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Published: July 28th 2013
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Vienna 24 July 2013
We have been to Vienna before but it was really skimming the very top surface, so we were looking forward to exploring this lovely city.
Our camp site (Camping West Wein) was 7km out from the city centre. As with so many European cities, the public transport was excellent, particularly the Metro with trains coming at least every 10 minutes – but usually more frequently. We walked 2 minutes to the bus station, waited 5 minutes for the bus which stopped at the Metro station and we walked straight onto the train.
We became quickly oriented with our excellent maps we got from the Camping reception. We walked past many of the museums, onto the Hofburg, the former Imperial court. This complex not only consists of the palace but also a cathedral, the Spanish Riding School, museum, art gallery, national library, a garden with Mozart Memorial and State Apartments.
It was another very hot day so before we had a good look around, we found a café near the entry arches so had coffee and apple strudel. Once going through the arches, we saw many carriages that were hitched to 2 horses. These
could be hired by tourists, to be taken around the ‘court’. The only downside to all this was the smell…and with the heat, it made things worst.
Not to worry, we took a good hour to walk around. We also saw there was a performance by the Lipizzaner Stud horses from Piber which we visited after seeing Graz, so we found out where to buy the tickets for the next day.
We then walked to the City Hall and found 100s of chairs set up and many, many food stalls. It was the 1
st day of the Annual Summer Film Festival. There was music playing also. So we stopped and had dinner. Each of the food stalls represented a country. There was an Australian stall serving BBQ prawns and beef. The 2 guys serving were wearing akubra hats but spoke German. It was a beautiful evening and with lots going on, we had a great time.
The next day we rode our bikes half way into the city to the Metro station. We saw more of the sites of Vienna. At 11.00am we went to the performance put on by the famous baroque stallions from Piber. They
also showed the mares with their foals as well as other horses pulling carriages. The whole performance was demonstrating the relationship between man and horse. They were very clever.
We then saw more of the sites of the city as you will see by the photos. This included the St Stephen Dom and we also visited a really unusual area - Kunst Haus Wien and the Museum Hundertwasser. The architect of these unusual houses was a Dutch person. He wanted to make a statement with his unusual and colourful designs, using tiles and non-symmetrical angles and levels. It was fascinating (see photos).
We then caught the Metro back to our bikes then road to the Schonbrunn Palace and gardens which we only drove past in the bus the last time we were in Vienna. This area is massive. We were there a couple of hours looking through the Palace and walking around the garden.
The second night in Vienna, we attended a Mozart Concert and Opera in the Concert Hall – which in itself was beautiful. We really enjoyed ourselves. We ended up (by chance) sitting next to a couple of people who we met in the
Van Park where we were staying. They were from the Netherlands and they had stopped to talk to us in the Van Park – in Dutch of course – but they soon learned we were Australian. This happens to us all the time. We should have a big sign on our Camper – WE ARE AUSTRALIAN but Dutch people please still come and say hello!!!!
SO after 2 ½ days in Vienna, we were leaving this beautiful historic city. We kept on thinking how beautiful all the buildings are. We even went into the Burger King building and it had frescos on the ceiling and ornate cornices etc. You get to the stage of seeing all the beautiful buildings and wondering if they are one of THE buildings or not.
The morning we left Vienna, we made a couple of phone calls and we were then on our way along the Danube River valley, and the Wachau Valley from Krems to Melk which are to the west of Vienna.
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