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Decided to use my 24-hour transport ticket to its fullest, I take one last tram to get to Wien [Vienna] central station.

My destination for tonight: Bratislava, an hour away to the East. So naturally, I headed two hours to the South-West. Let me explain.

While checking the UNESCO sites in the country (I’m not obsessing with them, they just often are good spots to visits!), I saw « Semmering Railway ». And it’s just south of Wien. I just couldn’t let this one pass.

And I’m glad I did this detour! The scenery, once you reach the Alps, is as jaw-dropping as you can expect from the Alps. The Semmering portion is driven slowly, through many tunnels, tight turns and bridges, where you can get the classic « I see the head of the train from my seat » shot. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong side of the train to sit (pro-tip, coming from Wien, sit on the left side of the train!), so I was now hoping against hope that I’ll get a window seat on the correct side on the way back.

I stopped in Leoben, which is in a cute setting but doesn’t have much to report. I just ate a pizza and went back to the train.

And I did get a window seat on the right side (which is the right side going to Wien), and even better, on a four-seat spot, giving me a table high enough to film a time-lapse of the whole trip. Coming soon!

In Wien, I just had time to change for a small regional train. See you in a couple months, Austria!

Ahoj Slovensko!

The 30th country I’ve ever set foot in, and one that I’ve been eager to visit for a while.

Coming from Austria, the train stop at a station far in the South of Bratislava, so you have to take a cheap bus to the center, thus crossing the mighty Danube.

I check in at the hostel, which has an amazing, friendly, party atmosphere. Nothing to do with the hotel-disguised-as-hostel that was A&T Holiday Wien. They run a daily pub crawl, and despite being exhausted, I decided to not miss the opportunity and bring old poor twisted me to the pubs. I felt like a freaking dinosaur with all these young young people, but I still managed to fit in eventually, talking to quite a few interesting people from all over the World: India, United Kingdom, Singapore, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Sweden, United States, Kingdom of the Netherlands… I’m affraid I forgot most names though, so if you’re reading this, I’m sorry. But you’ve got to understand, at my great age…

Still, hunger kicked in and I decided to drop off after the third bar, and came back at midnight. All in all a fun night.