euro bus ride, and I just booked my bus ride to Budapest for tomorrow morning, only 4.50 euros! I absolutely love Bratislava! I heard some negative things about it, a lot of people say to just do it on a day trip from Vienna. It's true there are not a whole lot of sights to see, but the city is beautiful and the people are really nice. My first mishap was right off the bus though. I got off and was waiting for the driver to open the luggage compartment under the bus where my backpack was. I turned to look at something, turned back and the bus was driving away! So I had to trek it to tourist information, then to my hostel and have them call the company and bring my bag back! That was pretty embarrassing, though that driver really should have paid more attention. I spent yesterday seeing all the sights in town. I went to the main castle overlooking the city. I also checked out a museum with some Slovak art, old stuff and modern. I spent awhile just walking the streets of the city. There is a reputation that Slovakia is filled with beautiful women. I can only speak for Bratislava, but it is definitely true! I still can't believe the ratio of attractive women here in a city that is not that big, they are everywhere you turn!

The atmosphere in this city is pretty surprising for a European capital. It is almost as if the city is asleep, or in slow-motion. There are no crowds of people and none of the hustle you see everywhere else. People sit out at cafes drinking coffee or beer just like in Vienna. But here, even the main square feels like a very lazy place. I find it really enjoyable actually. My hostel here is dirt cheap yet really nice. Last night I took a free walking tour of the city which they organized. I learned quite a bit about the history of Slovakia and Bratislava. Our tour guide told us all about what it was like during the Velvet Revolution when communism died. It was very interesting, the Slovakian people have never in their 1000+ year history been independent, yet for the last 16 years have had their own country. They got the Euro earlier this year, yet most places publish prices in euros and crowns (think thats what it was called). After the walking tour, 5 of us headed to the Slovak Pub, which we were told had the best traditional food. All 5 of us ordered the exact same thing: this potato pasta dish with sheep's cheese and bacon. It got mixed reviews, though I personally loved it! We all also got the famous local grape soda, then a beer after we ate. Only cost 6 euros each! I love the cheap prices here, I think I will have to stay in Eastern Europe for awhile to save money!

After dinner I headed back to my hostel and met a couple of German guys, Jan and Ben. We decided to head out to check out the nightlife. The people working at our hostel are really friendly and helpful, so they gave a bunch of recommendations. We went to a bar called Alligator, which had live music. The place was an underground smoky pub with mostly locals. The band played a bunch of cover songs, they were actually really talented. We had a blast and stayed there all night till the band left. We chatted with some of the local people, many of whom speak English fairly well. Then we left the bar and had a very interesting experience.

We had just left and were only 100 meters away from the bar when a couple of cops stopped us. The woman didn't say a word but the guy spoke to us in broken English. He told us that some people living in the area had called them because we were being too loud. This was of course ridiculous because we had just left the bar one minute earlier and were just talking in the street. The cop didn't seem to care or understand when we told him this. He said it was 'quiet hour' and we had to pay a fine of 20 euros each. This was the most corrupt bullshit I've seen! It became clear to me he was just going to try and pocket the money. We refused to pay the fine and asked what law we had broken. He didn't understand the words 'law' or 'crime' which made the conversation pretty difficult. He kept threatening to take us back to the police station where there would be a 'big penalty'. After awhile he said we would only have to pay one fine of 20 euros for all three of us. That's when I definitely knew this was a scam. We refused to pay it and spent about 20 minutes haggling with the guy until he finally let us go. He basically gave up when I said I didn't care if the fine was only one euro, I wasn't going to pay him because I didn't do anything wrong. He told us to be quiet and go home. Of course that made us want to stay out later and cause a riot! So we found another bar, an Irish pub, and drank a few more beers, then as we left we saw the cops again! We ran down a few streets until we lost them! About 3:30 we finally made it back to our hostel. It was a really fun night!

Today I slept in, then got on a bus for a day trip out to Devin Castle just outside of town on the Danube. The place has a 7000 year history, though it sucks the place is still in ruins from when Napoleon's army destroyed most of it. It was still very interesting and I got some great pictures. Tonight I am planning on heading out soon with Jan and Ben. We might go to the same bar to see another band we heard was very good. Tomorrow morning I am on the bus to Budapest!