Vienna -- Friday

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I have over 250,000 miles with British Airways that I never get to use because they never seem to have any offers available to where I want to go or, more importantly, when I want to go. In BA’s on-going attempts to get me to spend some of these miles, I am constantly getting emails with special offers. Most of them are not worth the time it takes to open the email, but once in a while, they come through. They had a “sale” last month where one could fly to various cities for half the usual miles plus the airport taxes. The only city that would work with my diary was Vienna - so for 7,500 miles and £59 off I went.

I actually took a day off from work so that I could spend some more time in the city. Unfortunately, I woke up with the most stonking cold I have had in quite some time. My stuffed up head made taking off and landing interesting (!!), but once the cabin pressurised, I was fine. Then, to make things even more interesting, I arrived into a pouring rainstorm.

I checked into the Konig von Ungarn (King of Hungary) hotel that is literally steps from the cathedral. It is one of the oldest hotels in Vienna and the walls are lined with the signatures of their famous guests through the years. Interestingly, they did not ask me to sign anything...other than the pre-approval for my credit card. I love hotels like this. When I asked for a smoking room, the gentleman behind the desk (who has probably been there as long as the hotel itself) said to me, "Madam, we do not make such distinctions. You may smoke anywhere you like." The coolest thing about this hotel is the fact that it is next door to the house where Mozart wrote “The Marriage of Figaro.” The photo with the plaque shows this. I know it’s a bit blurry - remember I was telling you about the pouring rain?

I decided to go for a bit of a wander, but the weather was so horrible that within minutes I was soaking wet. Realising that this was probably not a good idea with my cold, I found a coffee shop called Café Hawelka. It is famous for being the place where the intelligentsia of 19th century Vienna hung out. It is really what one would expect - dark and smoky, but very warm and magnificent coffee. I sat in there for a couple of hours watching the people and reading my book.

Deciding that I was not really up for more rain, I went back to the hotel and decided to have dinner there. My waiter is someone’s grandfather. He insisted that I have a shot of fruit flavoured vodka - “it is medicine, my dear”. He then brought me a bowl of hot soup and a huge plate of pork and noodles that I couldn’t eat because I couldn’t taste it. Reality hit with the bill - he charged me for the plate of food I didn’t touch, but here’s the kicker, he charged me 5 euros for the shot of vodka! Highly amused, I paid the bill and went to bed.

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Photos

Mozart's House
This is the plaque that states that Mozart wrote "The Marriage of Figaro" in this house. The blur is from the rain!

Comments

[Debbie]

Love this!
Hi Christine - You are an English major! I love the tone of these entries!! I wish I had been there with you. :-) You doing shots in the hotel restaurant makes me want to relive a few moments from UD. Glad you got away for a few days!! Love, Debbie PS Danny and I are going "away" for a couple of days - Baltimore's Inner Harbor, the National Aquarium and a Discovery Museum will fill our days. :-)