10/14 - Vienna

We’re taking it easy this morning – knowing we have rain in our future, we wake up and leisurely pack up and organize for the drive to Vienna.  It should only take 2 hours to Vienna, so we are in no hurry. We pull out of the lot at Helios a little after 9:30 and head out to the highway.  Early going is fine, but then the rains come pouring in – slow going through all the downpours and road mist.  We get stuck in the construction area we saw coming in – fortunately we are only in the back up for 13 minutes – it was way worse 2 days ago!  We make our way up through Hungary – stopping at a rest area to get rid of our last Forints (junk food, we buy junk food, but there wasn’t much else to choose from at the petrol station).  But the rain keeps coming, and our driving time is awful.

We finally hit the Austrian border and get turned around trying to get into the area to buy the highway vignette.  But we finally make it and buy our 10.50 Euro pass – stick it on the window and off we go.

By this point, we are not making good time – at all!  It’s a slog up that highway, and it doesn’t get any better until we are just outside of Vienna proper. Although, we consider ourselves lucky heading north.  The southbound lanes of M1 are at a dead stop because of a 3 tractor-trailer wreck.  It is a standstill for 9 km – and right around the airport exit too.  Cannot even imagine the stress those people are feeling, sitting in their cars and taxis (yes, taxis!) trying to get to the airport.  Ok – so our 2 hour drive has taken 4 hours – but still – we’ve at least been moving and we’ve really got nothing pressing to do!

Alice navigates us around the city – we actually drive the ring road and pass the Museum Quarter with its awesome buildings and architecture, and we spy the Nachsmarkt which we want to visit for food and snacks – so a good little unscheduled tour.

We pull right up to the hotel, the clerk opens the gate, and we are in and parked – for the next 2 days.  No more driving for us until heading to Prague.  The room is nice – large for European standards – but we’ve been sort of spoiled the last 3 nights –the Lindner was so Euro-modern and the Helios so roomy and old fashion. This room is quite serviceable, but not with any of the pizazz of Lindner or Grandma Kitsch of Helios.  The beds are really soft though, and the bathroom floor is heated – so that’s a bonus!

We basically dump and run.  It’s not raining (and a couple of forecasts predicted torrential rain all day) so we are taking advantage of the weather as long as we can!  The metro is only a few blocks from here, so we head down to the station, buy our 48 hour pass (probably not the best bargain for us, but at least we won’t have to worry like in Budapest – not that it was an issue since the darn validation machines never worked and we ended up  with 4 extra tickets when we thought we would be 4 or 6 short!), so nonetheless, we have unlimited public transport for 2 days. 

Off we go to the Opera house to start our Rick Steve’s walking tour.  Neither Opera House or Rick Steve’s disappoints! The Opera house is an amazing piece of architecture, no surprise there – the sculptures,  fountains and adornments (and we didn’t even go around front!) – beautiful and imposing…

Except for the “concert Hawkers” who are everywhere – and I mean everywhere – there must be hundreds of them! All dressed up in their little periodic customs, constantly asking if you want to see a concert. No, no, and well, no.  I know, it’s Vienna.  But, not my cup of tea.  Ed would go, but I’m more about the architecture and the history, not the opera!

We follow Rick’s tour past the Opera and past Café Sacher, the home of the Sacher-Torte.  We pass it by, only as a landmark. Not interested in Sacher-Tortes either (ick, never found of those things).  Then onto the Albertinaplatz, which is a square bordered by the edge of the Hofburg Palace, with totally neat sculptures lining the walls of the Albertina Museum.

And the Monument against the War and Fascism, which commemorates the years under Nazi rule.  It is a somber piece of street art with 4 parts – the split “Gates of Violence” which remembers the victims of all wars and violence, and when you are standing in front of it, you are standing at the gates of the concentration camp.

One of the most disturbing statues is behind the gates statue, which is a depiction of a Jew crouching behind the gates, cleaning off anti-Nazi graffiti with a toothbrush.

Sad doesn’t begin to explain the emotions. After a poignant moment, we move on.  Past some fabulous architecture…

….and up through Karntner Strasse with is the antithesis of historical emotions.  This is the shopping/pedestrian street which is – well, a grand mall – with people watching opportunities, but not much else. We stroll down the street, but as with other similar streets in similar cities, we’re not interested.

We do get to take a detour off the street to the 4 rivers fountain at Neuer Mrkt.  This fountain symbolizes the 4 rivers that flow into the Danube.

So, the best diversion off the “mall” was the Kaisergruft Imperial Crypt. Wow! This is where all of Austria’s Emperors and Empresses and other dignitaries remains are stored.  It is phenomenal. The crypts and the vessels these bodies are buried within are astounding. Not only the kings and the queens, but the kids, the babies. Truly incredible – and some of these coffins are over 400 years old! Just look at the opulence and the craftsmanship.  It was really a fantastic stop.

We walk back out onto the Karntner Strasse making our way to Stephansplatz as quickly as we can.

We round the corner by the Haas Haus – a totally modern mirrored building that doesn’t really fit with the Neo-architecture in this part of the city – but that does give great reflections onto the square…

…and finally come upon St. Stephen’s Cathedral.  Even draped in scaffolding and mesh, this is one outstanding piece of architecture and history. It is lovely in its exterior  design….

…and overwhelming in its interior opulence….

Wow! So, now we walk past the Holy Trinity Plague column, which is draped in anti-pigeon net – we want some of that! Takes away from the photo opps, but sure helps the statue!

It’s totally cool façade doesn’t prepare you for the interior décor.  Everyone who enters the doors, walks in and then stands in the vestibule and exclaims “ah” or “oh” or “wow!”  All exclamations are appropriate, this church takes your breath away.

Wow!

We followed Rick’s tour to the Loos’ Loos – supposedly old wine cellars converted into bathrooms and designed by the famous architect Adolf Loos.  The description didn’t match what Ed said was down there – I didn’t partake. 

Then we played around with some interesting statues on the pedestrian walk.  Lippanzer horse? And rider?  I think so!

As we turned the corner onto Kohlmarkt – the “unaffordable” shopping street, we did venture into Julius Meinl grocery store – which was Fresh Foods on steroids. Incredibly delicious looking produce and nuts and products, all fairly pricey. But the most astounding thing was the amount of chocolates –and the Christmas displays – everywhere! There was more Christmas than not on those shelves. Crazy! And we though Americans had the Christmas mania cornered. 

We end our walking tour in Michaelerplatz withSt. Michaels Church on one side and the Hofburg Palace, where we will visit tomorrow in the rain, on the other.  It is a huge complex that sounds like it will provide hours of entertainment and intrigue, but for today – just the outside gives us delight in the wonderfully designed walls, statues and fountains on the perimeter.

Done with our tour, we head back to the opera – fending off the opera ticket boys – and make our way to the Naschmarkt.  We’re looking for a beverage stop and then dinner – and this is the place to do it.  Blocks and blocks of restaurants produce and deli type stands in two lanes.  The restaurants are all in these little shotgun type buildings –with seating outside – not! – and decent looking menus.  We pick one unassuming place for drinks – which are quite nice and relatively reasonable (although I’m missing Hungarian prices already!).

Thirst quenched, we walk the length of the market, marveling at all the restaurants, produce, candy, savories and other food offerings.  I even get a sample of something from a vendor – some fried ball of rice? veggies? tofu? I don’t know, but it was good and he was practically throwing it at me!

We’re hungry now, even though it’s early – our lunch consisted of  a few pieces of salami and some chocolate bar.  So, we’re pretty ready for food.  We figured outside the market might be best, and we stumbled upon this great little café, with a separate non-smoking area (OMG – the smoking! It is ridiculous here – no rules – smoke wherever – and there are lots of places that are just obnoxiously filled with smoke.  We’ve even left a couple of restaurants because of the smoke.).  We settle into the hermetically sealed non-smoking area of Sopherl…

…and order our Weiner Schnitzel and Cordon Bleu and salad.  Bargain!  Talk about food – and all for 9.90 and 10.90 Euros each!  Plus the wine was only 1.90 Euros and excellent as well as Ed’s beer for 3.90.  Great choice just steps away from the overpriced market food.

Totally sated, we wander back to the Metro to take the train back to the hotel for the evening. We were so very lucky today with the weather – it’s already raining now that we are back at the hotel, so we will see what tomorrow brings….