Vienna, Bratislava and Slovakia, 2009

I get so *anxious* ahead of an international trip.

Writing the ur-tweet; at the airport, UA900 to Frankfurt and connecting to Wien. Entering the land of $1/mb. 500mb of maps cached.

Weird, new United business config has you sitting backwards

Arrived Vienna. Completely wiped out. SF to Europe is hard enough without a connecting flight. Hotel is lovely. Nap? Beer? Tafelspitz?

Slept 12 hours, all at night! Miracle. Already had a delicious Wiener schnitzel. Today: art nouveau.

Maybe this mix of German and French that keeps spilling out of my mouth will work better in Slovakia?

Remembering how Italian tourists are the ugly Americans visiting Austria

Sitting in the shade of a chestnut tree in a biergarten, drinking Ottakringer helles

Drinking wine in Grinzing, about 50m from where Kurt Gödel lived in 1938

Out of sync in Vienna: rushed amateur dinner, horrible sweetish red wine. Amarone? Merlot with cough syrup? 6€ either way.

Excellent lunch in Brataslava at Camoflage. Pricy and touristy, but excellent cooking: suckling pig, duck, porcini. >Vienna

"We invite all gourmands to join traditional local pig slaughter taking place in Pezinok town, where you can also do all preparation work"

Great evening in Bratislava with old friends and new. Vienna was familiar, but maybe more fun to be had in new places?

The American Embassy in Bratislava is an embarassing fortification in an otherwise charming touristic downtown boulevard. Land of the free.

Last evening in Bratislava, charming small city. Headed next to rural Slovakia: Trnova, Trenčin. Goose and baked cheese await us.

Two new words today: Demänovka, borovicka. The Slovaks have a lot of words for firewater.

First pizza of the trip, Plan B when the local place is too intimidating. Sharp Slovak cheese and smoked bacon makes for great pizza.

Trenčin bad: luxury hotel from Soviet era does not illuminate lights on second floor landing

Trenčin good: police come fairly quickly after you shout loudly enough back at the threatening drunk in the public square

Trenčín good: glorious Soviet hotel restaurant has learned French cooking, service. Would enjoy a local/seasonal menu, but was good dinner

Bojnice Castle was fabuluous; great wood carving and fine furnishings. Banská Štiavnica tonight, small village, former gold mining town

So @KorkyPlunger, will offering the local police a slivovitz be one the traditional wedding rituals?

Ken and I found a new airplane in Banská Bystrica: Li-2, a cargo plane used in 1994 uprising

Oops that would be the 1944 uprising against the Nazis. Another picture courtesy of free town wifi

Arrived Spisska Nova Vez, intact for tomorrow's wedding. Fun to meet people! Sample 2 of 44 kinds of cookies.

Dinner at the Čingov Salaš, sort of the Slovak equivalent of a bierstube. Simple country food, beer and wine, wood panelling and comfort.

Getting a solid breakfast before 11+ hour Slovak wedding.

44 kinds of homemade Slovak wedding cookies. No kidding.

Granted permission to enter bride's house & ask for her hand in marriage w/ help of traditional singers

They're married! Now for the first of three dinners for the reception. Slovak folk more fun than Catholic

First dinner down. Cookies, thyme vodka, europop dancing and a newlywed game. Soon, the bride kidnapping.

Also realizing my duty as a gay man at a wedding is dancing with single women.

2nd dinner down, more Slovak folk music. Bride still not kidnapped. Hope groom can buy her freedom

Twist! Bride kidnapping foiled by quick thinking women. I am down 10+ vodka shots. Send help.

Third dinner served, 2am. Groom claimed bride wielding an axe. Had to put Ken to vodka bed, I'm soon after. Slovak weddings are the best.

Ok bedtime for real, another 3 shots of slivovitz (55%). 3 shots of water to counteract, long sleep.

Awake and marginally functional for traditional Slovak wedding slivovitz breakfast. Just kidding. I think.

The forests and hills of the Slovenske Raj are beautiful. Great weather. Today we head to the High Tatra mountains

Left Spiš region; was very beautiful and friendly. But High Tatras are also beautiful; hotel view =

Didn't manage lunch after 12:15pm breakfast. Fortunately we have welcome champagne at hotel and 37 types of cookies left.

Kronprinzessen Kenny is full of foie gras, venison, birthday cake, and framboise sauvage. All is well.

Nothing says "classy eurohotel" quite like a telephone in the crapper.

Whom should I call?

On a train from Štrbské Pleso to Tatranská Lomnica via Stary Smokovec. 50 minutes for 1.26€

Mystery train stock; what does this track maintenance thing do? Grabbing arms were covered in rock dust

Another shot of the Slovak mystery train thing

yes the wedding cookies have been delicious @ch1oe. The bride's family baked a week with four extra rented ovens! Om nom nom nom.

The mystery train is a track ballaster; grabs ties, fluffs rocks, maybe straightens track? See @rchen for video link. Thanks, twits!

Headed to Poland tomorrow: Kraków, then Wrocław.

Arrived Kraków. Street signs confusing in Poland, but only drove wrong way down one street. Nice road camera may have taken our picture too

Kraków is just like Dismeyland: which to see first? Ghetto? Auschwitz? Or Salt Mines? OK, old town and Polish boys both cute.

So does Polish have three separate liquid consonants, L, Ł, and R?

Krakow day 1 done: Ukranian food, zubrowka (hi @dstroy) Tomorrow may be salt mines and fine French/Polish restaurant. Many tourists here.

Jewish museum in Kraków has a fantastic exhibition of personal paintings + stories from Mayer Kirshenblatt about 1920s Polish Jewish life

In Kazimierz (Jewish Kraków), particularly depressed at how little Jewish life has come back. Genocide is forever.

Ken notes Krakow is turning out to be what Vienna should have been.

11pm Wed night & Kraków main square is full of 500+ people drinking at sidewalk cafes. Town is definitely happening, at least for tourism.

Wifi 200m underground at salt mines. Also: declaring a moratorium on underground guided tours.

Pierogi, kielbasa, sauerkraut, and beer. Perfect lunch after a hard day in the salt mines.

Kraków is mostly beautiful 18th and 19th c. buildings and art. Here's an interesting 20th c. statue

Joey - some of the beer I've been drinking in Poland: Żywiec, Okocim, Tyniek. All nice and crisp. Haven't found a dunkles here though.

Visited Auschwitz.

Roads in Poland are as bad as everyone says. Zero traffic engineering. 15 minutes to go half a kilometer in Pszczyna.

Arrived Wrocław just after sunset. Lovely room with (dark) view of gothic church next door.

Ken said he wanted a martini, so I googled up the Paparazzi Bar in Wrocław. Which is awesome.

Ken said he wanted rouladen, so off we went to the Ratusz piwnica

View from my hotel room at the Art Hotel in Wrocław, nice church

Wrocław is lovely, lively university town with charming old cathedral quarter. Dinner planned at Restauracia jaDka http://bit.ly/1swlsW

Window inside the St Elizabeth church, next to my hotel.

We consistently enjoy dinner more at casual good places than mediocre fancy places. Beerhall > Frenchish restaurant in middle Europe. ...

Slipped into Czech at the most obscure of border crossings. Of course no border control anymore http://bit.ly/O1nur

Arrived Chateau Mcely, stunning French style hotel 70km NE of Prague. Looks great

Chateau Mcely used to be a Thurn und Taxis estate. Renovated by a Silicon Valley pharma exec. Nice peacock

Otoh, good Frenchish restaurant is good. Chateau Mcely near Prague makes a fine dinner.

My grandfather came "from Czechoslovakia" with the name Mlinar. Looks like my people around here; need a geneaology research service.

Feeling great accomplishment for having bought my kupón prokazujici zaplacení poplatku za uživání dálnice a rychlostní silnice (2. čast)

Arrived Prague. Wow, it's big. And cold and wet. Ossuary in Kutná Hora was fun; human bone chandeliers, but tasteful.

In Praha, enjoyed dinner at http://j.mp/14Hjp5 with a Parisienne friend. With comically large slivovitz flambé.

Making instant coffee, washing docks in sink to air dry in two days, paying $1/mb for EDGE. Also, a bit grumpy this morning.

Coffee, croissant, and free wifi at Cafe Fenix right by the Charles Bridge in Prague. Not even raining! Full tourist day ahead.

I seem to be in Prague! http://twitpic.com/ld4mv

Prague is overwhelming; so much city, need a slow week+ to let it soak in. Alas we only have two full days, and it's very cold and wet.

Today's plan: Mucha museum, decorative arts museum, organ concert in Baroque church.

Greatly enjoying the Mucha exhibition. Why has art nouveau not been reinterpretated / pillaged in contemporary design?

Decorative arts museum in Prague (UPM) was fantastic, particularly glass and clocks. Now at St. Nicholas church for baroque organ concert.

Rain + snow and a 200km drive to Česky Krumlov. Only tourist sites on the way are old castles with mandatory guided tours in Czech.

Ken spotted this fun street art in Prague

I also liked this zodiac sculpture for December at the St Vitus Cathedral at Prague castle

700 year old bridge in Písik, Czech http://j.mp/50qT8

And now Česky Krumlov, crazy tourist town on a river bend

Loving the Cafe Ántré. Even in the grey dark wet snow Česky Krumlov is beautiful

Love this odd elevator identigraphic in my hotel. Very intimate.

Ken says: "rabbit, chantrelles in cream sauce. Yes!!" Very content at restaurant Don Julius in Česky Krumlov. Two more slivovicy prosie!

Food discovery: cmunda, southern Bohemian side dish with texture of cornbread and flavour of turkey stuffing. Made of potato and yum.

Three more days; tonight is opulence at Schloss Dürnstein. This is the special part of the trip where I can wear clean underwear every day!

Bienvenue a Guglwald, Österreich, last obscure uncontrolled border crossing. Not hard to imagine the armies

In Dürnstein, tiny 600+ year old town on the Danube with old castle ruins spilling down the hill. Trying to decode the weingut / heurigen.

They also make a lot of apricot brandy in the Danube valley. It's pretty good.

At the astounding Melk Abbey above the Danube. The Benedictines sure knew how to live well in God's service.

2 more European symbolic graphics; menacing baby changing table and random prohibitions http://yfrog.com/0j8lij http://yfrog.com/16zcqwj

Arrived Wien for our last night. View from our hotel (Pension Aviano). Noisy, but temporary.

For completeness, here was the view from the lovely Schloß Dürnstein hotel.

Warning to Vienna tourists. Drei Hussaren? No, mismanaged. Plachutte? No, tourist hell. Never did find fine dining in Wien.

At the Vienna airport, beginning the very long day. Munich, then San Francisco, greasy American pizza, and bed.

Nothing says "welcome back to America" quite like a Round Table Hearty Bacon Supreme pizza delivered to your door.

Blogged some overview thoughts from my trip. http://bit.ly/13qPjq