Vienna

The following entry details my time in Vienna - Sept 20 - 22, 2014

Sept 20:

I ambitiously set my alarm for 7:30 AM, finally getting up by 8:45 AM.  My train from Munich to Vienna was at 11:34, so I knew I had a leisurely morning without needing to rush.

I got ready, closed up my suitcase and went down for breakfast.  Much busier today, with many of the guests dressed up in lederhosen...filling up their stomachs before heading out to the beer tents for the day.

After breakfast, I checked out of the B&B and headed to the tram.  I discovered that there was a tram station much closer to the B&B than the metro station.  The clerk told me to take either tram 16 or 18.  I walked the easy half block, bought my ticket and waited for the tram...and waited...and waited.  The 28 tram came several times.  The 16 and 18 would appear on the screen with time estimates, but then would disappear without ever arriving.  A few locals waited through a few 28 trams too, so I figured they were waiting for the 16 or 18.  Trying not stress at this point...as it was less than hour before my train.  Finally I noticed a small sheet of paper...it was all in German so not sure exactly what it said, just got the idea that something was happening with the 16 and 18 tram on Sept 20 and 21.

At this point I decided to ditch the tram idea and since I had already bought a ticket, I headed to the metro station.  A 10 minute walk with my luggage that I thought I was avoiding today.  By the time I got to the main train station, I noticed that my bag is now making a loud noise when I roll it...the silent rolling lasted for half of the trip.  I should have known that the cobble stone sidewalks would be the proverbial straw.  I should have applied to be a luggage tester for Tumi before leaving on this trip...and if that position doesn't exist, it should.

In the train station, I saw that the platform for my train was already posted and surprisingly the train was already there - 30 minutes before the departure time.  I later figured out that the train starts in Munich and not just a stop.

I helped an elderly woman on to the trip, carrying her luggage and helping her up the stairs.  She was rather confused by the seat numbers too, so helped her find her seat.

I lucked out again on my seat - forward facing, on the single side and not facing another seat....plus the large luggage rack is immediately behind my seat.

Time to settle in for another 4+ hour train ride.  The first class car is very large and very few people in it.  The ride is very quiet.  

Once I arrived in Vienna, I found the signs for the U train.  I had researched my arrival and transportation options during the last hour of the train ride.  I needed to take the U3 and transfer to the U2 at VolksTheater.  But first - to buy my ticket to Budapest.  The agent was very nice and helpful...and spoke great English.  We got my ticket booked for Budapest.  I tried to get her to book the overnight train to Krakow too, but after much trying, she couldn't.  I'll have to do that as soon as get to Budapest.  I'm actually really excited about the overnight train and sleeping in a sleeper car, so hope that I am not greatly disappointed!

The train in Vienna is very easy and the transfer is just as easy.   Not all that different from the US, as long as you figure out the end point of the train you need, the signs all make sense.  I loved that there was a sign at my final stop, pointing you directly to the Hilton Vienna Plaza!

The front desk was very helpful and immediately spoke English.  

The room is very nice and very modern.  I loved the serenity of it and the incredible bathroom.  Would it be wrong to spend the entire time in my hotel room?  I had decided on the train that I needed a "down" day.  I've been touring and racing around for weeks and honestly I'm a little tired.  I want to just enjoy some time in my room getting reorganized, have a few cocktails and then get dressed up for a nice dinner.

I spent over 2 hours in the room - sending text messages, checking e-mail, re-organizing my backpack and suitcase.  

The Hotel manager had left a huge bottle of water and a full bottle of red wine as a gift...so of course I had to enjoy it...after checking that it was really complimentary.

Around 6:00, I went down to the Executive Lounge.  All of the wine and appetizers were free.  They had Prosceco, Riesling and two different reds, including the one that was a gift in my room.  I tried a little taste of all of them - first with the Sparkling, then the Riesling and finally the other red that I had not tried.  The appetizers were quite good too - a pasta with a meaty sauce, marinated mushrooms with a side of feta cheese, potato chips, flavored almonds, gummy bears and a few other things.  All quite good, especially since I never had lunch.

I stayed the full two hours of "happy hour" then talked to the front desk - no concierge - and got two recommendations for dinner.  The one that was only 5 minutes away, with great schetnzel sounded like a great option.

I headed out to dinner around 9 PM.  I found the restaurant relatively easily - only one wrong turn that I correctly quickly.  I got a table on the sidewalk and the waiter was quite efficient in my order.

I had Weiner schnitzel with potatoes and a glass of wine.  The weiner schnitzel was incredible.  I forgot how much I love this dish!  My only regret - I ordered the half order rather than the full.  Before I knew it, my Weiner Schnitzel was gone.  It looks so plain when it arrives on the table, but after getting splashed with juice from a fresh lemon - it is fantastic.  For reference, the original weiner schnitzel is veal pounded very thin, then fried in light bread crumbs.

Once back in the room from dinner, I finished the evening with a glass of wine from the free bottle.  I feel asleep on the huge lounge chair at the end of the bed, so not really sure when I went to sleep...but finally woke up to crawl into bed after 3 AM.

Sept 21, 2014

After my alarm went off at 8:30, I continued to hit snooze for about two hours!  I was so tired, plus the room was so dark.

After getting dressed and deciding on my plans for the day, I was finally out the door around 11:45 AM...not exactly an early start to the day!

I wanted to walk to the center of the Old City and pick up a 1.5 hour bus tour that circled the "ring" of the Old City to give you a good overview of the city.  Surprisingly Rick Steve had this as the very first thing to do when you arrive.  I started on my walk, stopped along the way for several pictures and a little shopping.  I knew the tour only left at the top of the hour, so was targeting the 1 PM tour.  

Since I missed breakfast in the Executive Lounge, I figured I should have something, so I grabbed a vanilla croissant in the train station as I passed through to cross the street. Near my hotel, you can't cross the street on street level, you have to essentially go through part of the train station.

Stopped in a few places along the way:

This church was very near my hotel, but was under renovation as you can tell by the H&M advertisement on the front of it.  Also, it was noteworthy because the towers do not have crosses at the top - the church was built thank God for the failed assassination of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1853, it was dedicatd in 1879:

This was the first church that I've seen in all of Europe that had a vending machine...and it included holy water.  Only 5 euros!

I happened upon what I later figured out was the Holsburg Palace and snapped a few pictures.

I found the tour quite easily and it was only 1:40.  I bought my ticket at the nearby Tourist Information office, thinking I would get a discount with the Rick Steve's guide book as he mentioned, but not at this location.  Not worth finding the other location for a 2 euro discount.  I boarded the bus early and thought I was getting a prime spot.  I was on the right side, in the seat just behind the back door - no one in front of me, no window lines in my pictures and a prime window seat.  Unfortunately on the tour, the vast majority of the sights were on the left side of the bus!  So many of my pictures from the tour has people heads and faces in them...luckily got a few better ones later in the tour.

Along the route we saw:

- Opera House

- Hofburg Palace

- Parlament

- Rathaus

- Votivkirche

- Univeristy of Vienna

We also headed a little bit outside of the city center to see:

- Praterstern - amusement park that has one of the last "original," pre-war Farris wheels.  Most major cities across Europe had Farris wheels, but most were dismantled for the iron to be used in the war (a private investor bought the one in Vienna shortly before WWII started). 

- Hundertwasser-Krawina-Haus - this area was quite interesting.  The tour actually stopped for 20 minutes to allow us to explore the area.  It is an apartment dwelling that was built in the 1990's by an architect that had a style very similar to Gaudi - no straight lines, lots of color, lots of mosaic tiles.

- UNO City - a newly developed area just past the river - lots of high rise buildings and a key residential area close to old city center.

- Donauturm - the tallest tower in town

The tour ended around 2:30, I walked around a bit and thought I should have a quick lunch.  I found a bratwurst  stand, got the spiciest one that they had - sliced - along with both mustard and catsup.  It was not as spicy as I thought it might be.  A great refreshing snack that I had to enjoy standing-up, at a "bar" that circled the stand.

From here, I headed to St. Stephens Cathedral.  I arrived at 3:30 and selected the all-inclusive ticket that allowed you into the Nave with an audio tour, the catacombs and both the North and South tours.  The Nave was to close at 4:30, so I headed there first.  My audio guide stopped working when I was at the very front of the Nave, so had to walk all the way back to the beginning to get a new guide.

Many of the stops on the audio guide was quite interesting, some were just too much information and I didn't retain any of it.  The chapel was heavily damaged at the very end of WWII.  It had surprisingly been saved during most of the war, but the roof caught fire from a nearby burning building and most of the interior was destroyed.  Even the original, huge bell fell, broke into many, many pieces and destroyed many sculptures during the fall.  There were a few sculptures that survived and were on display in the re-built Nave.

One of the surviving pieces of sculpture:

This Madonna and child is also on display - it is really this dark in person.  The audio guide said it is so discolored from years of having candles lite around it:

I finished the Nave tour with about 15 minutes left.  I then headed to the North Tower since it had an elevator.  No line and good views.  However, very small, open metal walkways where you could see below you as well as very small staircases to go to various levels of the observation points.  My knees got a little weak several times.  However, fantastic pictures.

When I came back down, I was surprised to find the catacombs closed...so I headed on to the South Tower.  There's no elevator for this tower and it is much, much taller than the south tower.  343 steps, with no elevator!  I certainly got a solid workout.  The views were great, but only four sets of windows at the top of the tower was a little disappointing after such a climb...and I still had to get back down.

I walked around a bit more and left the area around 6:00 and headed back to the train.  Decided to use the train since the station was so close.

I was back to the hotel with plenty of time still for the Happy Hour in the Executive Lounge!  The snacks were not as good as last night, so mostly had potato chips and almonds.

I asked the front desk about a restaurant I had read about - ef16 - a wine bar and restaurant.  He had not heard about it, but showed me pictures on line and said that TripAdvisor reviews were quite good.  I found the place, with a little bit of difficulty.  Was very close to giving up.  I arrived around 10 PM and asked if the kitchen was still open - Yes!  There were still a few folks dining, so thought it was a good plan.

Within 5 minutes of my ordering, only two other guests remained in the restaurant and they were having after dinner drinks at the bar.

I started with a pumpkin soup - not as sweet as I was expecting.  However, whenever mixed with the balsamic glaze that was sprinkled on top, it was quite good.  It was very hot, so it took me a while to each with having to blow/cool each bite.

For the main course I had weiner schnitzel with a side of truffled mashed potatoes.  The potatoes were VERY truffled and I was able to eat only about a third of them.  The portion of wiener schnitzel was quite large - three, good-sized pieces, but only one small slice of lemon.  I kept expecting the server to come back - I wanted a glass of wine and another lemon.  She was completely MIA.  She came out to talk to the people at the bar and I was literally waving both of my arms in the air to wave her down, but with no luck.  Finally I just got up and walked into the kitchen - "wine and another lemon please".  I was really not enjoying dinner at this point.  The staff was making so much noise in washing the silverware, restacking plates and just getting the place ready for the next day.  Some how I found room for all three pieces of Wiener schnitzel.  I got the check, paid and left.

After several waits at the two train stations, I was back at the hotel and in bed by 12:15 AM.  Big plans to get up early on Monday!

Sept 22, 2014:

It is nice to have another full day to explore this wonderful city.  I've mentioned to a few folks, that Vienna is certainly within the top 3-5 cities that I've visited thus far on the trip.  Stay tuned...I'm planning to do a final blog update with many stats along with my best/worst lists.

My plan was to get up and be at the Hofburg Palace by the opening time of 9 AM.  As is a running theme for me in the past week, I slept longer than planned.  I didn't get up until around 8:30 and after blogging and breakfast in the Executive Lounge, I left the hotel by 10:30 AM.  A rather quick walk to the Palace and was in line to get my entrance ticket.  Luckily the longer than expected line was quite fast and I waited no more than 10 minutes.  The weather today is considerably cooler...I'm wearing long pants, long sleeves and a jacket...and am still a little cool.  This is the weather I had wanted for the past few weeks, so I can't complain.

I bought a combined ticket for the China Collection, the Royal Apartments, and the Sisi Museum.

The China Collection went on for many, many rooms.  It seems that every new ruler in the palace had a new place-setting created, plus all of the pieces that were gifts, purchased and commissioned for a coronation, wedding or other special event.  I love china, but admittedly, I was just strolling through the last few rooms.  Hearing some of the stories on the audio guide was interesting, but again, I may have skipped a few.

You need many candelabras in a palace:

One of the smaller table centerpieces that would fit into a single picture frame:

The Sisi Museum was next on the tour.  It covers the life of Empress Elisabeth, aka Sisi.  She married Emperor Franz Joseph in 1854 at the age of 16 and was thrown into the royal spotlight.  She's been compared to Princess Diana - very beautiful, but very shy and hated the limelight of being royalty - to the point that she often wished for her own death.  Interesting, she and Franz Joseph were cousins and the mothers had arranged for Frances to marry Sisi's older sister, but Franz Joseph saw Sisi and immediately feel in love.  The museum follows her somewhat "tortured" life; it starts with her assassination in Geneva by an Italian anarchist in 1898, but then jumps back to her childhood and goes forward.

The museum is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and had redesigned the museum as part of the celebration.  Overall it included incredible information and tons of Sisi's personal items, including dresses, accessories and jewels.  However, the design, lighting and overall flow of the museum is the worst of any museum I have ever visited.  It was designed by a famous stage set designer...who I don't think took into account the number of people that would be visiting the museum.  Three or more audio guide spots would be within 4 feet of each other, each lasting 3-5 minutes, so it created huge bottle necks.  The lighting was so low you could not read much of the signage or even the key pad of the audio guide.    

But enough complaining because the museum was interesting and informative.  Sisi was somewhat obsessed with dieting and maintaining her figure.  She was 5'8", but maintained her weight at around 110 pounds or less and had a 21 inch waist.  She worked out each day, having a small "gym" area built in her private chambers.  She would also weight herself daily (or more often) and an increase would lead to a day where she would only eat oranges or milk for the day...or fast for multiple, continuous days.  

Sisi had curly, dark hair that was ankle length, but she almost always wore it up - somewhat in the shape of a crown.  Her daily hair routine would take 2 hours - she would read or learn other languages while her staff worked on her hair.  Anytime her hair was washed with a mixture of egg whites and cognac, the process would take a full day.  While Sisi did not like wearing make-up, she did experiment and create many beauty regimens.  The museum displayed several of the recipes that she used for these treatments, indicating that several of them are close to what is used today in high-end spas.  Others have been deemed rather useless - like sleeping with raw veal on her face, under a leather mask.

She and Franz Joseph had four children.  Unfortunately one daughter died at the age of two.  Their only son committed suicide at the age of 31 after murdering his mistress...a scandalous murder-suicide that occurred at the family hunting lodge.  Sisi dressed in mourning clothes for the majority of the rest of her life, especially when in Vienna.

Not long after marrying Franz Joseph, Sisi became less and less interested in performing her royal duties and would go away for extended "health" trips.  These trips would last from a few weeks to multiple years.  She could get out of the royal confines of Vienna.  Ultimately the Emperor purchased multiple homes for Sisi, including one on an island in Greece where she spent significant time.  There was a new china pattern created for the home in Greece as well as another china pattern just for use on the yacht during the journeys to Greece.  Of course her staff of at least 11 personal attendants plus chefs, maids and others would make the trip with her.  After seeing the trunks that would accompany her travel just for the china, I will never again think that I've over-packed!  Once I start taking china and crystal for a full dinner service for 24 or more people, then I'll concede to overpacking.

This was from the China museum, but shows the dolphin that is part of the Greece home china pattern:

And the china trunks for traveling:

Sorry for the National Enquirer-esque history lesson, but I found Sisi fascinating.  With today's paparazzi, she'd be on the cover of People, US and other magazines and tabloids weekly.

From the Sisi museum, touring of about 12 rooms of the royal apartment was next.  After seeing the china collection and learning about Sisi's life, I was not surprised by the over-the-top opulence of the rooms.  What I found most striking was the difference between the rooms for the Emperor vs. for Sisi.  The Emperor was very much a "workaholic"; getting up around 3:30 AM each day and spending many hours a day in his study.  His bedroom was very minimal - a single iron bed and basic necessities - and relatively small compared to the other rooms on the tour.  

In comparison, Sisi's chambers continued for multiple rooms with a bedroom, study, dressing chamber, WC, bathroom, parlor and more.  Her bedroom was at least 3-4 times bigger than the Emperor's and she was the first royal in the palace to have a separate bathroom installed with running water.  There was a door bell at the start of her chambers, which the Emperor had to ring when wanting to visit his wife - at that point all of her staff would leave.  The other drastic contrast - the Emperor's study was filled with huge paintings of Sisi and pictures of their children.  However, in Sisi's study she only had a picture of one daughter, the rest were of her brothers/sisters/parents and her favorite poets.  I'm sure there is much that a psychologist would interpret from this difference.

With so much focus on Frances and Sisi, it was a little lost that the Habsburg family ruled Austria for over 6 centuries and most lived in this palace (after the family moved from Prague to Vienna in the 1300's).  Each generation would add significant wings to the structure.  Besides the various museums, the palace is now a government building where more than 5,000 people work each day.  The Habsburg were removed at the end of WWI and the monarchy was abolished.

No pictures were allowed in the Sisi Museum or the private apartments...sorry!  But here's a few in the courtyard area:

Me and Sisi:

From touring the private apartments I walked outside to find that it was raining.  There was no rain in the forecast, so I had left my umbrella at the hotel.  Luckily I did have my jacket, so just zipped it up and pulled out the hood.  This made the decision to tour the Treasury very easy.  It was a short walk on the Palace property and would take at least 1.5 hours, when hopefully the rain would be finished.  The ticket for the Treasury was more expensive than the combined ticket for all of the Palace items plus there was an additional 4 euro fee for the audio guide. I remember thinking that this treasury better be spectacular...in total it was about $20 US.

I'll admit that by this point, I was over 3 hours into audio tours and standing, so was starting to loose interest and attention.  There were many, many vestments of various emperors from over the years, numerous crowns, some of which had most of the jewels removed from them.  Luckily I started following a guided German tour about half-way through the museum.  I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but quickly learned that they only stopped at the most interesting and noteworthy items...so those were the audio guide selections I listened to.  The museum really should have a separate map of just the must-see items - the Louvre had this and it was very helpful.  So the key items where my pictures were at least average (since there was low lighting and no flash allowed, most of my pictures were mediocre) were:

One of the nails that was used to hang Jesus from the cross, specifically his right hand.  This is the second nail from the cross that I've seen on this trip.  So I've either really lucked out on these finds...or museums have been exaggerating.  I'll be an optimist and tell myself that it is the first option.

Next was the Holy Lancet - the knife that Longinus used to pierce Jesus' side and a piece of wood of the cross.  A quick Wikapedia search uncovered that there are atleast 4 or more Holy Lancets on display around the globe...so who know which is the real one.  The Cross of the Holy Roman Empire had been commissioned to hide these pieces and you could see the hidden compartments on the back of the heavily decorated cross.

This piece of the cross also has one of the nail holes, so is said to be covered with Jesus' blood:

A huge unicorn horn that is believed to be one of the largest ever - spoiler alert, it is not from a unicorn!  But for centuries people believed in unicorns and the healing powers of powders created from its horn.  The horns were really from a narwhal - a whale with a very large, protruding canine tooth.

Two final pieces of importance in the treasury are pieces of the tablecloth from the Last Supper and part of Jesus' loincloth:

The signs to prove that I'm not just making this up:

There was also a piece of wood from Jesus' manager, but my pictures of it turned out very blurry after multiple tries.

An hour and a half in the treasury and I was ready to be outside.  Fortunately the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.  The only major sight that I still wanted to visit was the Opera House and I thought the last tour started at 4 PM...so I headed that way.  I arrived at 3:55, panting just a little...only to find out that the last tour had started at 3 PM.  When I read that the Opera closed at 4 PM, I just assumed that meant the time of the last tour...nope, that's when they lock the doors.  I thought about buying a ticket for tonight's Opera, but the only options were a 90 euro ticket with a good view or a 45 euro ticket that had a pillar in front of it.  Rick Steve's suggested getting a standing-only ticket which is sold only 30 minutes before the opera.  However, I saw that line had already formed and was more than 50 people long three hours before the show...no thanks!  I'll see an Opera there on my next trip to Vienna.

I had downloaded a Rick Steve's audio walking tour, so I decided to do that since it started at the Opera House and lasted about an hour.  I got a few more insightful stories and the directions were pretty easy to follow.  I might do a similar tour for some of the remaining European cities.  I think Rick's pace for the tour is for very slow walkers - I found myself having to stand around or walk in circles around various plazas...although at one point it gave me time to grab a late afternoon ice cream cone.  I asked numerous times which gelatos had no milk.  I got a cone with two scoops - lemon and strawberry.

Listening to Rick Steve's while having ice cream in 50 degree weather and the South Tower of St. Stephens behind me:

Rick pointed out an old grocery store that was perfect for picnic items.  I paused Rick and went to explore for a while.  Tons of chocolates, prepared items and wonderful smells.  Also an incredible selection of fresh items - pasta, fish, etc.  There were also a few bars - one for wine/beer, another for coffee, another for chocolate.  

At the end of the audio walking tour, I headed back to the hotel.  It was about 5:45 and Happy Hour was starting soon in the Executive Lounge!  Many of the same folks in the Lounge again - I started with a Prosseco, then a small glass of one of the reds.  The food selection was pretty mediocre again tonight, so just had almonds and chips.

Back to the room around 8:15 and headed out to dinner.  I didn't feel like walking very far, so I went back to Leupold where I had gone the first night and the wiener schnitzel was so good.  This is my third night in a row of having Wiener schnitzel and by the end of dinner I learned that too much of a good thing is not always a good thing.  While the schnitzel was very good, my enjoyment of it has decreased each night.  The first night I had done the half order, so I was left wanting more.  The past two nights I have done full orders and just felt completely gluttonous at the end.  New rule - no more Wiener schnitzel on this trip!  

Back in the room, I was looking at Facebook when I received a Facetime call from Mom and Dad.  I didn't have my headphones out so it took a few tries for us to get connected.  It was great to see them and chat for about 30 minutes.  Only once did my connection completely fail and they had to re-call me.  However, my video went out several times and the audio stalled at times.

Off to bed around 12:30 AM!