In mid-July of this past summer, I got off an airplane in Vienna. My family and I were on our way home and we had a two-night layover in the beautiful country of Austria. These days would not go to waste. We intended to make the most of every moment.
As soon as we got our rental car, we headed straight to our hotel in the middle of Vienna. The cobblestone streets with big, decadent yellow buildings made me so excited to explore a new city. However, Vienna would have to wait.
Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, was only an hour away, and it was expecting us. We dumped our entire luggage at the hotel and took off to a country nobody in my family has ever visited.
Now, our expectations for Bratislava were not all that high. Based off of Google Images and all the countless travel articles we read about the city, which were little to none, we didn’t think there would be too much to do.
We knew we wanted to visit the castle at the forefront of Bratislava. The weather was cloudy in the morning which made the photos look pretty gloomy. The castle itself, though, was lovely. The structure represented our whole day. Grey at first, ending with exciting pops of red.
Going to the old town of Bratislava was my favorite part of the day. Leisurely strolling down the cobblestone streets of Slovakia with no particular destination in mind made my day. There was so much time to look around and take everything in. When you’re only in a city for a few short hours, I think it’s important to take in as much as you can.
My goal of the day was to find some street crêpes. I had a serious craving for warm crêpes with melted Nutella and I was not going to let it go. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I may or may not have gotten aggressive over the idea of getting delicious European pancakes.
That was when I learned that God exists.
It started raining heavily and we had no choice but to take shelter in a little café. The crêpes I had there were some of the best I’ve ever tasted. The bright and happy ambiance of the café provided an amazing contrast to what was going on outside. The pitter patter of each raindrop landing on the roof made me feel safe and warm; especially with the cup of hot chocolate my fingers curled around.
In the end, Bratislava was more than I ever expected it to be. Much more.
