Bratislava and a very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone from Heathton Creations and family, today is our second day in Vienna and after a hearty breakfast, DH and myself chose to do a tour to another country on this cold and wet day. We are going to Bratislava which is the capital of Slovakia.
DH’s family used to live in Czechoslovakia, before it was divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, this tour gave us the opportunity to see if in the future we would like to spend some time here on our future travels.
Bratislava did not disappoint, but we did have heavy rain, so not a very pleasant day weather wise.
We visited Castle Hill and the Bratislava castle and then into old town to see the quaint streets and beautiful shops, as it was Christmas Day, the only shops opened were souvenir shops.
I did note some really arty ones, but alas they were not open. I think DH was secretly relieved.
The photos below are of the castle, some statues, a peeping Tom from the drain pipe, a Mr Casanova and some of the lovely buildings and streets.
The main dish in Slovakia is sheep’s cheese, dumplings, bacon and sauerkraut.

Menu list

Bratislava castle

Sydney is listed on the mileage dial

A very merry Christmas 

A wet and rainy day

Looks like council workers

A famous pharmacy 

Hangman’s alley

Dedications on the footpath.

Main Street..

Souvenir shops were only open..

A present from APT

Bratislava Castle.

Main streets

Nice adornments.

Peeping Tom

Mr Casanova

After we arrived back to the ship we had our typical dish for Vienna, snitzel and apple strudel.

After our meal we were all ferried by buses to a very special orchestra recital in the Palace Lichtenstein. This event is especially organised by APT and as a treat on Christmas Day. This private concert given by the Viennese imperial orchestra, this private concert held in the Liechtenstein city palace. On arrival we were treated to cocktails and in a private room we were all seated to enjoy an hour of classical music from the orchestra, performing 12 pieces of Mozart, the Strauss family, Lehar and Stolz music and arias. 

After the concert we all enjoyed apple strudel, a fine end to Christmas Day.

Vienna or Wien

After leaving Budapest we sailed for 24 hours to reach Vienna, another lovely city, but very cold and windy, with a little rain. DH and I with the kids did the city tour. Vienna has a population of over 1.84million  and is truely an elegant city.
Vienna itself is like a museum and we explored the first district, which is in the shape of a circle and in this circle is the focal point St Stephens Cathedral. As we are in Vienna on Christmas Eve, the kids are going to attend midnight mass in this amazing Cathedral.

We walked along the pedestrian street called the Karntnerstrasse and leads to the opera house at Karplatz and the famous Sacher Hotel and cafe.
The Danube river does not flow through center of Vienna.
We enjoyed the beautiful buildings and architecture that Vienna has to offer.
After our tour we had free time to explore and visit the Christmas markets at the magnificent town hall.

As it was cold and wet, we did not brave the venture into town for the midnight mass, the kids did and they said the experience was great, to attend a mass in German.
Tomorrow is Christmas Day.

Budapest, Hungary

After our two days in Dresden, visiting the Christmas markets, it was raining quite heavily, so we had a quiet afternoon, played some cards and got ready for our early morning drive to Berlin.
My son Alex did an amazing task of driving in Germany.
We were all on the road after a light breakfast to drive the 2 hours to Berlin, so that we could catch our flight to Budapest.
This was to be our first internal flight and on Ryanair, On arrival to the airport we dropped off. The car and then could not check in until 2 hours before.
We were pretty strict with our weights and our suitcases all come in under 20kgs,, with some carry on, so cudos to us.
We arrived into Budapest on the 22nd December and were picked up from the airport by APT and ferried to our boat. A pleasant afternoon was spent relaxing with a few drinks and orientation to our suite and the boat.
The weather was cold and raining and they have had snow for the last week.

Our boat is called Ama Venita and is only three years old, it holds 160 passengers 

and we think that there is 145 on board.

Our suite for the next 15days

Our first night ‘s meal was at Table 28, a 6 course degustation meal

Our boat

Music during dinner

Our corridor 

Holocaust museum 

Chain Bridge in Budapest 

The living tree in the second largest synagogue in Europe. A memorial to all the Jewish people that lost their lives. 

The fish, part of the university 

Heroes Square, I bought my fur hat and stole of one of the locals, should have looked closer, poorly made, but at least real fur

On top of Castle Hill, a great view of the city.

Castle Hill.

Large Cathedral 

House of Houdini, where he was born and lived

The green chain bridge, one of 10 in Budapest 

 The Liberty monument.

Fisherman’s Bastion

Monument in Fisherman’s Bastion.

Paprika, Hungary isFamous for their goulash. Hungary has a population of almost 2,000,000 people.

All in all Budapest was an amazing city to visit, as we only had 1 1/2 days here, it is well worth a revisit.

That night as we were having dinner we cruised the Danube and Budapest at night with all the ligs was a sight to behold.

Budapest you did not disappoint, more adventures to follow.