Without Borders

I was ready to explore the 3's today: Three countries and three capital cities, three traveling companions, parking on level -3, staying in apartment on level +3, looking in 3 directions: UP, OUT and DOWN. The blue sky and impressive skyline made it irresistible not to look up in Bratislava. The ornate facades and steeples carry your eye up. We also climbed up to the castle and were able to look out over the city. The guide later claimed that you can see three countries from up top: Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. The three countries have a history together, Slovakia was once part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and the capital of Hungary. They are very close geographically, and part of the Schengen Area. These countries have done away with passport or any other type of border controls between them, and act as one country. There are no signs to tell you're leaving one country and entering another. And they all lie along the Danube River.

My day today became more about the fact that I could even entertain the idea of driving through three European capitals in one day. Using the GPS, I pulled out the garage where I had been parking the car in Budapest. I successfully navigated the maze of streets to get out on to the highway leading to Wien and Bratislava.  The road was good, and I just had to stay out of the way of fast cars while passing the slow stream of trucks. When I hit Bratislava, I followed signs to the zoo, because that was about the only sign I could read. I then followed the river down, looking for Parking signs. Leaving the car in a paid lot, we were able to explore the town.  So far, so good, I was beginning to feel more confident. 

The sun began to set as I drove out of Slovakia. I took a wrong turn and missed getting across the river on the UFO bridge, and that let to some stressful backtracking.  Finally on the right road, I followed signs for "Wien" and "Praha".  By now it was dark, and I vaguely remembered having to stop and pay a road tax for Austria. I didn't pass any gas stations, and after 60 short kilometers, I was entering Vienna. 

The place we booked for the night is in a newly developed hotel and office block complex with underground parking.  The road signs took me directly into the underground tunnels, and that was when I pulled over and decided that I had no idea where I was. Mo phoned our host, and she asked us where we were. ??? Then she asked, "What can you see?" Nothing, nothing at all, we are underground in a maze of tunnels. 

We did eventually find our way out, and up into our third floor apartment for the night. I will not be moving the car while we are staying in Vienna, because I have no confidence that I could ever find my way back to the right parking garage. 

So now we are safely in our third capital city of the day, enjoying some rest and Vienna strudel. Interestingly, this strudel was brought from Vienna to Budapest by my brother. He shared it with me and I brought it back to Vienna, by way of Bratislava, to share with DC and Mo. The strudel traveled three sides of a triangle.