Wien ruft an

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Grüße aus Wien! (Greetings from Vienna!)

Reason #1 to take fewer, longer trips to Europe: 15+ hours of travel, mostly in coach class. (This is of special concern if you are a fat American and don't fit well in coach seats.) Miserable. We were in really rough shape upon arrival in Wien (Vienna).

Fortunately for us, two nice things happened as soon as we got here. First, a delightful gentleman (who looked and sounded a lot like a professor) saw us studying our map inside the U-Bahn (subway) station and offered to take us with him to the Universität Wien (University of Vienna), then marched up to a Polizei (police) van to ask them in German for directions to exactly the street beyond the Universität where our Pension is located. (We didn't bother to tell him that we had a pretty good idea from our map already; and in the state we were in, it may have been wise not to assume we would find it.)

Second, we happened to have made reservations at Pension Residenz, the most wonderful Pension (small hotel) in all of Wien. I am sure this is true and I don't intend to confuse the issue by ever staying at any of the others. 😊

EuroTravelTipp: I would say that a European Pension ("pen-see-yohn") is like the urban equivalent of a cozy suburban or rural bed & breakfast. In the center of crowded cities, there is definitely no open land to build a house to put a B&B in. Instead, a family might purchase part or all of an entire floor in an apartment building, and remodel it to operate as a small hotel: a main front door, reception desk, breakfast room, and individual guest rooms. Some Pensions will have a "wing" or hallway where all guest rooms share a common bathroom, while other rooms have "en-suite" or private baths. (I discovered, on an earlier Europe trip, that I am way too old and cranky and American to share a bathroom with strangers, which is also the reason we're talking about Pensions right now instead of Youth Hostels.) Some Pensions are more hotel-like and formal while others are more laid-back and casual, but all are quite different from a commercial hotel. Mostly, as far as I'm concerned, in good ways. 😊

Pension Residenz is located one block from the main building of the Universität Wien (University of Vienna), one block from the Rathaus (town hall), and two blocks from the Ringstraße (ring road, which defines the Altstadt (historic old town center)). The proprietors are friendly and helpful, and the gorgeous, spacious rooms have comfy Baroque-inspired furnishings which were nice to sink into after hours on cramped airplanes and chilly train stations. Oh, and there's Internet ("bringen Sie ihr Notebook mit!" -- no one has to ask me twice to bring a laptop)!

So, undeterred, or perhaps only incompletely deterred, by the arduous coach-class journey and impending jet lag (a.k.a. "Reason #2"), we set out to see a thing or two in the city after checking into the Pension. We needed to get a little exercise and get ourselves more onto Central European Time, not to mention find something to eat.

Greg's Vienna research had led him to a cultural icon known as a Heuriger, which combines Viennese wine-making and food with, often, live traditional Austrian folk music. We managed to find a "Stadtheuriger" called Esterházykeller nearby in the old town, which we hoped would offer a reasonable approximation of both. Talk about jumping into the deep end. It's a cafeteria-style buffet restaurant and, at least during this low-tourist "shoulder season", was entirely filled with locals. This meant Greg & I had to very quickly figure out how to navigate unfamiliar food, unfamiliar restaurant customs, and unfamiliar language all in the same moment. We blundered through it (most Europeans speak at least a little English, especially hospitality staff in tourist cities), but would have been wiser and less stressed if we'd been brave enough to ask a local customer for guidance, I think. We tried a plate of various little salads, some olives, bread, a bratwurst with spicy mustard, and a slice of roast pork -- more than enough food -- plus a small beer for Greg and a little mug of red wine for me. Delicious. But, no live music, and a "Stadtheuriger" isn't really an authentic wine-house either, so we will try again later this week in a suburb of Vienna known for its awesome Heurigen.

We walked back by way of the Hofburg Palace, which is just right smack in the middle of the old town.

Our attempts to stay up a few more hours in the hotel room (watching satellite TV) were utterly unsuccessful, so we fell asleep around 9:00 PM and were awake bright and early -- OK, not so bright -- at about 2:00 AM. We managed to force-doze until about 6:30 AM, a reasonable hour to get started on the day, about which more in the next post!

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Photos

First Foto!
Greg in our neighborhood near the Universität Wien, with the Votivkirche beyond.

Beethoven schlief hier
Greg outside the Beethoven "Pasqualatihaus" museum, just a few short blocks from our Pension.

Rathaus bei Dunkelwerden
I didn't realize the Rathaus would be lit up at dusk! I'm impressed my camera got this so clear but would be more impressed if I could also manage to hold the camera level.

Comments

[Mom]

Familiar pictures!
You made it! First picture I recognized right away from 1970s! Beethoven house has the familiar 4 flags historical markers. Much clearer pictures! Get close ups of the signs for descriptions with your pictures. Keep shooting lots more! Archie is fine, house is fine, we're fine.

[Barbara Martin]

Jet lag!
It sounds like your first night was a lot like our first night in Salisbury. We went to what turned out to be a pub for locals and were pretty much clueless. Joe was out cold by 7:30pm and I joined him about an hour later. Then I woke up at 3 and did that same forced doze. I'm so glad you guys are having a good time. Greg's *huge* smiles in your pictures are all I need to see. :)