Advertisement
Published: April 9th 2013
“I live in those apartments right there. My phone is in my apartment. I will get it. Please wait here.” The woman used hand gestures to show us not to move from the spot where we stood on the corner. We had gotten off the Student Agency bus in Vienna and walked around for about thirty minutes trying to find our hotel. We knew we were at the right station because we bought tickets for the subway, went into the subway, and realized we were already at the correct subway station. But where was the hotel? We had asked a woman walking past. She stopped and examined mom’s hieroglyphics. “Do you have a number?” She had asked. Mom explained that we do have the number, but that she was hesitant to use our American phone while in Austria. So, the woman actually went to her apartment, brought back her phone, called the hotel, got the directions, and then told us how to get to the hotel. Amazing! A note to my readers: If someone is lost in your town, please go out of your way to help them. It will make them love your city and your country. Also, they will
probably remember you forever.
Our next challenge was the bus. We actually just got on the bus without buying a ticket because we were so worried about catching the bus and finding the hotel. It was dark and cold and finding the hotel has been the most stressful part of our weekend journeys. So, we took a risk and jumped the bus. I showed the address information to a woman on the bus who happened to be going to the same stop. She pointed us in the direction of the hotel, which was visible from the bus stop. We saw a pizza place (Pachino’s Pizza) on the corner. After we dropped our things in the room, we went there to eat. The pizza was really good and we ordered enough to take some back to the hotel for a snack the next day. That was our first day in Vienna.
We woke up the next morning to a warm snow. It looked really beautiful outside our windows, but was miserable if you had to be outside for long. Ava and I took our umbrellas with us because the snow was heavy and wet. We knew that we needed
to catch a bus into town and that we should also pay for the bus this time. We’d hate to end up getting fined on Easter Sunday! Since we had only been in town for an evening, we mostly had large Euro bills. I asked the driver for two tickets and handed him 10 Euro. He didn’t have change. So I gave him the 3 Euro we had in change and he said that was fine. So, even though we bought tickets, we got them at a serious discount thanks to the kind driver. The weather was so bad that we decided to splurge on a hop-on hop-off bus tour. The buses were reasonably nice with headphones that offered you information about the sites in several languages. We decided to get off in Hero’s Square and bought tickets to see the morning training at the Spanish Riding School. However, we had to come back the next day because we were too late to watch the training that day. We got back on the bus and decided to hop off and see St. Stephens’s cathedral. It was really grandiose. It had high ceilings, and I could definitely feel the sense of
Brave, tired guy
The weather was so bad and I was so tired. I almost joined this guy in his nap.history while inside. However, it didn’t rival the little church we had seen earlier in the day that had more color and a homier feeling. Still, I was happy to see it and definitely won’t forget it. We got back on the bus and got off again at Schönbrunn Palace. It was packed! We bought tickets for a 30-minute tour of the palace, but would have to wait an hour for the tour because the palace was apparently full. There were lots of little booths in the main square selling various items. Ava begged me for a wooden toy top that is spun by using a pretty shoelace. I think it will work well on our floor in the apartment and won’t take up much space in her suitcase when we move out of our current apartment.
It was cold, wet, and very windy, so we were happy to start our palace tour after the hour of looking at the various stalls. While waiting in line to get our little handheld audio sets, several people tried to push past us in line. One guy (I won’t say gentlemen) in particular was persistent in these endeavors. At one point, he
This little piggy...
Some bonding time at Starbucks actually shoved Ava out of his way so that he could get in front of us. It was all I could do not to go completely postal on that guy. I decided to use passive aggressive strategies (glaring, dirty looks, and mumbling under my breath) instead. Once we were given our headsets, we started the tour. The first room was pretty, with nice furniture, red carpet, gold details on everything, and a few paintings. The second room was also pretty, with nice furniture, red carpet, gold details on everything, and a few paintings. By the third room, I was over it. Every room was the same with the furniture put in different places. This was what I waited an hour in the wind and snow to see? What a waste of time! Mom and Ava felt the same way. We got out of there as soon as we could and waited for the bus to come. And then we waited some more. The buses were supposed to come by every 30 minutes, but we waited for over an hour without seeing a single bus. There were a lot of people waiting with us. When the bus did finally come, and
all the people got on the bus, it was completely full and no one got off again. The tour ended at the State Opera House. Luckily, there was a Starbucks within sight. We made our way inside and found some comfy chairs next to the window. Ava took her socks and shoes off so they could dry. Before we found the tour bus, mom had bought us tickets to what a man in a cape promised was “a family event” with a full orchestra, singing, and dancing. We had some time before it started, and enjoyed the warmth of hot brewed (not instant) coffee and the Starbucks atmosphere.
We begrudgingly left Starbucks and headed to the orchestra. Again, we stood in a line, but this time it was four French women who were pushing against us from behind. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Americans like our three feet of personal space. We have a lot of space in our country, and typically don’t feel the need to be all smashed together while waiting in line. I left two feet of space between us and the people in front of us, and the four women went around us and
stood in that space! I was shocked! I looked at one of the women and told her that they had just taken our place. They motioned for us to go ahead of them again, but continued to push against us as we all waited to check our coats. After an hour of that nonsense, we were led to a very nice cafegymnatorium. For those of you who don’t know, this is the room in a small American school that is used as a cafeteria, gymnasium, and auditorium to save space and money. This was exactly what this room reminded me of, as we sat on straight-backed kitchen chairs on a level floor, completely unable to see the stage that was only raised about two feet from the floor. The music was nice and so was the singing, but Ava couldn’t see any of the dancing or really anything that took place on stage. The whole thing was a wash. We left a little early so that we wouldn’t have to deal with a crowd of people trying to get their checked coats. After all the weather and combative waiting, we slept very well. We also decided not to buy any
more tickets from people on the street wearing capes.
Monday was beautiful! The sun was shining and it wasn’t windy. It was the second day since we arrived in Europe that the sun shone during part of the day. We went to watch the morning exercises at the Spanish Riding School. It looks like the horses are born black and turn white as they mature. They only take the white ones on tour, but it was cool to see the coloring of all the horses during different levels of maturity and ability. After the show, we went to a little place around the corner and had some delicious pasta for a reasonable price. I feel like I should take this time to warn any fellow travellers about paying for drinks. My advice would be not to pay for drinks. There are no free refills and the average glass of Coca-Cola will cost more than $3. I set my water bottle on the seat next to me and drank out of it during meals. There’s no free water either, and I don’t see why I should have to pay $3 for a bottle of water when I can fill up
Me and Ava
View from Prater Carousel my water bottle for the 75 cents it costs to use a bathroom. I might sound cheap for mentioning this, but the amount of money I spent in Vienna was much more than I had budgeted and I found it stressful.
After lunch, we went to Prater. This was the real budget-blower, but I know that it would be. Ava and I rode the giant Ferris wheel (it’s famous), bumper cars, and other rides. Ava was also able to ride a pony that walked on it’s own around a circle. She really loved it and it was cool to watch her. We had a lot of fun, and laughed like we haven’t laughed in over a month. It was worth every Euro I spent! When I think of Vienna, I think I will immediately think of the bumper cars. J
Spanish Riding School:
