Vienna in a Day

Pillows are glorious! We also have our bathroom room like we did in Prague, we are spoiled, and it's great! Gotta love secret prices on hotels.com especially when you booked a lot and got discounts! Yahoo! 

We flew through Vienna today, seeing as much as we possibly could. Neither of us honestly expected we would enjoy Eastern Europe this much. It is a pleasant surprise. We definitely wished we had a few more days here to explore and see more. The atmosphere is so relaxed, people seem to really enjoy their lives, much the same as Prague in this way.

We also managed to stay out of the sun for most of the day. The air was this with heat, that part I don't like but the heat I enjoy. Funny though as half the walkways become much more crowded then others as most people want to walk in the shade. I myself would have be A OK with walking in the sun, but Mr. Luke prefers the Arctic over the tropics. But I am alright with being out of the sun, we will have plenty of sun shiny days ahead of us. 

We started our day off with a bit of a different brunchy meal from a place called Aida. This can be found everywhere. Waitresses in poodle shirts and pink everything, it was as if we went back in time to the days of Grease, except they know gluten free. It was marvellous. We had an espresso with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with whip cream to drink. It was delicious! For myself I got a almond chocolate cake, and Luke got apple strudel. MMMM!! Was a great way to start our day off in Vienna. This wasn't the exact Aida we went to but I forgot to take a picture and this was the next one we saw.

 

As I said, we had a full day. We combined Rick Steves walking tour and ring tram tour. Stopping to go in places and look at things and eat. The ring tram circles the main part of Vienna, and majority of their palaces and main buildings can be seen around this. It also circles the church, which is conveniently located in the centre. Both of these things were a great way to see as much as we possibly could of Vienna in the short time we had. Unfortunately I didn't book this one right as I didn't take into consideration travel days, but oh well, not a big deal as we enjoyed our day, saw what we could, and definitely know we could come back here.

The architecture in Vienna is both modern and historic. As much of it was bombed and flattened in the war what remains they had they kept and sometimes built modern on top of what was left. Nevertheless it is interesting to see. Austria itself is a German speaking country, but they do not consider themselves German in any way, and apparently are said to get quite worked up about this point. They had their own hardships from the war, being more of a nomads land and then being occupied by one, and then another, and they have moments and streets thanking the countries that saved them from the turmoil.

 

Below is Hofburg Palace. We seen many other historical places, including the opera house but I decided to not post quite as many pictures. I have also decided to be a little less factual in my writing. More for my sake because recalling all this information from my very full head is become increasingly more challenging. 

 

The church, as every church is, is quite extravagant. The roof in particular on this one I took a liking to. The tiled roof was re built after a fire, everyone who contributed to the funds for the roof got a tile. Not that they would know which was theirs, but I guess that isn't the point. Notice in the bottom left picture the Eagles crest in the tile work.

 

This is a look at the inside of the church. On the right the picture is of a picture that was in English so I needed to take a picture so I remembered what the lacy things from the ceiling said.

 

Mozart died at the age of 35, I had no idea about this. Also Vienna is suppose to be the capital of classical music. Fun facts for you after I just said that i wasn't going to be quite so factual. Oh well, the small things that I do remember. I like the treble clef in the flowers.

 

Some more random things from our day. BUT I must say that we have seen many different crossing signs. If you are ever in Europe you should definitely keep an eye out. Each city seem to have multiple different crossing light. Berlin for instance has multiple and the pushed for this to remain after the walls came down. I have mentioned a few along the way, and I may just have to go back and get the pictures that I did take and put them all together. But besides our verde amigo friend this one is my favourite. 

 

One of the greatest questions we ask each other too often is what day is. For the next 3 or so minutes we take turns guessing and thinking far to hard for an answer. This is an amazing thing. Just as quick as the hours fly by in a day, so do the days fly by in a week. It is today of course. Otherwise it is leaving day. End of story. 

We made our way to a bus that took us up an extremely sickening windy road to the top of a hilly mountain type of thing. The view was great but the journey was much less then fun. Bus drivers who drive this route so often you would think they would know the breaking and going a little better. On the first part of the hill, we road through cutest area that I wish we could have walked through. Such a n authentic little area. Looked quite European, and quaint. 

 

Vienna is called Wien in Viennese. That is where the wiener come from. Known to us all as wiener, also where the Wiener schnitzel comes from. Luke and I regardless of comfort or hotel or hostel are getting spoiled. Even their double beds are two single beds pushed together. Making the bed much larger then usual. Sometimes we even get king beds. But when they are two singles we always get our own blankets. This might be a system that we need to adopt when we get home. Get a king size bed and separate blankets, this would be awesome, except a night wouldn't fit in our house. 

We certainly enjoyed our day today, and packed as much as we could into it. Glad we did as well, really feels like we saw as much as we possibly could along the way. But it a place that we would come back to. 

Our next journey is a little different for how we have been our trip so far. We are headed to Salzburg. Where we will spend one night. So we will be walking around and seeing as much as we can before heading to Munich the next day. Salzburg is closer to the border of Austria and Germany, so breaks up the travel and gives us an excuse to stop and see another place.

And so the adventure continues...