In Search Of Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner is one of my heroes and as she was born in Vienna, I had to see if I could find her birthplace. She was supposedly born at 27, Kaiser Josef Strasse according to a web site I found.
This was the nearest I could find.
In Search Of Lise Meitner
I would assume that the house has been knocked down.
I’ve just looked from my home computer and I was looking in the wrong place.
I really should have taken it with me or searched for an Internet cafe.
Spittelau
In Vienna if there is one place I had to see, it is Spittelau.
You walk out of the station of the same name and it’s there, only a kilometre or so from the centre of Vienna.
When you first see it, you think it is some weird work of art or even a chemical plant designed by a benign Devil.
It’s actually a waste incineration plant, which provides district heating and to be fair it’s more beautiful than SELCHP.
The world needs a lot more Spittelaus. As they often do, the Japanese are copying the ideas in Osaka.
It is a superb example that shows the close relationship between art, engineering and architecture.
Can you imagine the fuss, if they decided to build a plant like this at say Silvertown in East London? On the other hand, the plant shows that refuse incinerators can be good neighbours.
Every large city should have it’s Spittelau!
Around Vienna Cathedral
The hotel was close to Vienna’s impressive cathedral, St. Stephen’s.
It was from this square that I got on the U-bahn.
The King Is Dead
I stayed at a hotel, I’d used before with C.
The King Is Dead
It was a rather waste of time, as the room I had was noisy and very hot. with little ventilation. but I suppose the wi-fi was good and free.
Would I Go Back To Bratislava?
Yes! If only to go back to the Arcadia Hotel and to eat in the restaurant again.
But it would be a good stoping off point on a trip back from say Kiev or Belgrade.
From Bratislava To Vienna
I left Bratislava on Wednesday morning. Not by train, but by taking a fast boat on the Danube.
The fare was just twenty euros and it was a very pleasant trip, that took you from one city centre to the other in about seventy-five minutes. As there are three ropund trips a day, you could easily stay in one city and visit the other.
I was particularly fascinated by the fishermen’s cottages along the banks, where they use nets to get the fish.
I have tried to nake all of the bridges, but information on the web is a bit lacking.
Exploring Bratislava
Bratislava is a charming city and I spent a pleasant few hours exploring.
It was just a pity it was still rather cold.
I first heard of Bratislava in the 1960s, when Spurs went there to play a European tie against Slovan Bratislava. I suspect the city was very different then.
I seem to remember the score as goalless, but some web sites, think Spurs lost 2-0. The match was memorable in one way, as the attacking Spurs team, decided to park the bus in front of goal. I was at the return leg at White Hart Lane, when Spurs progressed by 6-0. There’s a video of the match here. This must be one of the earliest matches, where I was actually present, that has a video on the Internet.
A Superb Hotel And Memorable Gluten-Free Meal In Bratislava
I hadn’t booked the hotel in Bratislava, but I had sussed that one of the best in the city was the Hotel Arcadia. So after a few minutes at the station, I took a taxi to the hotel.
My choice was vindicated, as it was one of the best hotels, I’ve stayed in since C’s death. I know she would have liked it, as the beds were comfortable, the bath was large and easily filled with the very hot water she liked and the dressing gowns and towels were luxurious.
The evening meal was absolutely memorable and I can’t tell you what I had, as I can’t get an on-line copy of the menu. The main course was lamb and it was some of the best I’ve ever tasted.
They even had a gastronomic tasting menu of umpteen courses, where except for the cheese and sweet courses, I could eat everything.
I shall certainly make sure next time I’m in the area, I will spend a night at the hotel.
From Budapest To Bratislava
On Tuesday, the 9th at 15:25 in the afternoon, my train left Budapest for Bratislava.
It was a very uneventful journey in an almost empty First Class carriage, which was comfortable enough, although a bit slow at fifteen minutes short of three hours. But it’s one of the fast trains.
When the Slovakian Ticket Inspector checked my ticket, I said about the palaver to get it in Budapest. I think he agreed.
A lot of this journey was alongside the Danube. Living in the UK, you don’t realkise how huge it is.
Would I Go Back To Budapest?
Budapest is certainly a city, that would be worth a second visit. My visit was just a passing one and I didn’t really have time to do the city justice.
I didn’t find any major problems, but I did find the Hungarian language and currency difficult.
In the former, it was difficult to relate street and station names to the map you are using and in the second, as the currency is about 350 forints to the pound, this made purchasing things difficult.
As regards the second, you can understand, why the euro was embraced as an idea and why some countries either use or closely link their currency to the US dollar.
After all, when I’m in a euro or dollar country, if you treat these as pounds, all you’ll get is a bit more change. Using forints was a bit like using lire in Italy some years ago.
Budapest would make an ideal base to explore the Balkans and places like the Ukraine by rail, as there is a comprehensive list of places that trains go to from the main railway station.
Note Timisoara in the Departures display above.
You can apparently get easily from Budapest to Kiev in the Ukraine, so I would assume the reverse is possible. Ever since I saw the film; Battleship Potemkin, at school, I’ve always wanted to see the steps in Odessa, where the famous scene from the film takes place.
I did think about going during Euro 2012, but we had the Olympics coming up.
So if anybody wants to go to Odessa and Kiev and then come home by train, send me a message. I’m going to do it, to prove it is possible.
Remember though, I won’t be doing it in cheap hotels or Second Class.
Looking at Seat61; the bible for all train travelling, I’d probably fly to Budapest, take the train to Kiev and then after the detour to Odessa, I’d come home via Warsaw.
Note
The Anonymous Widower 