Wiener Lovers

(Pictures for the last blog have been posted. Sorry again for the delay on those. The pics from this blog are up too, now…)

So after another tough week of work, we left last Friday night for Vienna, Austria. We had planned this trip way back in September when one of the partners at work suggested we look into an opera or musical there during Christmas time. Apparently it’s the quintessential Christmas city…and it was!

Onward to Hahn, Germany we went for our RyanAir flight on Friday night. The animals were out that night in the airport! Queue cutters everywhere. Ag actually got a good picture of what Europeans consider a line. Anyway, we got on the flight with no problems and landed around 9:30pm. We had an hour and ½ bus ride from where we landed, Bratislava (Slovakia), so we both took a small nap during that.

When we got to Vienna, the bus seriously just dropped us at the corner of some street. It was the weirdest thing. It was dark and kind of chaotic, and Ag suggested we just grab one of the 5 cabs that were sitting there (mind you it was 11:00pm at this point and about 50 others had just gotten off the same bus and were wondering the same things we were…where the hell are we and how the hell do we get to the center of town?). So without hesitation I agreed. The cab was key because we were at our hotel in 10 minutes and it was only 12-14 euros to get there.

The hotel looked like a mini-theater house. It was beautiful, pictures and paintings everywhere, wide staircases, really elegant, etc. Oh, I must note a few facts about Vienna (these are per Ag’s research). It’s basically the New York City of Austria, as well as the country’s capital. The city breathes art and culture. Vienna is the city of music and home to composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Strauss. The architecture of the churches, buildings and museums were very impressive and varied from Romanesque to modern day styles.

Anyway, back to our adventures….so, our hotel was really nice and we checked in around 11:15pm. We were kind of hungry and the desk worker suggested the Japanese restaurant around the corner might be open. When we got there the restaurant doors were locked but the lights were on and the sign said they were open till 12midnight. Weird, but what can you do?? So, we opted for the next best thing (aka, the only thing that was still open), McDonalds! I have to say, I haven’t had Mickey D’s fries for about 5 years now…and once they hit your lips…well, you know the rest!

Back to the hotel we went to sleep and prepare for our next day’s adventures…..

Saturday morning we got up by 9:00am and headed down to the breakfast room where there was a nice spread of fruits, eggs, breads, meats, etc. From there, we headed out and our first goal was to get downtown to the Spanish Riding School (horses). The weather was crisp, chilly and overcast, but manageable.

The tram was right outside our hotel which was wonderful and we just got day passes for it. It only took us about 10 minutes to reach the main center area. When we got off, the sights were very impressive! There was a huge Christmas market already in full-swing and then the across the road was the center of the city. There were a few museums and the national library in this main square area and it was all just very beautiful and classy.

The Spanish Riding School is where they train the Lipizzaners (white stallions) and occupies a number of buildings in central Vienna. The stables are in this beautiful building next to the school and you could seriously walk by and have no idea 30+ horses were inside! The riding hall looks like an elegant ballroom and even has huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. There were two levels where you could peer down and watch these impressive creatures and their trainers at work. We just went to the morning exercise sessions between 10:00am and noon, but there are more formal performances that you could go see. Basically, imagine these huge, powerful, magnificent creatures, dancing on their toes and swaying side to side, as Mozart and other classical composers’ music played. Sounds girly, but it was cool to see. I told Ag this was a little different than seeing her usual impressive white stallion working out in the morning…

After that, we really just walked the city. The pedestrian area was all cobblestone streets and people were everywhere. The Christmas feeling was in the air! We went up to a vendor and got our first Gluhwine of the day and started to wander. Lights were up all over the roads, small shops were stuffed with people. Horse and buggy carriages were everywhere too.

The places we recognized from home (aside from McD’s), were Tiffany and Co and Starbucks. We had to stop in Starbucks considering finding a place that serves a normal cup of coffee is really unheard of in Europe. Usually you get a ½ cup of something resembling motor oil and are suppose to casually sip it down! (Coffee here is a bit different…that will be a different blog.) Ag of course got her Gingerbread Latte and said it was definitely Christmas now!

So, we shopped, shared a soft pretzel, visited a few churches, etc. We walked the “ring” of Vienna meaning we basically walked in a triangle through part of the center area and then along the Ringstrasse on the outskirts of the town. The road on the outside of the center had a few of the main art and history museums, a huge park with lots of benches (see pics) as well as the main opera house.

The end of the triangle put us where we started when we got off the tram that morning. Instead of going back into the center, we went to the Christmas market. At this point it was close to 3:00pm and the place was wall to wall packed! It was beautiful though and the smell of pastries, hot wine, candy and brats was in the air. There were a few rides set up for the kids to enjoy and plenty of vendors selling random gifts, ornaments, etc.

We left that area and headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit before our show (we had tickets to a musical that night). We had noticed a grocery store across the street from our hotel so when we got off the tram, we opted to go inside to get some wine and a few snacks. We didn’t really eat much since breakfast and our show was in an hour or two, so going out to eat would have been rushed.

We got back to the hotel and feasted on some hummus, crackers, sugar snap peas, cheese and wine. Talk about some fine dinning! It was so much fun though and it worked out perfectly because we were able to get ready for our musical at a relaxed pace.

The Volksopera house was about a 10 minute walk from us, but unfortunately it had begun to rain. We sucked it up and made the trek with no problems, thanks to our Stephen T. Badin umbrella! We got there around 6:40pm, found our seats and were ready to rock out to the “Sound of Music” by 6:50pm.

Right before the show started, I figured I should “save myself” and apologize to Ag beforehand for falling asleep. (See previous “London” bog.) And, it’s a good thing I did because I did drift off at one point and woke myself up because I twitched so much that my legs and arms shook!
Anyway, the whole show was in German, but they did have a small screen above the stage with English subtitles. After my 10 minute cat nap, I actually really paid attention to the show and it was great! The singing was beautiful and there were a few funny lines that made me laugh.

As most people know, this play is about the Von Trap family and Maria becoming a part of their family. It is also about WWII and trying to get the Von Trap father to be a general for Germany and the Nazis. There were a few scenes in the play where the soldiers came out wearing Nazi badges, another where the swastika was displayed on the stage for a good 10-15 minutes, and yet another where a person came out and shouted “Hiel Hitler!” and gave the salute. You could literally hear the crowd gasp when these scenes were first shown. It just shows how much the history and controversy from the war is still in the air today….it was only 60-70 years ago which is interesting to think about.

After the show we stopped at an Asian restaurant that was along our walk home. Ag got her sushi and I got a tasty stir-fry and it was super cheap. For drinks and a huge amount of food, our bill was only 23 euros! Plus the server came and gave us two complimentary after dinner drinks! Not a bad deal.

The next day we had our tasty breakfast and then checked out. We left our bags at the hotel since we were not leaving for the bus till 6:00pm that evening. Our flight wasn’t till almost 10:00pm. Unfortunately, it was COLD on Sunday. The wind wasn’t blowing but the high was probably in the upper 20’s low 30’s.

We went back into the city center on the tram and walked through the Christmas Market again and shopped. This time it wasn’t as crowded which was great! After that, we started to walk across the street to go check out a few of the museums and parks. I reached into my pocket to get my map out and it was gone! Of course, I was very upset because as I have said in the past, the map is everything!

So, we went back to the Market and circled our steps in the hopes of seeing it on the ground. Unfortunately, we were out of luck and I was sad. So, our next mission was to see if we could find an information office as we strolled around during the rest of the day. On the way “strolling,” we passed a few horse and buggies and I suggested we take a ride.

Into the buggy and around the town we went! The ride was perfect because it took us to places in the city we didn’t walk the day before. We went into part of the Old Town area, we saw the first bar establishment that was built in the 1500’s, passed a few main museums and where Mozart’s first concert (at the age of 6!) was preformed.

As we were getting out of the buggy, I asked the driver if he knew where an information office would be because we lost our map. He said to hang on and reached into the magic buggy and whipped out a really nice Vienna book! “Take it!” he said. “Does it have a map?”, was my response and he said he didn’t have a clue. Obviously some poor, map-less soul had left the book in his buggy during a previous journey and he was more than happy to get that clutter out of his vehicle. I opened the book and, viola, earmarked was a map of the city! Back in business!!

As we walked away I said to Agnes should we tip him or something for this….it was a $13-15 book. She said think about it. It’s not his, why would he need a Vienna book? He’s a freakin tour guide. Perfect for us!

We walked around for a while and then stopped in to Starbucks to grab our Christmas drinks! Really, we just needed to warm up! The Starbucks here are exactly like the ones at home. The interior had big comfy chairs and couches, people were working on their computers and reading, etc.

There were a few other Christmas Markets throughout the city and we walked into those as well. After that, we went back to a different Starbucks to warm up again!

At this point it was 3:00 or 4:00pm and we wanted to grab a bite to eat. We wondered around in the Old Town area, looking for a place and ended up in this little hole in the wall place down a small side street. It was awesome! The food was reasonably priced and the food was really tasty. The atmosphere was quaint and subtle and the walls were all dark wood with Christmas holly hanging from the ceiling. And the best part…the food was traditional Viennese.

We had some wine and beer as well as soft pretzels with cabbage and beef soups. Then I had Wiener schnitzel and potatoes. Ag had a mixed salad and potatoes as well. The potatoes were served cold in this oil and vinegar sauce. Kind of like potato salad, but better! The mixed salad isn’t what we would normally get in the US. The mixed salads in Germany, Austria, etc are usually shredded carrots, cabbage and potatoes served with a vinegar sauce. It was a really authentic meal overall and we were really impressed and left full and happy!

We then walked into the main center area where we were yesterday and people were everywhere. It was so crowded and honestly, we were so surprised to see ALL shops were closed. Most places in Europe are closed on Sunday, but seriously, I commented to Ag that there are hundreds of thousands of euros just walking around, ready to be spent! Could you imagine stores in the US being closed on a day like this? All stores: grocery stores, malls, Walgreen’s, Target, etc. Life wouldn’t go on! I seriously don’t think we would know what to do….

We caught the tram back to the hotel and grabbed a drink at the hotel bar while we waited for our cab. We cheered to a successful trip in Vienna and after a Tia Maria and Johnny Walker Black, we were on our way to the bus and then the airport.

Our flight was a bit delayed and the “animals” were running wild in the airport again, but we got home safe and sound.

Well, thank goodness for the weekend! This week has been an intense one at work (70 hours in 5 days), but one more week and then it’s the high skies for home and relaxation! Ag’s dad and sister, Theresa, recently made arrangements to come visit us for the Holidays. They get here on Sunday and Ag has got some good plans for them! She is super excited to have them here and rightly so. They leave on Friday, and then we leave on Saturday…we can’t wait to see everyone in 7 days!!