Hi All,
There are no Kangaroos in Austria so the sign in the store window tells me. Thanks.
Would you believe another travel problem. We headed off on the metro to the train station that we arrived at on entry to catch the 923am train only to be told that it left from another station. A jump on the metro without much time left and then a delay as a few old people rolled down the very steep and very fast escalator causing a disruption then we arrived only to find a stupid queing system in the train station and would you believe that we got the ticket at 924am? We missed our train. Well really missed it as there was no 923am train at all, the 910am train had obviously left and our train was at 1120am. I was not happy. Not really quite sure as the time didn´t really matter. Maybe as I think of these trips as rehearsals for our russian trip which do matter.
The trip didn´t take too long and we were in Vienna. About 2.5 hrs. About the same time it takes to get from Newcastle to Sydney on the train from our place.
We had an invitation to stay with Petra, an Austrian friend we had met in South America but we had trouble getting in contact with her. It was to be so simple. Email her or call her. Unfortunately she wasn´t responding on email and we couldn´t get the public telephone to call her number. We had her address and had found her place but she was working overtime and would be leaving for a holiday in Portugal in a day. We had all but given up as it was well past 6pm but decided to walk to her place again before finding a hostel... and we bumped into her. We had left an email saying we were at the nearest McDonalds and she was on her way to it. Lucky for us.
Petra has a beautiful apartment in inner city Vienna. It sits over an old walkway which has a model struting back and forth like a fashion guard showing off the leather produce from a nearby store.
We talked for a while over a champagne before heading out to dinner at a funky Japanese/thai restuarant and a bottle of red wine. Make that two. Petra asked if we wanted another glass of wine. We ended up with another bottle!
When we got back to the apartment we realised it was only one bedroom. Petra insisted we sleep in her bed and she slept on the couch. We felt a bit guilty as she had to work the next day.
We had the run of the place as she was heading out to stay with a friend near the airport and would be away for a couple of weeks. How nice of her to let us stay in her apartment!!!
Vienna. Wow wow wow. The city is so nice and old section is not too large. Went exploring starting with the markets then onto the old city. Some of the grandest buildings that I have seen.
Highlight for me was a couple playing sad guitar and violin covers of the cranberries linger and chris isaak, wicked game in the domed and accoustic friendly entrance to the palace with horse drawn carriages full of tourists regularly passing.
Supermarket Pizza heated in the oven in the apartment for tea.
Next day. It is a real struggle to leave the comfort of the apartment but we managed. There was a fashion show across not far away. Was worth a look. Actually lots of looks :-) It was so you want to be a model or something along those lines. Passed the fashion sentry along the way.
Had plenty of entertainment. The best was a couple of male dancers or acrobats who did some amazing balance acts. This was followed closely by the black female singer who fell off the stage as she was exiting. Ouch...
The show was good. We went for another wander. This time out past the cathederal and then to the gaudi like modern architecture of hunderwasser which was a bit disappointing as the trees blocked the view but the inside was nice. Maybe we will look for the hundertwasser power station tomorrow which was also a work by friedensreich hunderstwasser.
Have had to give up on trying to get cheap tickets to frankfurt. Frankfurt hahn airport is a bit of a trap and it will cost us more to get there than to fly to oslo. We have booked an overnight train in a sleeper and will spend another two days in Vienna before heading off...
Too bad Petra isn´t around to show us her city but we will be returning in about a month or so on our way to Poland.
Bye,
David and Vanessa
