We made it to Vienna!

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Guten Abend!

Carpaccio

Salad Caprese

Chicken and mushrooms

Sea bass and grilled mushrooms

Dessert

So…we posted before dinner last night, and then had a fabulous dinner, so I will start with that!  We had had such a good lunch at Five Crowns Italian restaurant that we decided to go back for dinner.  And, they had water on!  Yipee!!  I had a salad caprese (lettuce, tomato and mozzarella) for starters; Robert had beef carpaccio.  For mains, I had chicken breast pounded flat and cooked in a white wine sauce with mushrooms, and Robert had sea bass with mushrooms; we had sides of French Fries and roasted potatoes.  Finally, we split chocolate and vanilla gelato with nuts and strawberries.  Everything was great!  Headed back to the flat to organize and pack.  And oh!  Did I mention that some of the stores stay open until 11 p.m. at night?  And Sunday felt just like any other day, with everything open and shoppers everywhere!  So…watched ManU [for the uninitiated, that’s Manchester United, the English soccer club – RJB] lose to Real Madrid [a Spanish soccer club – RJB] in the Champions League – I think R is going crazy listening to TV in Czech, but I can watch sports in any language!

And also, I wanted to make an interesting comment!  As this is winter, we decided to leave the tennis shoes at home, and instead have been wearing some wonderful black shoes.  Mine are SAS ankle boots, and R’s are Clarke’s; both pairs look really great – and so far, NO ONE has been able to guess that we are Americans!  I find that very odd!  German and Austrian people just stop us to ask for directions – none of which I understand in the least – and one guy, who I’m sure wanted to sell us something, started with “German? Russian? French?  Italian?  English?”  HA!  Who says shoes can’t make the difference!

Our Vienna apprtment

Vienna apartment

Vienna apartment

Not sure if I am catching a cold, or just having allergy problems, but I was having a real runny nose problem last night, which helped to keep me awake; I didn’t get nearly as much sleep as I needed, and that alarm that went off at 5:45 a.m. this morning was WAY too early!  Showered and stowed last things away; out the door at 7:30 a.m.  Pasquale was waiting for us in his office, with a breakfast “bag” and the driver was already there!  Interesting route back to the train station – seems like we went every which way, but I guess that’s what happens when there are so many one-way streets!  Finally reached the train station and the wait began for our platform number.  We had plenty of time to get there, but boy, schlepping all that luggage (plus breakfast!) and getting it on board wasn’t easy!  

So…train from Prague to Vienna.  Well…we made it with no problem to Breclav at the Austrian border, which is apparently where the Czech engine, engineer and conductors get off and are replaced an Austrian engine, engineer and conductors.  “Technical problems” Oh boy!  First they were going to push us to Vienna; then they were going to pull us – then they had everybody get off, as a train was coming in 20 minutes that we could take!  Ha!  So now schlepping everything onto the platform – where we stayed for 4 or 5 minutes, and were now told to get back on the (same) train!  Whatever!  All in all, we were over an hour late pulling into Vienna; so much for trains always running on time!  The good news, though, is that it wasn’t FREEZING, which is SUCH a change!!  Robert now worried we won’t have the right clothes; I figure if I need to buy a t-shirt, I’ll have a Vienna souvenir!  

Our vintage elevatory

Waiting from the tram

Here comes the tram

In the main train station, we were able to get Vienna Cards that will take us for 72 hours free transport, as well as discounts on all sorts of Vienna attractions.  Decided (not sure why, but we did need a bit of walking!) to take public transit to the B&B.  So, U6 metro line; change to U3 and off at Neubaugasse and walked.  It wasn’t horrible, but a taxi would have been really nice!  Our B&B is located on the second floor of a building in a really lovely part of town!  Lots of stores and shops and services going in all directions! 

Got into “Goedel” (our room), and it’s quite lovely!  Nice entryway, small and convenient kitchen, and very spacious bathroom.  Then there is a large room with computer-type desk, bed and comfy couch and coffee table.  Nice big balcony!  Nowhere near as spacious as our Prague apartment, but beautiful high ceilings; and the standard comfy Ikea furniture!  (What did landlords do before Ikea came into existence?)

But – the very BEST thing of all!!  We have our own WASHING MACHINE!!!  (I had actually found the closest Laundromats with directions, as laundry was #1 priority when we got here!) Of course the instructions are all in German (and R can’t find some of the words in our German dictionary…) but we’re on to our second load!!  YIPEE!!  In fact, our flat is looking like a cyclone hit, as there are unmentionables and shirts and socks everywhere!!  

Parlament [sic]

Parlament

 

Instructions for the skating venue

The skating trail

The rink

Opera House

The Rathaus

Opera House

So, settled in – started first load of wash, and decided to see something of Vienna.  Well…I always used to say that 800 years of political neutrality did wonders for Swiss architecture – and not fighting wars in your cities has left Vienna in a truly stunningly beautiful condition! There are incredible buildings wherever you go – lots of spires and gothic architecture.  The first one we saw was called “Parlament” and looks like a cross between statuary in London, Rome and Paris – beautifully clean and sparkling.  The next building down the street was the Rathaus (which certainly doesn’t sound very nice!) – where they are having a month-long skating party!  They’ve set up a HUGE rink – there are several small rinks, all leading on to a skating track that winds all around.  Even though it was only 5 p.m. there were all sorts of people skating – families, friends – everybody gliding along having a great time!  We took a series of trams down through the Museums Quartier; did some walking, then headed over to the Prater Park, home of the famous Ferris wheel.  By this time, I was dropping, so we headed back – three more trams! Stopping at a grocery store for some cheese, salami and bread and water and wine – picnic dinner tonight, but I am heading to sleep momentarily! 

More tomorrow!

m

xxx