Tulip House Boutique Hotel Bratislava

... was the mating calls of two types of frogs down in the Morava wetlands. We didn't know what the noise was to start with - really loud like incessant ducks quacking but no birds in sight! Anyone reading this who is going to Bratislava and is approached by a guy called Yuraj at the train station - we thoroughly recommend his hostel. He is a genuine and helpful person. Also the Slovak Pub is good for cheap eats.

... all the Europeans were into a football match, and we all sat around, me eating the big bag of grapes I had also bought. We also met some really interesting british guys. They seemed to have the night plans under control, so we followed them, after the football game was finished, of course. The Aussies had went to their first hockey game, some grudge match, and were also up for coming out. The one british guy seemed in charge so we followed ...

... s well before sunrise. I am a huge fan of Eastern Europe because a lot of it is just so untouched by all the mainstream tourists and these places require some digging to find the best sights. I am having a great time being somewhere I have no clue how to communicate in or find my way around through. That's what makes travel so fun for me. And maybe the train is a little more comfortable than those hard as rock Ryanair seats with no recline I am getting to know so well.

... at least a hot country with people with no personal hygiene whatsoever, who think that it is ok to smell as if they've not washed for a week, whilst wearing clothes that smell as if they've been sat in a gym bag for a week after a heavy work out. I digress..... I managed to catch a little bit of shut-eye on the journey, but not as much as I had hoped. About 3 and a half hours into the journey we crossed the border from Hungary into Slovakia, and I realised ...

... dodgy German TV viewing on. Sai and Rob hopped and skipped there way to an adult entertainment place, where Ł50 was wasted. The thing is, neither of them really remember what happened as Sai spilt his coke everywhere and Rob can't remember handing his money over! A very good night, despite Bratislava being below par in terms of a place to go out! Probably the most alcohol conumed by far! Spreken de Deutsch?!! Final stop is Prague tomorrow.

... then we went a few km out of town this afternoon to Devin where they have a BIG but ruined castle on the border with Austria. Sun shining down from a blue sky still. Tonight we ate Chinese - first non-local meal since we had a pizza in Helsinki nearly a month ago. Tomorrow off to Budapest. No word of riots on the streets anymore so we think we will not be troubled. Cheers to all Cathy and Phil

... town, it is a deserted concrete block party and it is quite obvious the region is just awakening from some sort of economic slump. Also, the people are not so nice. In fact at three in the morning I heard some drunken punks breaking windows not too far from the hostel. So the only good thing to come from Bratislava was that going through reduced my total train fare to Budapest by some 300 Czech crowns.

After a few days we went north to Venice Italy, here we spent the night and all day eating real Italian pizza and ice cream. We then made our way to Czech, Austria, and Slovakia. We spent the night in Slovakia but we didn't get to our hostel until 3am because a ...

... advice on how to get to Vienna following the Danube and the campsite location, which I hope they find useful. Suddenly I'm meeting a lot more Eastern Europeans, very different from Austria where nearly all the tourists are German, Dutch or French. Everyone I have met so far have been friendly, polite and fun; I am sure this will continue to be the case. Exiting Bratislava past a HUGUE Tesco, I noticed some extra products in ...

... was not much of a view of the castle from where we ended up. We wandered back through the old town past the city walls and St.Martin's Cathedral. We ended up taking a few pictures at a quiet square called Hlavné Nám before continuing along Michalská to Michael Tower. We walked back to McDonalds for a coffee and then caught the tram back to the train station. Caught the 12.50pm train back to Vienna with another passport check at Bratislava-Petrzalka station. We were on our way back to Vienna.