Another long day of travelling to a new country for us means another stopover in a low-key and often tucked away location, which in this case happened to be Bratislava, Slovakia. It's one of those places that seemed to be less well-known on our itinerary, so I was interested to see what the day would bring and if this town would prove to be a hidden gem much like Salzburg.

It was an early start to the morning, so I was sleeping along most of our route to Bratislava, but I did manage to take one halfway decent en route photo between subconscious moments.

Once we officially arrived, we had a quick introduction with our tour guide, Henrietta, and then hit the ground running! She led us straight to the top of the Bratislava observational tour within about 20 minutes, so I think it's safe to say that I had seen the whole city within half an hour of arriving! Henrietta wasn't messing around, that's for sure.

It's always amazing to see things from above. In my case, I'm always thinking of the irony between my distaste of heights and the knowledge that they always seem to bring about the most stunning viewpoints. The latter is certainly true though, and there was no denying that this was also the case in Bratislava--even amidst the rainy weather and winds that threatened to shake me (and my calm mindset) from the tower.

A surprise at the top was an abundance of colorful ribbons, all which had writing on them! No one had any idea what they were about, and I tried to research this when I got back to my computer but I couldn't find anything about it on the web. Between you and me, I may or may not have taken a ribbon to translate it as well, and it may or may not have read, 'I have lots of friends at school' with a sunshine drawn on it. It's all still a mystery to me!

Two of my favorite photos from Slovakia--two boats joining and a white castle on a hill. The rain was clearing and it certainly was shaping up to be a beautiful day!

Another random fact about my time on the observational tower..even the bathrooms offer a view! I found this to be just a little bit creepy but at the same time kind of cool..either way I guess it was an experience! (notice the inscription on the window reads, "enjoying the view?")

The graffiti along the bridge to the tower was also pretty clever, and I wound up photographing a handful of tags. What can I say, I think it's pretty neat to see what people are drawing while our class is en route from tour stop to tour stop.

More things we passed by: a copper-coated street performer and his inanimate inspiration; a sculpture set of white mystery blobs. Someone in my group guessed them to be teeth and I in turn guess that's the most oddly accurate thing we managed to compare them to!

A colorful and huge print of sunny times; the bridge leading to the observation tower.

Two large old-fashioned bicycles (that reminded me of the museum in Grand Rapids I used to visit as a kid), and another one of my many photographs of a European door

Beautiful yellow flowers and beautifully detailed architecture.

A contemporary building which exists in the same world as many older building in Bratislava--Henrietta talked about this at some length, discussing the debate amongst locals about whether or not the city should strive to meet modern technology and building which has produced a certain aesthetic in our architectural era, or if Bratislava should attempt to maintain its architectural identity as it appeared some years ago. She also brought up the question of how these two separate worlds begin to collide amidst the attempted boundaries of separation, and the consequentially confused urban fabric that Bratislava is beginning to experience.

One of the last stops on the tour was at a blue church, which I admittedly didn't hear much about since I was lagging behind due to my snap-happy photo-taking binge I was apparently ensuing. I really like the blue church though. It was smaller and clearly a lot different than many of the overly Gothic and high Renaissance ones we had been frequenting, and so I appreciated the change of appearance and grandeur. The details like the hand-crafted tile work along its facade complimented my overall attitude toward it. Plus, it brought back reminisces of elementary school via the song 'i'm blue da-va-dee-da-va-di' which only added to the randomness that seemed to identify my entire experience in Bratislava.

And as if that weren't enough to convince you of how odd and peculiar and spontaneous everything truly was, my lunch happened to consist of pear juice and half of an apple strudel. Ah, such is life.

Ultimately, I liked the architectural debate that Henrietta brought up. The tour was a visual representation of that, and it certainly provided ample food for thought. Beyond that, I seem to have discovered that Slovakia is the perfect place to go for whims, bizarre things, and collectively interesting occurrences. Just an fyi for those of you who may be looking for a little of that or wondering what the heck Bratislava is all about!

On our last day in Vienna, we had a free day to spend as we liked. My friends and I knew we wanted to rent bikes in at least one city, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity so we went for it. It took awhile to figure out how to register and to find a place with enough bicycles for all of us, but by the time we had it all figured we were off! Looking back this probably worked in our favor since by that time it had cooled down a bit and we got to see the sunset!

We mostly stuck to biking along the river, since we decided upon two goals: to get some water shots for photography class, and also to get near the famous Ferris wheel so we could ride it!

Along the way I noticed a lot of graffiti, which was certainly starting to mark its presence along the course of my travels. A lot of it was pretty neat though, and admittedly it has to take some talent to paint all that! I liked a lot of it we passed but unfortunately my ability to hold a camera still while biking was not quite up to par..but I had to try (:

Alas, we made it to the carnival where the Wiener Riesenrad (Viennese Giant Ferris Wheel) stood! At 212 feet high, I was beginning to have second thoughts about getting on this thing. But I guess knowing how famous it was and how often I travel to Vienna (never) finally overrode any shred of vertigo that was trying to talk me out of it. The history spiel was practically ringing in my head: the Riesenrad was built in 1897 and was thus one of the first Ferris wheels to be built. The wheel itself is acclaimed for having achieved such an engineering feat, and its longevity ought to be acclaimed as well considering all the destruction and reconstruction it has undergone since 1897. It is a miracle it still exists today, and is a major marker of Vienna and even Austria. I had to do it.

So I suppose the next challenge was something that arose since not a single person in our group had enough foresight to recognize that we would eventually need to lock our bikes while going on the Riesenrad. I kind of laugh at this now since it seems so obvious, but yes, we biked around for quite some time looking for another bike stand where we could turn in our bikes, or even a good place to hide them. Heck, we nearly turned around when a nice German family showed us that there was actually a  key inside our bikes. Ha! This is something I definitely was not expecting to hear, but sure enough we took the keys out and voila--bikes locked!

 After buying our tickets, we followed the line to encounter a pretty sizable room full of Ferris wheel gondolas! I was pretty surprised to see this, and a closer look at them revealed a small showcase of the history of the Riesenrad in model form. One of the gondolas held a modern-day model of it, another an original model, one after it was bombed, etc. Clever idea, I thought.

 And then it was time for the dreaded ride. I was excited but also beating myself up. I was slightly relieved to find that the actual gondolas for the wheel were giant--I'm talking at least 10 of us in a single car! I definitely had never really heard of so many people occupying a single passenger car like that before. But this was good for me since it meant it would be hard for people to rock the gondola (: Also another cool thing about the spacious cars was that every other one was actually used for dining! Small tables were set up and people were actually being served every time their car returned back to the loading platform! Haha how cool is that?

  

  All said and done, it was a remarkable and I'm glad I convinced myself to do it! Biking through the city was also another amazing memory I have of Vienna and one I would definitely recommend to any traveler with the opportunity to rent a bike. Next up, I'll be sharing some more fun adventures from Bratislava, Slovakia and one of my most anticipated cities of my journey: Budapest, Hungary!

Happy Friday to you all, and enjoy the weekend!

Throughout our trip, we have taken a series of short day trips to cities or towns, usually as we pass from country to country. One of my most favorite stops was made in Salzburg, Austria, where we spent a few hours when crossing from Munich to Vienna. Salzburg is best known as the setting for The Sound of Music, as well as the birthplace of Mozart. We didn't have any formal class meetings or tours here since we were only staying for a short time, so we got to explore a bit and this is what I wound up doing:

1. Took lots of photos of the gorgeous landscape as we neared Salzburg! Can't you already tell that these hills are much more alive than ordinary?

2. Staying with my theme of past adventures, I decided to scope out two churches in the small town as well.

3. Looked at all the touristy shops and trinkets. There were a lot of artists lining the street, and one of the booths had really pretty watercolor paintings.

4. Watched an intense game of super-sized chess play out. I've got to admit, it was pretty neat to see this big of a set in real life and also watch these guys play. Salzburg was certainly not lacking in entertainment, either: there were also several musicians, street performers, and even horses to keep my fleeting attention occupied.

A full fledged band on the left and a solo electric violinist on the right.

The ogre on the left was creepy, and the performer on the right was clearly magic!

Horse kisses, another Salzburg Kodak moment.

5. Took a tram to the top of the hill to explore the fortress! This way by far my favorite part of Salzburg, and perhaps my first truly picturesque moment of the trip.

The fortress as viewed from mid-hill

A few attempts at photographing the tram tracks..it was a steep incline! 

This view speaks for itself!

The fortress was full of strange doors, nooks, and crannies: this particular door was just asking for a photograph, being about 5' off the ground and all!

6. Ventured around the fortress.

Surprises inside the fortress: a showcase of medieval torture devices and a puppet museum. Both a little creepy in my book.

Another fun thing to do at a fortress: play a medieval child's game of throw rings at a unicorn! On a side-note, the three rings pictured were picked up off the ground and placed on the horn after I missed three times in a row.

 7. Admired the cute ducks and their little house at the end of the fortress stairs, another must do at every decent fortress

8. Rested our feet and fed unruly stomachs at a cute cafe called Cafe Tomaselli

The right is Austria's version of cheesecake, which is actually filled with gelatin! Another weird surprise of the day.

 All in all, it was a fantastic little city to be able to experience for a few hours! Viewing the city from above was an incredible and breathtaking experience that definitely remained in my head for quite some time afterward. Salzburg--who knew?!