Out of all the cities we've visited recently, Vienna was the least crowded and lacking in queues, so from my point of view was more enjoyable. This might have been as it was October or it isn't as popular as Rome, Venice and Oktoberfest!
We used the train system again to get there, and it was very pleasant and efficient. Less than an hour from Lesce Bled to Villach in Austria and then only a 25 minute wait for the very nice train to Vienna. Beautiful countryside and only just over 4 hours later we were there.
I was impressed with the public transport system in Vienna. There is the U-bahn, the underground, which is not as extensive as in London, but then there is also the S-bahn, which is a local overground train system that is very efficient. Then, for other routes there is an excellent tram system, with trams running every few minutes and a bus system in the centre where the trams can't go. It all seemed to run together very efficiently and we rarely waited more than a few minutes for our connections. We got a 72 hour ticket - which ran from when we validated it (not to only 6am on the last day, like in Munich), which made it perfect for our trip, and it was valid on all of the four systems. Although we didn't have our tickets checked so I suppose we could have tried travelling without a ticket!
Vienna itself is a beautiful city made up of the huge austro-hungarian empire-type buildings, dominated by the Imperial palace, the Hofburg. This takes up a large proportion of the city centre, and now houses museums, galleries, the Spanish Riding School, government stuff and loads more. Apparently, 5000 people still work in the palace buildings.
We visited the Kaiser appartments in the palace (no queues to get in!!), although the silver plate collection was a little tedious, the appartments were interesting and opulent. Then I managed to drag Vicki into the Albertina which had an art exhibition I wanted to see - Monet to Picasso. I enjoyed it very much and bought the book for art inspiration. I didn't keep her in there too long so Vicki didn't complain too much.
We did have a quick look at the cathedral, but it wasn't that exciting and as Richard would say - "seen one church, seen them all"
We spent some time at the Spanish Riding School to see the Lipizzaner horses in their morning exercise. Be warned, it isn't very exciting - four or five horses come out each time and walk or trot round the arena, occasionally a trainer will spend a few minutes trying to get a horse to learn a new manouver, but mostly they trot round and back. You pay 14 euros for the 2.5 hours, but people started leaving after about 45 mins. We managed 1.5 hours but only because I didn't want to waste the money!
 |
| View from the Ferris wheel |
We also visited the Riesenrad, which is a big ferris wheel, it goes slowly and you stand in big capsules, a bit like an old version of the London Eye. We enjoyed the views although it didn't go as high as I expected and we couldn't see the Danube.
We had fun in the fairground next to the ferris wheel, and even visited a beer tent erected for Oktoberfest - everyone seems to get in on it!
We finished the day by seeing another palace - the Belvedere, where I got to see an exhibition of Gustav Klimt's work. Not my favourite type of art but as it is everywhere in Vienna I felt I had to see some before we left.
Just a quick mention about Viennese food! We ate at a very nice restaurant the first night and I had the ravioli. The second night it wasn't so nice and I had goulash. The last night we went to a brewery restaurant and I had roast pork - I managed to avoid the dreaded Wiener Schnitzel, which in my opinion is a rather awful bit of sat-on meat covered in breadcrumbs to make it palatable. Reminiscent of Bernard Matthews turkey burgers! Austrian food generally is not what you visit Austria for, it is meat heavy, can be salty and lacks green stuff.
The brewery restaurant was very good for beer though, and I would definitely recommend it - Siebensternbrau. Vicki tried the Hemp beer - no extra effects over and above the alcohol, I'm afraid and Richard the chilli beer. Only a small one, and it made my lips tingle after one sip! I had an interesting amber beer, it made a nice change from all the regular lager we've been quoffing.
No comments:
Post a Comment