The Blue Danube - 9 September 2008

Having checked out of our very nice apartment in Bratislava we made our way to the "port" to wait for the hydrofoil to Budapest. In due course the Vocsok III from Vienna arrived and we joined it for the rest of the trip to Budapest. If yesterday's trip seemed fast, it was nothing compared to the hydrofoil. They only seem to exist now in ex-communist countries and this one cruised at between 65 and 69kph all the way, apart from the time in the only lock on the river. This lock is probably the largest we have been in so far and certainly the greatest level change, approximately 25m.

The Danube was certainly blue and the first touches of autumn were beginning to colour the trees on the banks as we raced downstream. There was not a lot to note as we travelled, the odd town or two, until we got to the famed "Danube Bend", a place were the Danube makes a fairly decided change from flowing east to flowing south. The two notable towns on the bend are Esztergom and Visegrad.

From there it is a relatively short run into the centre of Budapest where we disembarked and set off to find the tourist office that had handled our booking and then the accommodation itself.

We had booked a room in a private apartment and were greeted by a lovely old couple who spoke as much English as we spoke Hungarian - none. They were a delight to stay with though, as were treated to home baking and fruit from what we suppose was their allotment. Her strudel, with their own apples, was better than any we purchased.

Although the accommodation was ‘homely’ with some fairly odd-plumbing, the location was superb; we were about 100m from the only station that services all three Metro lines, a short walk to the square, the river and all the central sites and amenities.

Bratislava - 8 September 2008

The 0900 sailing of the Twin City liner was cancelled so we were rebooked on the 1230 trip which gave us a very lazy start to the morning and a few hours less in the capital of Slovakia. Nevertheless we really enjoyed browsing around this very attractive old city; it appeared spacious, relaxed and not overly touristy as we wandered around the old town and climbed the hill to the castle.

The river trip was anything but relaxed, from the moment the catamaran turned around after leaving the dock, it was "pedal to the metal" with the twin Kiwi Hamilton Jets pushing the boat up to cruising speed of 60 kph even though we were still in the side part of the Danube that flows through Vienna.

The only interest along the way were a couple of settlements where the river crossed the border between Austria and Slovakia, Hainburg on the southern bank and Devin on the northern, both with ruined fortifications on the skyline.


The Bratislava castle terrace overlooking the river affords view to Austria in the southwest and Hungary in the south as well as across the faceless blocks of apartments in the modern part of the city across the river.

If you are passing this way and want to sample the local cuisine then we recommend the Slovak Pub for good value food.

Waltzing around Vienna - 7 September 2008

Although we set off to walk the 4 km ring road that surrounds central Vienna we made so many side trips and diversions that our final route was more like a drunken figure 8 than a ring.

Starting at the upstream end where the ring starts by the river we wandered past the Stock Exchange and the University until we got back to the museum quarter. Then we headed back through the Hofburg to find the Judenplatz and Rachel Whiteread's Holocaust memorial erected in 2000. The Austrians took nearly 50 years to admit their complicity in Hitler's atrocities and thus this memorial is one of the first in Austria. The inside-out library is both simple and striking.

From there we went to the downstream end of the ring and wandered back around to the museum quarter where we visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum to look at the largest collection of Brugel's in the world and one of only two sets of 16th C tapestry cartoons in the world; the other is in the V&A in London and, by way of complete contrast, one of 5 Canadian $1,000.000 coins made in 2007 from 100kg of 99.999% pure gold.

Vienna - 6 Sepember 2008

15C and rain in London? 30C and sun in Vienna? It was a tough choice but having woken to glorious sun in Vienna this morning, we decided to stay and explore the city.

Our hotel was just across the river from the centre of Vienna so we made our way to Stephansplatz to have a look at St Stephan's Cathedral with its attractive patterned roof. Along the Graben we checked out another local tourist attraction, the underground loos designed by Aldof Loos and the beautiful baroque Peterskirche with its wonderful frescoes. An unusual extra in this church are two glass-fronted shrines enclosing the bones of two martyrs brought from the catacombs of Rome in 1730, The bones are clothed in the style of the period with cut-outs in places so that the bones can be seen. All quite macabre really.

There was obviously lots about to happen in the gardens in the Hofburg as people we setting up for a country-comes-to-the-city festival of some sort but we wandered on through the museum quarter and down to the Naschmarkt that, unlike the festival area, was in full flow with thongs of people jostling past the stalls. Exiting the far end we checked the map and found we still had about 7 km to go to the Shloss Schonbrunn, that earlier information had indicated was only 20 minutes away - clearly not on foot.

Time for the U-bahn and, fortunately, the station we were near was on the direct line to Shloss Schonbrunn. When the palace was built it was far enough away from Vienna to be the summer palace, now it is a short ride on the U-bahn.

After carefully considering which ticket combination to purchase we settled on the Classic Pass which afforded us the extended palace tour, entrance to the Privy Garden, the Gloriette at the top of the hill, the Maze and the Apple strudel show. The strudel show was well worth it; watching the chef spin a smallish lump of dough out to an area that wasn't much short of a square metre and so thin you could read through it, was quite amazing.

The palace and formal gardens are quite stunning and wandering though the rows of trees, all meticulously manicured into vertical walls where they fronted a path, allowed us to stumble across all manner of extra delights that did not seem to be mentioned in the information we had been given.

Maire Antoinette was a famous daughter from this palace, Napolean's son was "confined to barracks" here for his short life to keep him out of the political arena, Mozart played here for the Empress when he was 6 and Kruschev and Kennedy first met here for a Summit in 1961, so it has seen a fair chunk of history.

On our way back to the hotel we enjoyed the tail-end of the afternoon with a cold drink and a sun-lounger on a "beach" of golden sand on the banks of the river.

Wandering Wimbledon - 30 August 2008

Depending on the age of your children, Wimbledon is either known for one or two things: The Wombles and Lawn Tennis. There are other interesting sights in the area so we set off across the Thames to explore Wimbledon and Wimbledon Common, it being 7 years since we first wandered over the Common.

Commons are a wonderful remnant of the past that provide fabulous green spaces for public enjoyment, in this case over 1000 acres, so, even with two visits, there is much we have not seen.

Tucked into the southeastern corner is Cannizaro Park, the grounds of a grand house that is now a hotel. The Park is owned by the Council and is a rhododendron showplace at the right time of the year. Other than the Millennium Fountain, there was nothing overly spectacular on display as we circumnavigated the Park.

From there we went to the Wimbledon windmill, the focal point of our 2001 walk and then set off for Southside House (very close to Cannizaro Park but it was not open when we were in that area).

Southside House is a real treat: it was the poor-relation amongst the many houses that the family owned and has never been upgraded so there exists a rare example of a perriwig powdering closet in a room entirely covered in painted hessian (the poor man's tapestry). Usually such rooms have been re-decorated and the painted hessian discarded - in the same manner one discards stripped wallpaper - so it is very rare to have a complete set of painted hessian wall-coverings in-situ.

The whole place is delightfully quirky and eccentric. One Horton ancenstor had amassed the largest collection of portraits (with many van Dykes) but a descendant forfeited them to the crown in the Jacobite Rebellion. From the government coffers they ended up on Walpole's wall and thus his son "inherited" them and sold the collection to Catherine the Great and so they now hang in the Hermitage in St Petersburg.

Leaving the Common we set off for "The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club" better know simply as "Wimbledon", the home of tennis and "Centre Court". Even for tennis avoiders like us, the award winning Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum on the grounds is worth a visit.

Wandering back to the common we passed the Thai Buddapadipa Temple, looking tranquil and serene but completely out of place (it is one of only two outside Asia) among the substantial houses in the area, before arriving back at the Windmill.

Notting Hill Carnival - 25 August 2008

The largest Carnival in Europe happens at Notting Hill every August Bank Holiday, but since we are typically off somewhere else on holiday weekends, we had never seen it. So this year we stayed put in London.



The information in the press and on the web said that the parade went from 10 am to 7 pm. Although we wondered how the performers handle a parade that long we set off bright and early only to find the area basically deserted apart from the food stalls getting their barbeques going.



One policeman told us that the parade started at 12pm another suggested it was a bit random with the best not happening until 3pm. As it turned out, a Chinese section celebrating the Olympic Beijing-London handover passed about 11:30 and then after a short break other parade participants perambulated past periodically.



We had bagged a prime spot for photos but were continually frustrated by parade “Stewards” who seemed to perform no function whatsoever except annoy the photographers behind the barriers by blocking their sight lines.

So what with the fixed parade stewards, the mobile stewards accompanying each group, the police and the press photographers it was a constant challenge to get any decent photographs at all.

Henry was here too - 23 August 2008

Our friendly weather forecasters predicted that east of London would be a better bet today, and promised fine weather, so we fired up the MG and set off for Mill Green.

Our walk took us from there to Blackmore, the location of the Jericho Priory, birthplace of Henry VIII’s bastard son Henry Fitzroy. Also in the area was a bordello that Henry VIII is supposed to have kept and this has given rise to the phrase ‘gone to Jericho’, as the courtiers would use this as code-speak for when the King was off visiting the ladies.


Returning to Mill Green we enjoyed a picnic during rare spot of English summer and then visited Ingatestone Hall, a sixteenth century manor house built by Sir William Petre, Secretary of State to four Tudor Monarchs. Sir William's descendants live in the House to this day.

After a brief afternoon tea stop at the foot of the Mountnessing windmill we meandered our way back to London via the back routes and several quite forgetable villages.