Blogs from Vienna, Austria, Europe - page 16

Today we would meet an old friend of my wife's. They had not seen each other in more than 20 years. They had met while both lived in Japan. Since we would meet up with her near the Schonbrunn, we chose to explore there as well. She actually lives in Graz, but would be in Vienna to see her mother and daughter, so it would work out perfect. We arose early and went down to the free hotel breakfast. It was a decent spread, and was also very filling. I had some meats and cheeses, along with a croissant and coffee. We headed out about 8am to the palace. It does not cost anything to roam the grounds, so that is what we did until about 12:45pm. My favorite part was the Gloriette and the view ... read more

Geo: 48.22, 16.37No sooner had I written "some things never change" that I remembered that upon our arrival in Vienna, it immediately struck us that we didn't recognize the airport. I flew out of there so often during our tour, I was especially shocked at how different it all looked. Turns out a new terminal was added, along with a new underground train station, linking the airport to the city. Well, suffice it to say, AFTER we left the airport, nothing ELSE had changed in Vienna since we left in 2003.We elected to stay at the hotel located immediately adjacent to the airport, as it would make things easier for our departure the following morning. We retrieved our bags and walked the short distance across the street to the hotel. It was only 9:00am or so ... read more

After a comfortable night in a very spacious room we headed down to the restaurant where we had a satisfying breakfast. It was buffet style and had a wide variety of items, ample to suit our needs for the busy day we had planned for today. Vienna. Our first glimpse of this most imperial of cities in the cold (quite literally!!) light of day. Vienna, the capital city of Austria since only 1804 when the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed. 2.6 million inhabitants reside in or around the metropolitan area. That's nearly one third of the entire population of the country. Rewinding back a few years the English name Vienna is borrowed from the Italian name Vienna!! Vienna and the official German name Wien, are thought to derive from the Celtic word windo, meaning bright or ... read more

For our last day in Vienna before heading on to Innsbruck, we were treated to a beautiful, cold winter's day. A chilly -4 Celsius at the warmest part, it snowed from about 10am and continuing even now as I write this, at 8pm. I believe by the end of the day the snow on the ground would have had to have been at least half an inch. It was cold, but very beautiful to wander the streets amongst the Christmas lights that are still up in Vienna. Today was spent trying to cover as much as we could before we leave this beautiful city tomorrow. We had a plan, and knowing that there was no public holiday and no weekend that could interfere, we were ready to leave nice and early to ensure we got it ... read more

I'd like to begin this entry with a few observations about the Austrian people I have made over the past few days. First and foremost, they are really friendly. I do not recall meeting an unfriendly one so far. Another observation is that most seem to be able to speak English, and happily do so. This varies from other countries I have been in, where they reluctantly do it. Particularly in the heart of Vienna, you can walk into a café, a restaurant, or a tourist attraction and if you look like a tourist, they will automatically ask you "English or Deutsch?" We respond with English and they will automatically begin speaking to you in English. It's wonderful and helpful to have this, although, it has had me thinking how disappointing it is, too. The further ... read more