We absolutely love it when our accommodation is near the train station – not too much walking with those bloody packs on! This time we were right across the road from the main station in Vienna, which also means that it is really easy to access public transport to get us anywhere we want.
After we had checked into Wombat's, we headed into the main part of Vienna, near St Stephens Cathedral, and spent most of the afternoon wandering around. Vienna is really a beautiful city; very clean, great shops and lovely buildings.
For dinner, we decided to trial Vienna's famous Wiener Schnitzel. The photos tell a pretty good story. My plate arrived with two massive schnitzels piled on top of each other because they couldn't fit on the plate. Turls was disgusted. I had what I thought was a pretty good crack at it, but as the photos show, I didn't even go close to finishing it. It cost us 5.90 euro so was a very cheap HUGE meal!
Wombat's hostel provided a one day in Vienna self-guided tour, which was a great way to see the main sights, but to do it at your own pace. We started by heading to Schombrun Palace, and wandered around the gardens to the top of the site to get a great view over Vienna. There is also a zoo,a public swimming pool and a maze on the grounds, so plenty to do for everyone. We headed to a number of other places they suggested, including a museum that they said although not one of the major tourist attractions, was very informative and interesting. We will have to take their word for it, as 99% of it was in German! Very interesting!!!! What a waste of money!!
We also, on their recommendation (although you think we would have learned) took a ring tram, which is a brand new tourist attraction in Vienna which does a loop around the city with commentary. It too was a massive waste of money and all we did was sit on the tram and sweat – no air conditioning and about 35 degrees – nice!
Apart from the museum and the tram, we had a great day. We finished by heading to a part of Vienna called Grinzing, which although is still in Vienna, is more like a small Austrian town It was a really nice way to finish the day, while we sat and had a couple of glasses of rose.
Whilst we were in Vienna, I really wanted to see a classical music performance and was disappointed when I found out that all the big orchestras are on their summer break during July and August. There are, however, a number of smaller orchestras playing, and last night we went to see a performance at Hofburg Palace which was primarily Strauss and Mozart. including some operettas. It was a really good performance with some fantastic opera singers and very talented musicians.
Before going to the performance, we called in and had a drink at Crossley's Aussie Pub. Turls had a Crowny and thought that it tasted like heaven!! We also checked out the menu, which among other things included grasshoppers, roo, ostrich?? and crocodile. I'm not sure if people truly believe that we eat that sort of stuff!
Overall, we really enjoyed Vienna and there was certainly a lot more that we could have seen given more time. Back on the train now, just had our welcome drink and are settling in for the trip to Munich.
Hope everyone is well and staying out of the cold!!
Ange & Turls xxx
