Locals and visitors alike flock to Budapest’s ginormous Great Market Hall couples: Arja, a health services administrator and Randy, an engineer/consultant also from Queensland; and Marg and Frank, two globetrotting retirees from New Zealand. During our briefing, Mirek distributed language cheat sheets for each country we would visit: Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary. Except for Austria, which is part of Western Europe, all are old school—they aren’t yet members of the European Union (EU) and each has its own currency. The tradeoff results in less convenience, but significantly lower prices. After breakfast, the U-Bahn zipped us into Vienna’s imperial historic center. Mirek, who is as passionate about history as he is Czech beer, waltzed us through centuries of royal Hapsburg rule. We followed in the footsteps of Vienna’s famed musical greats: Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms. Our tour climaxed on a high note with a bird’s-eye view of the former Austrian Empire from atop the 115-year-old giant Ferris wheel at the Prater, a Viennese version of Six Flags. That afternoon several of us took a guided bike tour (www.pedalpower.at) and ventured beyond Vienna’s compact Ringstrasse, which is lined with imperial museums and Viennese coffee houses. Farther afield, we explored whimsical Hundertwasser Village (www.kalke-village.at) with its quirky, eclectic architecture, artsy shops, and Toilet of Modern Art, then pedaled along the Danube lined with cruise boats. We returned to the heart of Old Town for an evening under the stars. The classic comic opera Don Pasquale played on a five-story-high screen hung from the Old
Rathaus (town hall). Irresistible aromas wafted through the air from food booths serving Austrian specialties, like Wiener schnitzel and Paul Bunyan–sized skillets of Kaiserschmarr’n (strips of fluffy caramelized pancakes) with fresh blueberries and vanilla sauce. The next morning, we took a train to Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava (brah-teeSLAH-vah), which is nestled on the Danube between Vienna and Budapest. These days, Bratislava’s meandering Old Town has a playful, lighthearted vibe: cobbled streets with lampposts and baskets of trailing flowers, boutiques, and lively cafés. Fountains, fifty in all, cascade throughout this City of Fountains, and whimsical peeking statues appear everywhere—from around corners and even from a manhole! From the top of Bratislava’s medieval castle, panoramas extend over charming red-tiled rooftops and across the Danube, where the Soviet-era New Bridge, with its UFO design, looks oddly out of place. Before returning to Vienna, we ate a traditional Slovak lunch of sausages and homemade gnocchi-like Knödels washed down with thirst-quenching Kozel pivo (beer). On day four, we bid auf Weidersehen to Vienna and drove several hours north through the lush Czech countryside to cute-as-a-button Český Krumlov (Chess-kee Krooum-loff ), whose fairy-tale appeal extends well beyond its ancient frescoed buildings and idyllic locale on the U-bend of the Vltava River. Creaky Hotel Na Louži (www.nalouzi.cz), snuggled in a quiet nook near the main square, oozes old-world charm and was the most atmospheric place we stayed. V IE Z INE .C OM | 105