Sightseeing around Cork

We've been enjoying the sights around Cork. We went to St Finnbar's Church; Cobh for an afternoon; lots of big walks around Cork; and to the City Gaol. Also went to Fota Zoo, and checked out an old derelict castle nearby.

Duff Arrives

Duff has arrived in Ireland! He will be joining us on the rest of our travels. Here he is enjoying a beer and a roast after after a 36hr travelling marathon.

Back in Bratislava

We enjoyed walking around the city and seeing the sights. We also took advantage of the comparatively cheap alcohol and pub meals. Darren tried the absinth one night and was convinced to buy a bottle to take back to Cork with us. We went to the Bratislava Castle, and looked over the Danube river and St Martin's Cathedral. On our last day we went for a walk around Kuchajda lake. We saw the main square and Kostel sv Alzbety (a cool baby blue church).
We had a great time in Bratislava, the city has a relaxed, laid-back feel to it, with fun sculptures in the old town.

Vienna, Austria

Arrived in Vienna after only 1hr15min on the train. We saw all the sights and old buildings including; Karlsplatz; Stephenplatz; City Hall; Parliament; National History Museum & Volksgarten; & Hofburg Imperial Palace.
At Stephenplatz we went on a tour of the catacombs, there were thousands of bones stacked up in underground rooms. One room had a hole at the top where they had dumped plague victim's bodies into (over a thousand a month).
We also went to the Volksprater amusement park for a play on the go-carts and stopped off in the middle of the Danube River on the Donauinsel Island. It's a long strip of land with paths for cyclists and foot-traffic.
We spent the last morning at the Schonbrunn Palace, we checked out the Wagonburg Imperial Coach Collection (amazing!) and the Imperial gardens. The weather was really warm with hints of snow still around and the lake in the gardens still frozen over.
The food was excellent, loads of sausage and pizza stands that also sell beer. We ate lots of kaserkrainer sausages and delicious schnitzel.

Bratislava, Slovakia

Arrived nice and early in Bratislava after spending a sleepless night in London Stansted airport, so headed straight to the City Hostel for a rest. In the afternoon we took in the sights of Nam Slobody park (above) and the Presidential Palace. We went to the Slovak Pub for a traditional meal of Bryndzove Halvsky (dumplings and sheep's cheese) and a few beers (only €0.50 a pint).
The next morning we jumped on a train to Vienna.

St Patricks Day

Got half the day off at work to go to the parade on St Patrick's St. Later that evening we went out for a few drinks at a bar. Town was packed, everybody was in a good mood and wearing plenty of green.