Probably our last international trip of the year together, before the Family Season commences in November and December. This year, we are expecting three dogs and four young adults to join us at home! But first, there are a few European cities to explore for these two old adults…

Saw this outside Prague airport. There are some areas – say 12 feet by 6 feet, marked by yellow signs on the floor and the smokers are to stand inside and smoke. I do not see how the smoke can be confined within the yellow boundaries…

Saw this in our Marriott library area

The bridge was built in the 1300s !!

I could not figure out whether this is overflow water or normal flow.

You can see the Prague Castle in the background

Last year when I was in Prague, I remember seeing that and it took me a minute or two to realize what was happening.

The fall colors are setting in.

But we did not understand what it was all about.

One of the inevitable effects of going to bars every evening with Sharmila and my somewhat pesky inquisitiveness to get to know people means we meet a lot of new folks. Especially, the people working behind bars. I probably have over fifty young people who have served us, and I still call them on their birthdays. Some of them are not so young today!

Two summers ago, Jay Jay, Sharmila, and I settled down at the bar seat outside Central City Tavern to watch a game when this young lady came up to take our drinks order. Before she could go back, I had already found out a lot about her and her parents (who live nearby).

The following conversation stood fairly close to the norm:

“So Abby, when you are not working here, what do you do? What passions do you have?”

“I am in college.”

“Oh! Where do you go?”

Now, this is where I was in for a shock! Usually, I get the answer of “University of North Georgia,” “Lanier Tech,” or “Kennesaw”-the usual nearby options. And in some rare cases, Georgia Tech or the University of Georgia.

Instead, she said, “I study in Prague.”

“Prague as in Europe?”

“Yes”

“Wow! You are the first student I know from Prague.”

We talked a lot about Prague and how our elder daughter has been there, but we have not. At the end of the discussion—and before she could forget our orders—we told her, “Well, we will come and visit you there sometime.”

I am not sure she took us seriously.

But here we are, a couple of years later, in Prague, having dinner with her!

I showed her pictures of the staff from the bar back where we had met. In fact, I had run into her best friend, Priscilla, that Saturday at the Farmers’ Market. She is a story for another day.

But for this evening, I was overjoyed to see our young friend from the neck of our woods and how she is building up her career and life!

The room had a balcony. That is not a big deal. It had a private garden in the personal rooftop! Now, that we have never experienced before. It was a beautiful set up!

Here we are, sitting by the street side and sipping some red wine while watching the crowd on the streets. Except, this is in Paris, not Downtown Alpharetta!

This is where my office function was

Sharmila and Nikita missed it last time

In my first Austrian Airlines flight. The 51st airline for me.

I love a well set up library in a hotel. In fact, that has to be my most favorite part of a hotel. This one – Le Meridien in Vienna had books with covers made from old newspapers. Just like we used to do back in India when I was a mere child.

The music he was playing was very nice though!

But we talked to a person there and Sharmila explained how she had studied about Gustav Klimt and would like to see some of his works. The gentleman immediately pointed us to the Belvedere.

The weather was a bit cool but the sun felt great!

are you you likely to see such reflections on the car in front of you.

I understand this is where 24 of Klimt’s works are on display

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

Note how realistic they have made the picture of the bicyclist waiting to cross. The bike is at an angle, not the usual upright in red!! This is in Vienna.

Owen – one of our favorite bartenders in Chiringa, back in downtown Alpharetta, had asked us to see it. Impressive structure.

Slovakia will be the 74th country for me. We are taking the boat down the Danube to go from Vienna to Bratislava.

I have seen it from the air before – not from the ground level.

We saw a lot of those small houses by the river as we sped to Bratislava. They all seem to have some kind of fishing apparatus nearby. Wonder if these are vacation getaways… Given that they seem to be also on stilts, they might be the famous Kritzendorf stilt houses. Need to do some research.

It is what it sounds like – a Boat plus Hotel. As we pulled into Bratislava, we passed this. It looked a bit too tired to be an active boat. I was wondering if it was a hotel. In fact, we could see people having breakfast on the top floor. Once we got to the land, we walked past it – and sure enough… it is a hotel. “Botel Gracia” said the board.

I believe the local name is “Vyhliadková veža UFO”

We started walking from the harbor. Old town Bratislava was right there. We hit the main square and immediately came upon the Slovenské národné divadlo.

I wanted to get a rough idea of the layout of Bratislava. Opened up Google Maps. Typed out “Bratislava”. Such is the power of data analytics that the only spot Google Maps listed on the map was a “Dosa and Samosa” that opens at 8am. It was early in the morning and a cold day. Castles and churches be darned, we made a beeline for a masala dosa to start the day with a proper South Indian breakfast!!

That, and masala chai, of course!

While in Vienna, we found out from Facebook posts that our friends from Knoxville were visiting Budapest. We quickly changed our plans, packed some overnight stuff and hit the train station to take a 2 hour 40 minutes ride to Budapest!

The changes in our plans worked out! Instead of Vienna, we will spend the evening in Budapest. The train was 40 minutes late. It took all of 3 hours and 20 minutes. But we did manage to meet Budhu and Jhumpa in a bar and made the most of the evening in Budapest!

At a place highly recommended by the younger daughter of our common friend – Amitesh.