Pub de KGB

I left Vienna and cycled to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. 

 

You might characterize Bratislava, with its nice but small medieval old town,  as sort of a poor man’s Prague. A really poor man’s Prague (perhaps a kind of a homeless man’s Prague)-  

 Bratislava must have gotten a great deal on bright white paint from Home Depot as I have never seen such white medieval buildings. 

In any case given their relatively backwater status in central Europe, they have evidently decided that they have no time for marketing 

And no I don’t trust them on that  

Slovakia of course was formerly part of the Soviet empire and subject to its notorious secret police, the KGB. What with the fall of the Soviet Union, the KGB was at a bit of a loss of raisin d’etre and employment and so evidently decided to get into the pub business- 

I wonder what happens if you don’t leave an appropriate tip?  Nothing good I imagine 

The Vikings also apparently passed through Bratislava on their way down the Danube and, being experienced world travelers, left their their culinary 

 

I had never associated Vikings with Kebabs but maybe they picked up in their travels as I said.  Who knows. 

The Tour de Hapsburgs

I left the beautiful city of Prague and took the train to the pretty German city of Passau where I started my 8 day, approximately 500 mile cycle trip down the Danube to Budapest . Including Prague, my trip sort of covered the heart of the old Austrian -Hungarian or Hapsburg empire.  Not that the last real ruler of the A-H empire-

 (See Franz Joseph) a kind of hero of Uncle Joe’s - would not have approved of my cycling as, according to my Vienna tour guide, he opposed all modern inventions such bikes and the newfangled flush toilet ( preferring the old fashioned chamber pot, naturally emptied by servants).  

Anyway the initial segment of my cycling took me through some pretty Austrian countryside- 

On my second day of cycling, I ended up in the Austrian city of Linz where I found an old friend- 

An Austrian Biergarten.- a nice way to end a day of cycling  

In addition to cruise ships, You see a lot of these cycling along the wide Danube- 

 I passed by this pretty monastery on a hill (supposedly with a nice library)- 

After 4 days of cycling I ended up somewhere in Vienna  Like Prague, Vienna is a beautiful city and some may remember a few of those 

The Hapsburgs had a summer palace called the Hofburg which was kind of like their version of a lake house with a few more rooms- 

Prague, the new Pai

On my RTW trip, I wondered where the hippies of Pai Thailand had decamped to and now I know.  Following the fall of communism, they went to Prague, rediscovered capitalism and went upscale- 

They now favor one stop shopping- 

Prague has a reputation as one of the world’s most beautiful cities and I think it is well deserved.  The medieval to 19th century architecture is as well preserved and as beautiful as anywhere I have been, including Paris. It might not have the grandeur of Paris, but the streets are   full of beautiful classic buildings, particularly from the Renaissance and early modern period (1500 - 1800).  A big reason is that It was mostly spared during WWII-

peace

It also has every boutique store you could want- 

It is a joy just to walk around the place as the millions of annual tourists attest. Most of them seem to spend most of their time walking back and forth across the famous Charles Bridge (which I only crossed maybe 7-8 times)- 

W

While impossible to capture in pictures, it has churches- Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque - that again can rival any city in Europe- 

It has perhaps the world’s largest castle (a bureaucrat’s dream)- 

A unique statue of Sigmumd Freud (who might not have enjoyed this portrayal)- 

A Dancing House amidst its splendid architecture- 

A car that can drive on water- 

The city has also determined that you can’t have enough red roofs-

Prague also has a new take on the 60s peace movement-

I find it so cliche and gauche when tourists have their photos taken in front of overdone sites- 

If only I could have done the Freud thing.