Advertisement
So I arrived in Venice after a great train ride. I really don´t mind trains and it is a great way of catching up on reading, journal, postcards etc. This one was particularly enjoyable as it was short, plus all of the sunflowers are out. The last time I was in Italy it was too late for sunflowers (they were all dead & black, not nice) and this time we were too early. However I got my fill of fields of sunflowers in Austria!!
Found the hostel ok and it is NOICE. Its a Wombats one, they have 2 here and one in Berlin & Munich. This is the newest one and it has everything a backpacker could want. Small dorms (4 beds), huge lockers, proper showers (eg no detachable head), hairdryers, and even the good old magnifiying shaving mirror! Backpacker heaven!!
As I only had limited time in Vienna (1.5 days) I knew I had to make the most of it. As it was a sunny afternoon when I arrived I headed out to the Schonnbrun Palace, which is a 14th century palace but was expanded during the time of the Hapsburgs in the 17th century. It
reminded me of Versailles alot although nowhere near as grand. I checked out the gorgeous gardens (complete with labrynth but no Davie Bowie) first and then headed inside to do the obligatory tour with audio guide attached to my head. The state apartments were gorgeous and well worth a look.
After that I decided to do the tourist orientation tour and catch a tram around the ringstrasse, or the road that is the boundary of the inner city Vienna. Its a great way to orient yourself as there are many great buildings on the circuit.
During the ride I realised how big Vienna is and felt a bit overwhelmed. I haven´t been in a particularly large city since Florence or Rome and am used to smaller towns where you can practically walk anywhere. Vienna is quite big and has the features of a large city - bums, beggars, people from everywhere....masses of chain stores. It led to me feeling a bit lonely last night for the first time.
Luckily I needed some dinner so found a place with yummy beef goulash, dumplings and a large mug of beer and the loneliness subsided. That makes me sound like
a real loser!!! I guess my tummy was happy and we all know that means happy Anj.
On Wednesday I woke up to a cold and rainy day which was in direct contrast to the previous day´s stinking heat and sun. I had a great nights sleep (a quiet hostel for once!) except for being awoken about 6am by one of my room mates.
Can I just ask what it is with Japanese people, early trains and plastic bags?? I am not being racialist at all, its just I have met a lot of Japanese girls in dorms on my travels. All of them seem to be catching early trains (Im talking getting up at 530am) and ALL of them store their belongings in multiple plastic bags, and dont pack the night before, leading to much rustling in the morning at an ungodly hour!!! Yes, it happened again this morning. They do warn you about the early train and the first time I thought it was ok, it would be like 7am but no!!
I am also peeved at people who dont research where they are going, or dont see places properly. Case in point, the 2
american girls I met a few days ago. Granted they only have limited time to travel but they are spending 1 night in each place and travelling in between. This means they sometimes spend their entire days travelling, only to get to a plce for the night. They realised the error of their ways in Salzburg, however spent their day in salzburg on tourist buses doing day trips OUT of salzburg and never went into the old town. Grrrrr!
Anyway, enough of my rant. I had a mission, and that was to see as much of Vienna as possible in one day. I had to prioritise, and top of my list was a guided tour of the Opera House. Had it not been Opera off-season it would have been Opera tickets, however this came in a close second! The tour was great, we got to go in the audience section of the opera house as well as on the stage. There is a jazz festival on at the moment so there was stuff going on, but it was fascinating to hear about how they organise things.
Basically, in Vienna they say that they never show the same opera
2 nights in a row. This originated in the times when the aristocracy used to come to Vienna to network and the government guaranteed that they could see many different operas in one week, sometimes up to 4 or 5 different operas. This means it is a logistical nightmare changing and storing sets and means there is a support crew of 50 people who work from 5am - 5pm each day changing sets! This tradition still continues to this day which is great for opera lovers!! They also showed us backstage how they can rotate the massive sets which was quite fascinating.
We got to look in the emperor´s special ante room (which apparently he liked more than the opera) and various other function rooms. Well worth the visit!!
I then decided to check out the Belvedere Palace, which houses an art gallery featuring Klimt & some impressionist art amongst other things. I hadn´t seen any art since Italy so was ready for a dose! I got to see Klimt´s "The Kiss" which was amazing, as well as a number of his other works. It was quite interesting - I think he painted the kiss towards the end
of his life and prior to this his art was quite traditional - eg portraits of people. The Kiss was quite different and must have been quite sensational when he painted it in the early 1900´s. There was also some Monet and my fave, a Van Gogh.
The artwork is housed in the actual palace so it is also a great opportunity to check out more palatial rooms etc.
During a much needed afternoon vanilla latte in Starbucks (which is even more ridiculously priced here than in Sydney) I mused about the European capital city and how they are all the same. I´m no longer surprised to see Zara, Mango & H&M (altho there are 2 H&Ms in Vienna which is new!), and of course there are always the Mc Donalds etc present. Its a bit of a shame really. I stÃll have not gotten over the novelty of H&M tho and need to go in each time I see one!!
I then did a walking tour of St Stephens cathedral in the centre of Vienna. It is the countries biggest catholic church and designed mainly in the gothic style...which I think is fast becoming my fave
style of architecture. I love the darkness of it, the ornate spires and the gargoyles always make for interesting viewing!!
Followed quickly I then saw the similarly gothic (although strictly neo- gothic as it was bilt in the 1800´s) Votive church. This was a truly gothic experience as there was a girl practising on the church organ. It took me back to my days if piano practise, although i was glad I didn´t have 2 keyboards as well as about 10 foot pedals like she did!!
I then got the tram around and took some last photos of Vienna before heading back to the hostel to pack. I have arrived in Prague today and soooo excited about meeting up with Anni & Nik....it will be fab to see from friendly faces and Prague has been on my list for so long. I´m also looking forward to a proper apartment and a washing machine at my disposal for a few days. How to make a backpacker happy!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.025s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0317s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Di Compton
non-member comment
Memories!
Aah, it takes me back to my trip around Europe many years' ago - thanks for rekindling those memories Anj! Take care, love Di