We started off the day by going to a place recommended to us for breakfast. Teresa had a lovely breakfast burrito (not as nice as Barb’s though!), Michele had pancakes and Scott had an English breakfast.
   
   

  
After this we walked downhill in search of the Danube. It was another misty day with frozen rain spitting down ever so slightly. On the way we spotted a flight of concrete stairs disappearing up a hillside. We decided that we needed to investigate. The stairs seemed to go on forever and after about 8 minutes we were at the top and in an area that Scott referred to as the “Vaucluse” of Bratislava. Nice big houses with luxury cars out front. A quick google maps search revealed that we were very close to the Slavin monument, a tribute to the fallen soldiers of World War II. We continued uphill and the monument slowly revealed itself. Again it was made so much more eerily beautiful in the fog as we took a walk around the grounds.
   

  

  

          
After leaving Slavin we navigated our way back down the hill, through the icy streets, once again in search of the Danube. Our plans were to find a place to purchase ferry tickets to Vienna for Sunday. 

   

  

  We had decided to follow Scott to Vienna instead of spending another night in Bratislava. Scott will fly out and Teresa has found some reasonably-priced accommodation near the river for her and Michele. We found the Danube and the ticket office but sadly found out that it was closed and due to the time of year it seemed that no ferries travelled on the weekend. We would have to take a train instead. Lunch was eaten in another Slovak restaurant. Scott had a traditional creamy garlic soup served in a cob, followed by smoked meat dumplings, Michele finally found the goulash she had been hanging out for and Teresa had a delicious potato pancake filled with roast pork and cabbage. 

    
  

  

  
      More shopping and exploring followed. We had to get home at a reasonable hour as we had to drop the car back out to the airport, but not before stopping for one more beer on the way home and some plum dumplings with cottage cheese and cocoa

  
 (amazing!!). We dropped the car back to Hertz (bye Viktor!) and then caught the bus back into town where we had our last family dinner together at the Savage Garden restaurant. 

  
The highlight being a delicious dessert of poppyseed cake with nougat whipped cream and sour cherries. 

  
Our cocktail waiter from last night recognised us and welcomed us with hand shakes all round! One last night in Slovakia and tomorrow…Austria! Dobrú noc!