Bratislava, Slovakia 🇸🇰

Caught the early train (around 8am) from Vienna train station to Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. It was 13C that morning. About an hour train ride, so we tapaued some pastries at the train station to eat as breakfast in the train.

Our first time in Slovakia.

We walked around at the Old Town of Bratislava. We were whisked back to a few centuries as we walked through cobbled streets, admiring the Baroque architecture buildings... sis memang suka ya tenguk buildings lama ni 😍 I found this old town quite charming, really!

Just like we usually do when visiting a new city, we would find 'free walking tour' service at the city and yes, they do have it here in Bratislava.

Meet Domanica aka Dom, our walking tour guide for 2 hours. Very pretty and friendly young lady 😃

Dom brifing the walking tour participants on the walking tour plan.

This walking tour basically bring us to visit the old town of Bratislava (while Dom telling the history behind each building - errr don't ask me to tell you details as I have really forgotten all lol!) and lastly to the Bratislava Castle.

The walk of course started at the Bratislava Old Town. The old town in Bratislava may not be big but it has very cozy streets with lots of cafes and beautiful old buildings.

Bratislaa Old Town Hall. 

We walked through historic neighbourhood filled with charming narrow lanes... it was really nice to walk around!

This is Slovak Philharmonic

There are 2 famous sculptures here in Bratislava... 

Meet Schoner Naci, once a famous beloved happy-go-lucky homeless local of Bratislava.

This famous sculpture stands in tribute to Schoner Naci, who was inspired to make people happy by walking around the old town. He used to walk around the old town in top hat and tails, greeting and entertaining people. 

And this is Cumil..

This little guy sneaking out of a sewer on the ground is one fo the most photographed statues of Bratislava. The Slovak word Cumil actually means 'watcher'. Cumil potrays a worker who has been working hard and takes a break by taking a look at people passing. 

Touch his head to have a wish granted! - that what the legend says lah... haha!

We definitely had to walk a lot ya... 

Jenuh naik turun tangga.... (sis kena gantung kaki malam tu haha!)

Our last stop is Bartislava Castle.

You will not miss this castle in Bratislava! The castle sits perched on a hill overlooking the old town and the Danube River. We had to walk up a steep path to get here... somput la jugak haha! 

From up the hill of this castle you can see a glance of Hungary and Austria... that's how close those country are with Slovakia! 

*** to be continued ***

Hallo Wein, Ôsterreich! 🇦🇹

It’s the month of the year again - September! Our anniversary month! 🥰

Usually, we tried to make time to go somewhere - just the two of us - to celebrate this special event but sometimes due to work commitments, we just celebrate it earlier or later. 

This year, after so much suspense (sebab dah book flight but my boss assigned me a ‘last minute express’ project … not only that I also received a few last minute ad hoc requests for testing… semua nak cepat! 🙄🙄) but alhamdulillah, managed to delegate whatever necessary and the so called last minute express project pun macam tak dan nak express sangat… so insyaAllah sempat lah I cuti dulu lol! (Balik nanti haaa hadap la kau! Hahaha! Kita pikir kemudian lah ya lol!)

So this year… the plan is Austria - Slovakia - Italy, in 10 days! Our flight was on 15th Sept, 2pm. So on 14th, I was still working (in fact got a meeting which dragged until 6pm 🙄 - thanks god wfh aje on that day!), Izzaty sent us to the airport late that night. After hours of travelling from KL to Vienna (transit in Jeddah for a few hours), by the time we arrived in Vienna on 15th of Sept 2022, we were flat tired! Tak nak gi mana2 dah.. nak rehat je. Thanks god, our rented so called ‘smartment’ (checked in all done digitally) is very near The Vienna Sentral Train Station. So Day 1 just gone like that haha!

Arriving at Vienna’s Airport.

Well, Hallo Wein! Long time no see!! 🥰

Got on a train from the airport to Vienna Sentral Train Station where our rented apartment is located.

Our so-called ‘smartment’ - all checkin and everything digitalised gitu…

Day 2, after purchasing Vienna daily pass ticket, we decided to join the free walking tour - there are lots of choices - just pick any that has English spoken tourist guide. Ours was Patrick, a very nice person… so we had 2 hrs of walking tour guide learning about the old town of Vienna history. 

First wefie of the trip 😝

Patrick, the guy in brown sweater, our walking tour guide for 2 hours.

Visited the Imperial Palace where we learned about the history of Austria and all… 

Bersungguh si Patrick ni bercerita 😀

Also visited the Stephen’s Cathedral where we once visited in 2001.

Us in Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna - 2022 Vs 2001:

21 years gap - same place, same old us but with extra wrinkles and kgs 🤪😂😂

After the walking tour, we had lunch  at Nordsea

Tu diaaa… hang nampak tak beratoq udang tu?? Sedapppppp!!! 😋 

We later shopped at HRC - as usual, adinda ku, Ruby mengirim… Sis tak beli tau… sumpah tak 😝

Tumpang belikan… and tumpang posing sat 🤓

Something that I will never forget happened - well actually, history repeat itself in Vienna. 21 years ago, I came to Vianna wearing a new pair of shoes, sakit sangat kaki I decided to buy a new one here. In 2022, the same thing happened - sis dah tak tahan sangat… gedik sangat nak pakai kasut baru yg konon2 will match my dress… haa padan muka… suffered so much pain sbb kasut tu ketat bahagian depan… had to spent about rm300 okay to buy a shoes again here in Vienna 😭😭

Merayu dah kaki minta dibebaskan… so tanggal kasut and kinda forced Mr Hubby pi beli kasut yang I dah tenguk tadi (we literally walked into any shoe shops found to buy a new pair of shoes!)

Kasut pilihan… comel! Tapi mahal yak mat!!

Sabo je lah huhuuu…

Last stop of the day Stadtpark.. came here just to see the famous golden plated bronze statue of Johann Strauss.

Johann Strauss monument in Stadtpark, Vienna. 

That night telan panadol, terus tido lepas Maghrib (and Isyak)… skipped dinner terus huhuuu.

Actually, for the first time, sis bersiaran dari oversea! Updating this from Vienna on our 2nd day here… but gotta stop now as tomorrow, we have to wake up super early to catch our flight to Rome. Nanti sis sambung okay!

*** to be continued ***