Vienna

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On my arrival, the heat was different; it was around 35 and quite muggy. I love the transport system here; everything seems to match up and is reasonably easy to follow. I arrived at Pension Ani, and found that European rooms are a ‘little’ smaller than we are used to, but very friendly. I found the local supermarket, stocked up on food and caught the local tram into the centre of Vienna. The architecture is beautiful; I toured around the ringed city on the tram and went back to the hotel to sleep. Something very Melbournish happened, the temperature dropped and down came the rain. It did not stop the next day. My first port of call had to be the Sigmund Freud Museum. It was where he had his home and practice at Berggasse 19 during his time in Vienna. That night there was a summer concert at the town hall centre which is Rathausplatz. There was a giant screen with lots of chairs and food and drinks venues where many young people gather at night. The rain had stopped so I stayed for the Europe concert conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic and featured violinist Vadim Repin and featured the music of Beethoven, Mozart and Stravinsky.

The next day was spent a the Schonbrunn Palace which was magnificent.. It was the summer palace for the Habsburg royalty. I went on a tour of the palace, walks in the park with mazes and labyrinths. It also has a huge zoo (but as each different activity costs quite a few euro, I didn’t go into the zoo or the palm and fern house). I had a typical Viennese dinner and stayed for aconcert with the Palace Orchestra featuring Mozart and Strauss. Mozart played his first concert as a child at this palace.

The following day, I shifted across to the hotel to start our eastern European tour. After putting my luggage in the room, I was walking up the street and happily ran into Betty and Michael as they were looking for the hotel. We caught up and while they rested up, I went on a tram ride to Prater Park which is a huge botanical park on the outskirts of Vienna. We had a welcome dinner at the hotel that night where we met our fellow traveler. Again the Aussies were in force, outnumbering the other nationalities.There is a strong teaching contingent, both Australian and American (it is the USA summer break).

I was able to see Harry Potter (in English) that night, (and be able to say I had just been at the foot of the’gerkin’ building in London and the wobbly bridge, so really felt like I connected to the movie), but it was a late night and up early to tour around Vienna the next day. Betty, Michael and I had dinner just up the road that night and turned in early as these tours have you up at 6.30, and out the door by eight!! Iwill have to continue this later and add photos as this part of the trip has been so hectic I can hardly catch myself thinking, let alone write.

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Comments

[Ange]

Keep up the good work. You aint missin' anything here!

[Maureen Whitelaw]

Memories of Vienna
Dear Christine. Great to hear from you. So pleased you are taking advantage of the music scene in Vienna - it brings back many memories for me - also Schonbrunn Palace. Stay safe, Cheers Maureen

[Jill Kahans]

The Ringstrasse
Hi Christine! Yes, we've been to Vienna too. We went for an enormous psychiatry convention - imagine all those psychiatrists together in the one glass-ceilinged convention centre eying one another and obviously thinking, 'Why is he/she here?' We stayed at a grand hotel with a drive-in-out in front of it. We did many trips including to Freud's house. I bet it hasn't changed since we've been there. Main memory is the pen for signing the guest book being chained to the old-fashioned desk so no honest psych could pinch it. In fact I think that everything movable was chained down. When we were there it was the middle of summer and heaps of shops had closed for the summer hols and therefore the cobbled streets were noticeably empty of people. Had a lovely German dinner of Spitz and speck downstairs in a huge dim restaurant where you had to go down five steps to get in. Actually we had vienna schnitzel. Afternoon tea earlier at a typical Viennese cake shop looking as though it had stepped out of a Disney movie set, and we went to the museum of modern art too. Very exhausting, very foot-sore-causing. Keep on writing, love Jill, and stay well. Don't get swine flu, bird flu or holiday bellie.

[aquariantravelbug]

Nothing changes
sounds just like this trip, I can see you both in Freud's house, in fact thought about you when I was there! Same thing for me, summer time, shut down, but lots of music in the centre and now of course tooooooooooooooooo many tourists!