Three countries in one day (Oct 18)

We started the morning still docked in Vienna (as were dozens of other ships with the river closed).  We got a nice onboard presentation about the country of Slovakia (only just over 20 years old after separating from the Czech Republic) by a Slovakian.  Slovakia is becoming one of the new economic powerhouses of the EU with low labor costs and high productivity...they have the highest per capita car production in the world, producing specific and unique models for Porsche (the Cayenne), VW (the Tourieg), Audi, and a couple other brands. 

We packed up all our stuff, disembarked the ship for the last time, boarded buses, and headed for the country of Slovakia and its capital city of Bratislava.

After a 1.5 hr bus ride, we got off the bus in Bratislava.  We had a buffet meal, then did a walking tour of about an hour to see the Old Town sites.  This city sits just across the river from Austria, so during the Cold War/Iron Curtain days, Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Soviet Union, and the forest on the other side of the Danube from Bratislava was walled and mined, fenced with electric fence, and guarded with dogs to keep people from swimming the Danube and seeking refuge in neutral Austria.  Bratislava dates back to the Roman Empire days, this is about as far north as the Romans got, and Bratislava was a fortress to guard against the Germanic tribers.  Slovakia is the first former Communist country I've ever visited:

Opera House, with our guide Ivana in the red coat

 The "UFO Bridge" (restaurant on top!):

 Old town hall (there is a cannonball embedded in its face from the Napoleonic wars just to the left of the 2nd story window...there was a significant treaty signed by Napoleon within the city, but I don't recall which one):

 Sculptures around the city:

Maria Theresa, who is a prominent member of the Austria-Hungarian Empire's history since she was its first female queen, ordered the walls around the city to be torn down in the early 1800s.  The city did that, and dumped all the wall material into the channel of the Danube surrounding the city (it was another walled city) such that it filled up and then became a promenade shown here:

After the tour, we hopped on the bus for a long 2.5 hour bus ride to the country of Hungary (another former Communist country) and the capital city of Budapest.

During the ride, they served us a traditional "Slovakian bagel", which amounted to a croissant with some walnut filling.

 We checked into our hotel and promptly got back on the bus (it was a LONG day) for a short hop to a dinner cruise down the Danube (since these dinner boats are relatively light, they don't need as deep of water as our cruise ship would have needed to continue our cruise).  The city is beautiful here along the river (our hotel is on the river too).  Our cruise directors say this may be their favorite city. 

Sunset looking toward the Palace

 Parliament building:

 Palace (dating back to the Austria-Hungarian Empire reign of Franz-Joseph Hapsburg, second half of the 1800s):

 Chain (suspension) bridge with Palace in the background:

 Our hotel as seen from the river:

Tomorrow is the tour of Budapest and our cruise group farewell dinner at some fancy place (maybe a palace), with the Tauck adventure formally ending Saturday morning.  We will continue to stay at the Intercontinental until our departure Sunday morning.