Thursday in Slovakia, Friday in Croatia

"You need to speed it up!",  Kathy said to me as she finished proofreading yesterday's post. "Just because you took a picture doesn't mean that you have to write a paragraph about it." I guess she's right; if I keep this up, I'll spend our whole vacation in the hotel in front of the computer. So, from now on, as Joe Friday famously said, "Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts."

Like many European cities, Vienna has a city-sponsored bike rental program, Wien-rad. You download an app, NextBike, and you can check out bikes at spots all across the city. NextBike works in several other cities as well. It took me about a half hour to register, sitting at a café across from one of the famous Ankeruhr Art Nouveau astronomical clock. ("No, honey, I'm not explaining every picture. I didn't even mention the war memorial next door, and I took a half-dozen shots of that. It commemorates the ... Right. Speed it up.")

We walked several blocks to the canal-side tram stop where we checked out two bikes, and started in the direction of the Danube. The bikes looked like some of the sleeker new electric bike models that have been appearing in California in the last year, but they were not. The first thing Kathy asked was "How do I turn it on?" She was disappointed when I told her that you sit on the seat and push on the pedals.

If you look at the picture on the bridge, you'll notice the Viking River Cruise ship SAGA parked on the quay. That was only one of fifteen Viking River and Alma Cruise ships parked in Vienna that morning. As we rode our bikes down to the river, we passed tour group after tour group walking into Vienna from the ships. It somehow seems different from the ads on Masterpiece Theater.

Kathy and I both love riding bikes, but we had other plans for the rest of the day. So, after two hours (total cost, 4E for two bikes), we returned the bikes by locking them up at a U-Bahn station. We then caught a ride to the train station, and purchased two 18E Bratislava tickets to visit Patrick and Ivetka Higgins at a Calvary Chapel in Slovakia. (I Googled for Calvary Chapel Bratislava and found that there have been Calvary Chapels in Bratislava for centuries.)

A few days before we got here, Patrick texted us to let us know that he had been called out of town to Barcelona, but that his wife Ivetka and their sons would love to meet. Gabriel, who is starting University in Computer Science next week, spent the afternoon showing us around town, until David got out of high school and Ivetka got off of work. We walked all around the old town and I took lots of pictures.

Around five o'clock we met David and Ivetka in front of the Presidential Palace and they walked us over to the building where their church meets. It's a part of the University and they were invited to use one of the auditoriums for free. Since it wasn't Sunday, we couldn't go in, because classes were in session, but Gabriel took our picture out front.

We asked everyone what they wanted to eat, and they all voted for their favorite burger lounge, with great views of the city.

We all had burgers. ("No honey, I didn't promise to skip the food pictures.")

Ivetka insisted we try a Slovakian Kofola, a nostalgia item that survives Communist times, when capitalist Coke wasn't permitted in the country. It definitely has its own flavor; perhaps a little Dr. Peppery.

Kathy and Ivetka had already met at one of European Refresh conferences that Calvary Chapel hosts each summer. Kathy has done book reviews, and the first thing Ivetka said when we met was "I know you. You're the book lady!". So, they enjoyed catching up on the bus back to the train station, where we sat and talked until our train back to Vienna arrived. We got back to our hotel around 10:00 pm.

Two Tickets to Dubrovnik

Today, we're flying to Dubrovnik in Croatia. We got to breakfast right when they opened at 7:00am, and had one last terrific breakfast at Pension Nossek. We'd packed the night before, so we were on the U-Bahn before 8:30 am to catch our 11:00 am flight. All went well, and we arrived in plenty of time. Although this time I did get intimately patted down when I forgot a comb in my back pocket going through security.

Whenever we travel, we always try to read books or watch movies to "get in the mood". For Vienna, we watched Hellen Mirren in "Woman in Gold", and, as a result, Kathy picked up a Klimt scarf when we were here. For Croatia, I put four or five books on our Kindle. The first one I read was "Two Tickets to Dubrovnik" which was fascinating for it's detailed information about Dubrovnik (such as the Lokrum Island curse). The plot, however, kind of peters out at the end. I thought of the book as we stood waiting in line to get on the plane.

We caught the airport shuttle into town and found our hotel (the Scalini Palace), checked in and went looking for lunch. If you've never watched one of Phil Rosenthal's series on Prime or Netflix, (I'll have what Phil's Having, or Somebody Feed Phil), then you're in for a treat. I copied down the names of all of the places he ate on the Croatia episode, and was thrilled to find our hotel was two doors down from Barba, where we stopped for an Octopus Burger. (Delicious.)

During the day, the town is absolutely mobbed with tourists, (and, as we found, at night as well). Since we weren't Game of Thrones fans, (alternatively boring and perverse), we bought a three day city bus pass and left the hordes behind to see the "real Dubrovnik.

Our strategy is simple: pick a bus and ride it to the end of the line (and then back, of course). Line 1A took us to the Communist era planned community of Mokosica, north of the city. When we pulled into the turn around at the end of the line, we were surprised to see a mural with the Confederate flag and a poster saying "White Boys", followed by increasingly sinister images that we didn't understand. We looked at each other and thought "What have we gotten into?" At the beginning of the mural was painted the word "hajduk". I asked Google Translate, what that meant in English, and it helpfully told me that in English it meant "hajduk". Later, I spent some more time Googling, and found out that the mural was in support of a soccer team, Hajduk-Split. They use the Confederate flag because they are from the south of Croatia and their team is nicknamed the "white boys" since they have white jerseys.

Still, kind of a disconcerting way to end the day. On the way back to the old town, we stopped at Tommy Hipermarket and picked up some sparkling water, and were in bed by 8:00 pm. Unfortunately we weren't asleep until 2:00 am, since on the other side of our hotel is the Gaffe Irish Pub, and the pubsters were having a good old time.

Tomorrow we'll get up early and explore the Old Town before the tourists arrive.