Day trip to Bratislava from Vienna. Arrived in a particularly grotty area of town (the area near the station in most towns tends to be grim) and walked down the main street to the old town, through the old city gate and onto the new bridge, which we crossed to get to the UFO tower, the tallest building in the city. It is made of 2 pillars that lean against each other, supported by huge cables that attach to the bridge. At the top there is what looks like a flying saucer, with an observation deck at the top. The saucer is in fact an expensive, overhyped restaurant with panoramic views over the city. We took the lift to the top (for a small fee) and went to the observation deck where it was very windy, but you could see everything. The toilets in the restaurant were interesting, as you looked out through the window while listening to the Pink Panther theme tune.

We wandered back through the old town via the cathedral, which cost to get into, so we didn't go, and went up to Bratislava castle, which is actually a rebuilt version from 1953 of the ancient building that burned down in the 1800s. We climbed up for another excellent view point over the city, but we didn't go into the castle, as we are getting tired of walking around old buildings.

To be honest, there's not very much for tourists in Bratislava, but it has a few really nice spots. We only spent a few hours there and we're satisfied that we had done the city.

We got the train back to Vienna and went to the Prater amusement park, which features the famous ferris wheel. We wandered around, impressed by the size of the place and the variety of rides. There were several rollercoasters, lots of spinning, upside down and slingshot rides and their newest attraction, the Prater Turm, a huge tower, taller than most buildings in the city, which had swing seats that revolved around the outside and went up to the top.

We only had enough money for a few rides, so we went on the spinning water flume, where you sat in a circular dinghy that span around as it slid down the track, the log flume, and a particularly rickety rollercoaster, which was the biggest and tallest one in the park, that went very fast and nearly threw us out of the car as it banked at almost 90 degrees. At the end it stopped suddenly and we hit the safety bar holding us in the car, which hurt. Not really the safest rollercoaster, but still fun.

Went back to the hostel and cooked dinner, then played Scrabble in the bar and went to bed.