Blogs from Vienna, Austria, Europe - page 12

After a very restful night sleep I was able to get up and do some more packing. In this hotel bathroom they had a bidet next to the toilet. The bidet uses a stream of water in a low washbasin that to clean your genitals and anal area after using the toilet. I tried it. It's not unpleasant just different. After playing around with the bidet, I went down for breakfast and then we were off to Vienna. As we travel through Italy toward the Austrian border we passed many fields of sunflowers. Also, Ann and I started noticing that some of the grove of trees were perfectly lined up as if they were planted. Some of the tree crops had old trees next to middle-age trees next to young trees, all perfectly aligned in rows ... read more

Cold morning again and cloudy but eventually warmed up. Left at about 7.30 to spend the day sight seeing all the famous landmarks and buildings around Vienna. Some amazing architecture. As it's Sunday, most shops are close so ended up having smoko at Maccas. They even charge their for the dunnies! And what's more, at St Stephens cathedral, u have to pay 2 euros just to get information about the joint. Vienna is definitely more expensive than Sydney although we are in tourist areas in high summer. Managed to get a cheap pizza for lunch and have in a lovely park. Made it home exhausted by 2. Getting ready for tomorrow when I'll be driving ???... read more

In the second week of May I had a business meeting in Vienna planned. Since the meeting was Wednesday to Friday I suggested to Nils to spend the weekend there together. I had to cancel the business meeting, but could fortunately change my flight so that we could spend the weekend there anyway. We arrived on Friday night and checked into our hotel in the district of Margareten, not far from the subway train station Margaretengürtel. This was rather convenient because it allowed us to get into the city centre quickly by train. Since it was late already we decided to have dinner – no Austrian food though, instead we went to Colombo Hoppers, a Sri Lankan restaurant just around the corner from our hotel where we could sit outside and have very tasty food. When ... read more

Tuesday, 18th April 2017 What I liked about this whole visit experience was to be able to stand right in the middle of the Memorial Plaza overlooking the row of flags that represents the 193 Member States as we commenced our 11am tour. For me, there was this magical feeling as though we were standing in the middle of the cross-roads to the world. Since 1979, this group of UN Building Cluster along the banks of Danube River forms part of the Vienna International Centre precinct. Visiting the UN Offices wasn't part of our original plan and this was really a "bonus" that we managed to cover during our 3 days in this city. During our 1 hour tour, we were brought to the various buildings of the UN Office. The guide took us through an ... read more

We decided to take train to and from Vienna to save on driving. There is a private train (Westbahn) which is fast, smooth, and reasonable. It even has free WIFI aboard. So, in less than 2 hr we were in Vienna. Every time I come here, I am impressed by the majestic style of this city. Everything is large, ornate, and historic. We stayed in the elegant Hotel Austria, that was rebuilt in 1955, but there was a hotel on the site long before. We were taken into the surrounding area by friends to see sights not normally visited by tourists.One highlight in Vienna was Easter Sunday mass at the Jesuit Church with 50 voice choir and 20-piece orchestra, which performed von Weber's Jubelmesse, Mozart's Alleluia "Exultate jubilate", and Handel's Halleluja chorus from the "Messias". The ... read more