Austria Part II

9 October 2008
Vienna, Austria
                Our bus arrived in Vienna a few hours after leaving Prague.  We found the subway and took it to the appropriate stop.  Once we figured out where we were going we found the apartment we had rented for the weekend.  The place we were renting was a nice place with bed that folded up in the wall and a couch/futon.  The kitchen was nice and Anna was happy to find that it was stocked with Illy coffee and an espresso machine.
                Once we were settled we headed out into the town.  Our first stop was a shopping center that was close to us.  After the ladies had a coffee and we did some exploring we headed into the center.
                The escalator from our subway stop brought us right to the front of the Stephansplatz, a huge church right in the center of town.  We were quickly approached by a gentleman selling concert tickets.  Debra decided to treat the three of us to a concert the next evening and purchased three tickets.
                The next couple hours were spent walking around the center admiring the city.  Eventually we made our way back towards our place.  There was a market nearby and we bought items to make dinner.  Upstairs we whipped together some pasta for our evening meal.

10 October 2008
Vienna, Austria
                Everybody slept in.  Once both ladies were up they began reading up on how to work the espresso machine.  It sounded to Doug like they needed a degree in engineering to make it work…but they figured it out.
                Our first stop in town today was a sort of amusement park.  They had a giant Ferris wheel and a number of other rides and restaurants.  We all got on a smaller Ferris wheel and took in the sights while we rode.  For a snack we stopped in at a food vendor.  Doug ended up ordering a sausage that had some cheese inside that was quite good.
                Before we left Debra wanted to try her luck at one of the casinos.  She put in her money but we couldn’t figure out how to get the machine to work.  Doug saw a big button that said “auto start” and pushed it.  The wheels spun and Debra won €20!  Unfortunately the machine was on “auto” and it placed another bet, then another and another until all the money we lost was gone.  We complained to a lady working there, but it didn’t seem like they were going to bend over backwards to get us the €20 we just won and lost.
                After some shopping and taking the tram that ran a circle around the center, we went back to our place for dinner and a rest before heading back into town for the evening.  We found the location of our concert and got inside and waited in line.  Once they let us in we were stopped and told we had to check our coats (to the tune of €1 each).  Inside the concert hall we were a bit surprised to see that it wasn’t so much a “concert hall” as it was a big living room (there were about 70 seats total).  There was a small stage set up that was supposed to fit the orchestra and also singers and ballet dancers…how, we weren’t sure.
                The musicians came in.  There was one piano player, one cello player and three violinists.  They started the evening’s playlist which consisted mostly of Mozart.  They performed quite well.  After a couple numbers a singer was introduced and sang one song quite lovely.  Then we had a female ballet dancer.  The small stage kept her from doing any big jumps or twirls, but she used the given space quite well.  A few songs later she returned with a male ballet dancer and somehow they managed to share the tiny dance floor without falling off or kicking one of the violinists.  The entire performance was quite good and it was nice to see that the musicians were enjoying themselves during the performance and weren’t just acting like windup music boxes.
                Back on the street we decided to take the same tram we took earlier in the day which did a circle around the center.  We thought seeing the city at night through the tram would be pleasant.  We got to talking and before we knew it, we were lost.  Somehow our little tram that was supposed to go in circles was way outside of town.  The tram stopped and we told we had to get off.  We had no idea where we were.  We asked a man how we got to the subway and he told us to wait and catch another tram going back the way we came, about 5 or 6 stops, then we would be at the subway.
                We did as he said and managed to catch the subway to the center where we caught another subway home.  We ended up seeing a little more of the city than we planned.

11 October 2008
Vienna, Austria
                Our first stop today was a street market that was supposed to be really busy on the weekend.  When we arrived it was just a view stalls…nothing exciting.  We hopped back on the subway and headed to Old Town. 
                The Albertina museum is quite a famous museum and happened to have a special Van Gough exhibit.  Debra and Doug decided to check it out while Anna went off to scout out some churches.  In the museum we were also surprised to find exhibits including Monet, Picasso and Michalengo. 
                Anna was waiting outside for us and guided us to the Stephansplatz church.  They had free admission and a beautiful interior.  Then she led us to another domed church.  The inside was equally impressive but not in a gothic style like the Stephansplatz.  Before we left we saw a flyer that advertised a free pipe organ performance in the evening.  We decided to come back later in the evening for that.
                After some more sightseeing we headed back to the apartment and Anna whipped up some of her “not yet but soon to be famous fajitas.”  After stuffing ourselves silly we headed back out into the town to listen to the organ performance at the domed church.
                The organ performance was quite good.  The acoustics in the domed church sounded amazing and the last note would always hang for a good 30 seconds after it was played.  The entire performance lasted over an hour.  We made a small donation to the church on the way out.
                After our little adventure last night taking the circle tram practically to Bratislava, we decided to check out the city the old fashioned way…by foot.  We stopped for a gelato along the way before we took the subway back to the apartment for the night.

12 October 2008
Vienna, Austria
                Today we had to change accommodations.  We found cheaper tickets out of town if we stayed one more night, but the apartment was rented to someone else, so we had to move.  We made reservations at a different hotel near the train station.  We arrived and tried to check in but they didn’t have our reservation.  We finally pulled up the email and realized we made it for the 13th, not the 12th.  The guy was completely booked, but he decided to bump some other people that hadn’t arrived yet (glad we weren’t those people).        
After settling into the new place we headed off to the Jewish museum.  The price of admission included an audio guide.  The majority of the museum was pretty typical but the third floor had a large open room.  In the middle were tall glass panels arranged in a square.  When you stepped into the middle of the square and looked through the glass holographic images appeared.  Each panel had its own theme and an accompanying audio section.  The themes included topics like: Jewish inventors, religious symbols, persecution, to life for Jews in Vienna today.
                Back on the subway we decided to go check out the river.  There was a stop that was literally on the bridge between two sections of the river.  We got off and headed towards the half that was closer to us.  Along the river were numerous people roller-bladeing along with people on bikes.  As we walked along the river towards a footbridge we heard some drums.  Once we were closer we found a drum circle made up of about 7 drummers.  They were putting on a nice show for anyone that wanted to listen.  People were lounging in the grass enjoying the autumn sun being serenaded by the drums, and we joined them.
                Eventually it was time to head back.  We decided to take the subway back to our place and explore around our neighborhood a bit.  We mostly looked for places to eat later on.  When we did go to eat we found a little place that put together some nice dishes for us.

13 October 2008
Vienna, Austria
                The alarms went off at 5:30, and everyone slowly started getting ready to leave.  The train was leaving at 8:00 for Slovenia.
                We left the hotel around 7:00, and took the subway to the train station, arriving around 7:30.  Anna then raced out to get some snacks/breakfast.  The train left promptly on time.

Slovenia Journal

Back to Europe Journal