Moving on to Vienna was an early morning. Because I had not wanted to try and order train tickets in Czech and risk getting some train that I did not want, we had decided to book bus tickets back in Brighton since we were actually able to do that online, unlike the trains. I had travelled on Eurolines from Paris to Brussels so I knew it would be a reliable service. And since the bus ride was the same length, only slightly less comfortable and less expensive than the train, there seemed to be few disadvantages. Our bus left at 8 so we were out of the hostel by 7 in order to check in 30 minutes early. Getting off at the right metro stop was easy enough, but finding the international bus station was a bit trying because we didnt know what ¨bus station¨ was in Czech and none of the signs were in English. After a few wrong exits and increased frustrations, we eventually asked someone for directions and found the station. Fast forward 4 hours and some pretty Czech/Austrian countryside and we were in Vienna.
Our directions to the hostel led us to a very run down, creaky old apartment building which worried us since we booked the hostel directly and not through hostelworld so we had no user reviews to go off of. But luckily the hostel is quite nice- very small, only 8 beds and much more like an apartment than a hostel, complete with living room, entry hall, kitchen and bathroom. After checking in, we went out to explore the towd. Sadly we had to take a very long, roundabout way into the old town because of the huge ¨fan zone¨ erected for Euro 2008- a once-every-four-years, massive, football championship being held in Switzerland and Austria this month. Luckily there are no actual games being playing in Vienna/Salzburg when we are there but there are plenty of intrusions. Oh well, you do what you can. Once we actually made it into old Vienna proper, we kind of did a backwards Rick Steves do-it-yourself walking tour and walked by the Hofburg Palace, St. Stephens cathedral and some other major sites, ending at Hotel Sacher for some original sachertorte, which was deliciously chocolatey. We sat for a while in the cafe before investigating the Opera and deciding to go to the opera the next night. We walked back to the hostel, cooled down, and then headed out for dinner and were back for an early night since we had gotten less than the optimal amount of sleep the night before.
The next day was quite eventful. We started off visiting Schonbrunn Palace which, after Versaille, is htought to be the most sumptuous palace in all of Europe. It was quite grand. The long, Grand Hall ballroom thing was to die for and I could esaily picture myself waltzing across the floor in a long silk ball gown. I also really liked the white and gold rooms that were for the vain Sisi more htan the dark rococo style of Maria Theresa, but both were magnificent, as any palace should be. The original royal bed that had been saved from back in the day was ridiculously ornate, but it didn't look very comfortable. I don't think I would actually want to sleep there, but it sure as hell would impres people. Vicky and I had gotten there right at 8:30 when the palace opened so we did beat a lot of the crowds but we also had to fight our way past many a tour group. But once we got past the tourgourps, the palace was lovely and quiet and we could pretend that it was our home since no one else was in sight. After the palace interior, we wandered the grounds for a bit (well, a long bit, the grounds are apparently bigger than Monaco) before heading back for lunch and a rest. We ended up leaving the hostel again around 4:30 for an early dinner before the opea. Since we were doing standing room tickets (at 2 euro, it was a steal) and the ticket window opened at 6:30, we ended up getting in line around 6. It was lucky we did because the opera we were seeing, Capriccio by Richard Strauss, was starring Renee Fleming, who is one of the greastest opera singers of our time so the demand to see the opera was huge. I've never seen a performing arts center so packed. The opera was good- beautifully performend and amazingly sung and much more light hearted and comical than I would have thought. However, after standing for 2.5 hours, you kind of just want it to end. But the Opera house was beautiful and I feel lucky to have seen an opera there and to get caught up in the mad rush of old Viennese people trying to tie their scarf on a standing rail to claim it their own. A wonderful experience and we crashed back in the hostel around 11:30.
The final day was more low key. Woke up and heading to the Kunst Art Musuem. This was the only art museum my sistre really wanted to go to on this trip so of course we went. However, I was feeling a bit of a wall in my sight seeing abilities so I mostly sat in the center of the rooms as we went through them and played the "if I could hang any of these paintings in my house, which would it be?" game. Seems a little bit silly, but I enjoyed myself and appreciated the art in my own way. Afterwards we went to this dakr, brooding cafe for the Vienna cafe experience while drinking tea/hot chocolate and reading the newspaper. Yay for the Herald Tribune and getting news in English. After some more wandering and some delicious tophenstrudel, we headed back to the hostel for a little bit, back our for dinner around 7 (a lot of today revolved around food) where I finally got a 'gesundheit' when sneezing. An accomplishment, indeed.
Reflection on Vienna: I really enjoyed it (but really, what don't I enjoy). There was not a whole lot to do (or at least not a lot that we sought out to do) and I was perfectly fine with that since my sight seeing tolerance was currently low. I could easily see myself living in Vienna, having tea in dark, smokey cafes in the morning, strudel in the evening and hten heading off to the opera for a show. What a perfect sounding lifestyle. Oh! And I would live in the palace. Yeah, that would be great.
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