VIENNA-DAY 1

This trip took place June 2026.

DAY 1: Guten Morgen allerseits! Or how you say “Good morning everyone!” in German.

Well, I slept pretty well but was def up early and out of our hotel room to see what I could go find on my morning walk before breakfast was ready at the hotel.

The weather was perfect as I set out via GPS to go find the Danube River while it was still kind of the blue hour and the city was kind of stirring.

There is something to be said about being in a foreign city and exploring on my own while Leis caught up on some sleep.

There was quite a contrast between old and new building architecture as well what I found along the river was a massive treasure trove of street art and graffiti. I wont post every picture because after breakfast we will hop on a train and head to Bratislava, Slovakia for the day. A place neither one of had ever been to.

Here are some of the photos I took while while out and about.

After walking around and getting about 2 miles in, it was time to head back to our hotel to check out the break buffet which by the way did not disappoint. It became my fave part of the day and I wish I had taken better pictures.

But there we no shortage of food options for everyone. The highlight were the ready made omelettes that I found out later you can get custom ones upon request but the fresh squeezed orange juice was amazing.

By the way, it’s only about 7:30 ish in the morning and I’m wide awake.

Before the end of this trip I will have made friends with two of the chefs who would make our daily morning omelettes.

I mentioned to the hostess Yevah that this was one of the best hotel breakfast spreads we’ve ever had. So thank you Hilton Vienna Park for such a great way to start each day.

I’ll have some more pictures in some later posts that highlight the best way to start your day.

But now, time to go get ready to for our day trip to Bratislava.

Well, navigating our way to the main train station and getting our tickets was a little bit frustrating as I didn’t have clue as to what we were doing so I’m thankful for Leis an her skills and patience.

We finally arrived at the main train station, got our tickets and hopped aboard our and headed toward our destination. I loved the destination screen so you can see how many stops are along the to our destination. The train was super clean, and had restrooms. Its stuff like this that I wish American’s appreciated more.

While we had seen pictures on line, its never like experiencing it in real time.

Here are some pix as we strolled the town below before we made our way up the hill toward the castle that sits on the hill.

One side note. Like any journey, you do the best you can. We apparently got on the wrong train that stopped short of Bratislava and had to grab a bus to take us the next 15 mins or so to the main part of town. I should have done a bit more research but we got there and the weather great.

Sometimes, there are those moments of discovery I call “happy accidents”. This happened to be one that was off the beaten path.

But while we were on our hike up to the hilltop castle, we saw people veering off tot he right and entering a little door. To our amazement, we discovered this little hill sode church that date back to 1661.

BRIEF HISTORY: St. Nicholas Church in Bratislava is an Orthodox church situated on the castle hill next to the Bratislava Castle in Podhradie the historical part of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The church was built in 1661 by Paul Pálffy’s (1589–1655) widow Countess Frances, née Khuen (died 1672).[1] It is an early baroque building built on the place of original Gothic church below the Bratislava Castle. The church is consecrated to Saint Nicholas, the patron of sailors. His statue is situated in the stone niche above the main entrance to the church. The church is a protected cultural monument.

You can find more info here on wikipedia.

It’s definitely worth a few minutes to stop in on your way up.

The hike up the the castle was challenging for us as we are a little out of shape. There is no shame in pausing along the way. Be sure to wear comfortable but sturdy shoes as the streets were all cobblestone and some of the steep climb was gravely in some areas.

The castle on the hill in Bratislava is called Bratislava Castle (Bratislavský hrad). It sits 85 meters (278 feet) above the Danube River. This bright, white fortress features four corner towers. It serves as a great spot to see the whole city.

Since we got a late start and there was rain in the forecast we decide not to take the castle tour and work our way back to Vienna as we still had some jet lag. But this is definitely worth a day trip. Just try to get an earlier start.

Give your self some extra time when using local transportation when in country. It took a few minutes to figure things out on how to get back to Vienna as signs were in their native language. But it was still really cool be in a different country and experience some local flavor.

After the hour ride back via train and navigating a connecting subway that drops us off across from our hotel, we enjoyed some wood fired pizza and some pear, honey and guanciale bruschettas and a cold beverages at MIO Pizzaria. Their branding we pretty cool too.

We’llback back with more tomorrow on DAY 2!