In the summer of 2010, both mine and my wife’s parents had come to visit us in Stockholm, and we planned a full family trip to Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria). We booked our tickets to Bratislava by RyanAir and left Stockholm on 10th July morning.
Reached Bratislava : 10th July 2010
We reached Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, at around noon, and were greeted by some very hot weather. From the airport, we took the RyanAir bus to the city, and after some struggle with the map prints that we were carrying, reached our apartment hotel (Apartment Rajska). It was a real hot afternoon (temperature around 40 celcius) and we had to stay indoors for a couple of hours. The weather was such a dampener that we skipped all our sightseeing plans and decided to step out only in the evening. Thankfully, one of our two rooms was air conditioned.The Primate’s palace and the vibrant old town
Pics: Primate’s palace and the area around
Finally we stepped out around 5p.m. and headed towards the biggest tourist attraction of Bratislava, the old town. Our first stop was the Primate’’s Palace. The paths in front of the palace were adorned with various sculptures and fountains. After that, we headed towards the historic old town, which consisted of various churches, paved pathways, Bratislava Castle (which we couldn’t visit), 
Pics: The old town
The old town actually had a very young feeling about it, and was buzzing with activity due to it being a Saturday night. The place had hundreds of pubs and disks, open air restaurants, and the usual tourist traps: the souvenir shops. After an hour or so, our parents decided to head back to the hotel, while we decided to stay on for some more time. While Bratislava didn’t offer us too much to see in terms of sightseeing, that evening was one of the best that we have experienced in Europe.
Off to Vienna : 11th July 2010
The next morning, we headed off to Vienna by train. The train from Bratislava main station (Bratislava Petrzalka) to Vienna (Wien Sudbanhof) takes about an hour and costs about 11 EUR for a return ticket. Upon arrival in Vienna, we checked in to our hotel apartment (Belvedere Apartments). The weather was quite warm, but not as hot as Bratislava. We had to ask hotel reception for some fans though (rooms had none). We decided to cook the lunch at our apartment itself and bought the essentials from the store downstairs..The first stop: Belvedere Palaces
Pics: The Belvedere Palace and the lawns
Our first to-do for the day was a visit to the Belvedere Palaces, which was a 10 minute walk from our apartment. It consists of two palaces, the Upper and Lower Belvedere Unfortunately, there was some event going inside the palace that day, so we couldn’t see it from inside (it houses a museum). But the landscaped lawns between the two palaces were worth a visit. The lawns are set on a gentle gradient and include decorative tiered fountains and cascades, Baroque sculptures, and majestic wrought iron gates (as described by Wikipedia). 
Fun filled evening: The Wurstelprater
Pics: Fun at the Prater amusement park
After the palace, we headed towards the Wurstelprater, an amusement park and arguably the biggest tourist attraction of Vienna. It is 2 minutes walk from the Praterstern or Messe-Prater metro/tram stations (Metro U1, U2 and Tram 0 and 5). We had purchased the 48 hour Vienna transport ticket (around 10Eur each) which is valid on all transport modes in the city. Entry to the park is free, but each ride/activity costs between Euro 1 to 10.
As soon as entering the park, we realized it’s going to be a fun evening. Various rides, dart/shooting games, lotto, haunted house and what not. There was a 4D theater as well, and we watched a movie there (the one around Delhi is better though). We enjoyed various rides including Roller Coaster with water splash, Merry go round and a ride by the name “Extasy”, which was the most intense ride I have ever experienced…(Half the time i was hanging upside down and rotating at great speeds!!).. See this youtube video, especially after 2.30 minutes.
We ended the evening with having a dinner at a Greek restaurant and watching the world cup football final (Spain vs Netherlands) on a big screen, which, sadly,Spain ended up winning.
Domkirche St. Stephan and the United Nations office : 12th July 2010
Pics: St Stephan’s Cathedral exterior, Cathedral interior, United Nations Office
Next morning, our first destination was the St Stephen’s Cathedral or the Domkirche St. Stephan. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Austria, and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches. It has huge 445feet tall towers and is famous for its ornate roof consisting of muticoloured glazed tiles. The interiors of the church are beautiful with numerous altars, sculptures and paintings.
From the church, we moved on to visit the United Nations Office of Vienna to take a guided tour of the historical center, United Nations office in Vienna offers a unique opportunity to get an insight into global policy making. It is the world center for issues such as nuclear explosions, hi-tech satellites or international crime prevention. But unfortunately, there was no English tour starting in the next two hours, and we decided not to wait that long.
Hofburg palace and Kärntnerstrasse street
Pics: Hofburg palace, a glimpse of what’s inside the Imperial Treasury and the Karntnerstrasse
From the UN center, we took the metro (U-Bahn) to Stephansplatz to cover our next target, the Hofburg Palace. This one is huge with various sections, each having a separate entry ticket. We visited the 14th century church (Augustinerkirche), the imperial apartments on the first floor of Chancellary wing (Kaiserapartments) and the best of them all, the Imperial Treasury (Schatzkammer) which showcases glittering Habsburg jewels, the loot of a once-great empire, including the crowns of the Holy Roman and Austrian empires. The greatest treasure is the Imperial Crown, dating from 962. Glad they didn’t have those jewels on sale though ;)
There was a lot more to visit, but we were hungry, and the biggest shopping street of Vienna, the Kärntnerstrasse was nearby… So we left the palace for a walk towards the street, had lunch at a very nice multicuisine restaurant and shopped a little. The street was really nice, buzzing with shoppers from around the world and boasted of the biggest fashion brands..
We ended the day with a ring tram ride on the Ringstrasse, a circular road surrounding the inner district of Vienna and one of its major sights..
Schonbrunn Palace : 13th July 201
Pics: Schonbrunn palace, the palace lawns, fountain at the far end of the lawns
As always, we wanted to end the trip on a high, so had left the famous Schonbrunn Palace, the 300 year old Hapsburg summer palace, for the last day. We took the underground U4 and got down at Schonbrunn station from where it was a few minutes walk to the palace. 
Tour of the imperial apartments, inside the palace, takes you on a journey through the centuries, starts behind a massive door at the top of the Blue Staircase. It begins in the west wing of the palace, with the apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife, Elisabeth, which are furnished in 19th-century style, and continues through the state rooms in the central wing. From there the tour proceeds to the richly-appointed apartments once occupied by Maria Theresa. The Franz Karl Apartments, which were occupied by Emperor Franz Joseph's parents, Archduchess Sophie and Archduke Franz Karl, conclude the tour. All the rooms in the palace have their own stories to tell, stories on the margins of great historical events which are indicative of the lifestyle, atmosphere and world view of the imperial era. (copied from here).
While the palace was beautiful from inside, the gardens behind the palace were even better. The landscaping, layout, neatly pruned bushes, different multicolored shapes and decorations using flowers and the big fountain with various sculptures made the place truly royal… We could have easily spent a couple more hours had time permitted…
That brought us to the end of our trip.. We took the Terravision bus service which directly took us to the Bratislava airport, from where we took our Ryanair flight back to Stockholm…
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