Vienna

 Wednesday, April 16

We had a nice comfortable train ride from Krakow. We learned our lesson, and made reservations, but it turned out, the carriage wasn't full anyway.

Our hotel is a very modern building just 2 blocks from the station, called the SMARTments. Hmmm... not so smart! We arrived at what looked like the entrance, but the sliding glass doors did not open. There was a panel with some push buttons, so I checked my emails and found a note from the hotel with a four digit code to enter. It still wasn't clear how to enter the code, but we got halfway in, to the registration screen, where we had to enter every single detail of our lives in order to tap the provided card on a reader, which registered our room number and electronic room access. Sheesh!

Once settled, we walked back over to the station and bought a 24 hour Hop on Hop Off bus pass, and took the first, smaller tour, to get oriented. Here are some pix of that tour.





You can see that's what Vienna is all about... great buildings and many green spaces, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries, of the Habsburg era.
For supper, we dropped into the Viapiano pasta place near the hotel. That was another "smart" adventure, like the hotel.... one orders on the machines that you see in the photo, similar to what you see in MacDonalds restaurants these days. We essentially created our own pasta dish, selecting the basic ingredients, then choosing the type of pasta, number of chilis and garlic we wanted, and also some extra cost additions like mushrooms, scampi, shrimp, that might not have been in your initial ingredients package. Soft drinks and alcoholic drinks were also of course ordered here.
It was kind of fun in a way. We then activated a handheld pager and awaited the call to attend the pick up counter where the server would freshly grate parmesan and pepper to your wish. The only drawback was that the beer was upstairs at the bar, and took a bit of time to draw, while the pasta cooled a bit too much.
The atmosphere was bright and fresh, and had a nice family vibe to it.



Thursday, April 17:
We caught the Hop On bus toward downtown. Here is a glimpse of our hotel from the bus... the orangish one.


We disembarked from the bus at the Belvedere Gardens and magnificent homes of... oops I can't remember which of the numerous emperors and their offspring! Great views of the Danube valley.



 From there we walked on down to the central district, around the famous 18th C Opera House. After a bit of a walk around, we settled in to the renowned Sacher Café for the infamous Sacher Torte. For the Viennese I believe it is supposed to be an afternoon treat, but it was not so crowded at mid morning.







We hopped back on the bus and meandered through more of the magnificence of Vienna to the Prater. This is the famous grand large park on the island in the Danube, and the site of one of my favourite movies, The Third Man, a film noir with Orson Welles as the villain, Harry Lime, and his naive American friend, Holly Martins, filmed partially in the park in 1948, post war Vienna.
Two of the most famous scenes were filmed hear, Holly's confrontation with Harry on the famous Riesenrad ferris wheel, and then the final scene where the disillusioned Holly walks down the boulevard.


Here's Bill, aka Holly Martins

When Pat and I had visited Vienna during our epic 2010 camping trip, we had to bicycle through the Prater to and from the campground. Riding inbound in the daytime was fine, but by the time we rode back, it was dark, and a very spooky and nervous 30 minute ride!


Much of the Pater is now a huge fun fair with multiple roller coasters and thrill rides. We managed to enjoy them from ground level.

And a very nice biergarten with Weiner schnitzel


We saw these fellows dressed for Passover


Friday, April 18
Our first day of any kind of real rain on this trip, so can't complain!


We took the tram down to the Opera house again, and then walked into the Graben shopping area. The Graben is a mix of high end shops and art galleries in beautiful old 18th, 19th and early 20th C buildings, with the occasional tacky souvenir shop. But overall, a lovely stroll for much of the morning.







The standout was the St. Stephens Cathedral, originally built in the 12th C, with additions through the 15th C. Quite magnificent really, but we have seen our share of magnificent cathedrals in our travels, so, ho hum?



For lunch, we strolled though some quiet little side streets with fascinating antiques shops, to the Naschmarkt... a long stretch of partially covered market stalls and cafes along the Ringstrasse to the west of the Hofburg gardens.




Next stop.... Wuertzburg.































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