The Crown Jewels

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I'd like to begin this entry with a few observations about the Austrian people I have made over the past few days. First and foremost, they are really friendly. I do not recall meeting an unfriendly one so far. Another observation is that most seem to be able to speak English, and happily do so. This varies from other countries I have been in, where they reluctantly do it. Particularly in the heart of Vienna, you can walk into a café, a restaurant, or a tourist attraction and if you look like a tourist, they will automatically ask you "English or Deutsch?" We respond with English and they will automatically begin speaking to you in English.

It's wonderful and helpful to have this, although, it has had me thinking how disappointing it is, too. The further north you go in Vienna, it seems that it is harder to communicate as their English is very broken. In a lot of places, it is either the above mentioned method, they initially greet you in German and when your eyes glaze over in confusion, they instantly change. Or, if you speak first, they will respond.

Coming from an English speaking country, I feel there is a potential sense of entitlement that we feel with the 'universal' language of English. If foreigners come over here, we expect them to speak our language. If we go over there, we expect them to speak our language. I honestly feel guilty about it. I want to be able to speak their language, but I just can't.

And the reason for that? In a lot of non-English speaking countries, English is studied almost as much as the national language. Children learn it in schools from a very early age. In Australia learning a language is regarded as extra-curricula. Primary schools do it, but once reaching high school it basically becomes an elective subject. And there are so many languages to choose from if one does pursue the path of learning a language. It's not really essential here, and unless you can see a career out of it, most only do it for fun and nothing more.

When I think of it in that sense, I don't feel as guilty, but at the same time, I still feel so rude expecting them to understand me in their own country, when really it should be the other way around. Today, we caught a taxi where the driver apologetically tried to explain to use that he spoke "no English". Why should he have to apologise for that? After all, we are in a German-speaking country. He shouldn't have to.

Reading the language is easy enough. Some words on signs are similar enough for us to understand the basic meaning, but verbally is a whole new skill that neither of us possess.

But anyway, that was just a thought that came to me today as we tried to tell the taxi driver where we wanted to go, and then having to ask somebody if they spoke English, because we had no idea what she was saying. Thankfully, we had the address written in German on our tickets, which helped him a lot.

Our day began much better than the previous. New Year's Day! We are now officially in 2016. A little after breakfast we headed to the hop on hop off bus stop, with a plan in mind of what our day was going to be like. We had stops we wanted to stop at and a path to take. All was good.

Well, that good feeling didn't last very long when we got off at the Military Museum we were keen to look through, and saw a big fat 'Closed' sign on the door. So, apparently, things aren't open on New Year's Day here.

We had to wait another 30 minutes for the next bus to arrive (for they were still running) and in the meantime it was snowing and it was actually really pretty. I got out my camera (one of those ones with a lenses and a good zoom) to take some pictures of the area while we waited. Apparently yesterday I accidentally left my camera on overnight so I only managed two shots before the battery died and I had to resort to bad quality phone camera for the rest of the day.

Still, we got some and the bus came and we decided to go straight to the State Opera (the connecting stop for the lines) and transferred.

I don't remember what stop we got off at, but this place was a garden of some kind, so was open all of the time. Again, it was really pretty and still snowing. It was an enjoyable walk though.

Somehow, we managed to make our way back to where we had been yesterday (is it Sisi's Palace? I do not actually know the name of the building, but it has many areas to explore). We were on the opposite side this time, and what a lovely view it was. As we walked through this was where we discovered the museum that displayed the royal family's jewels. And it was opening at 1! As almost everything else was closed, it was one of the few things we could do. And despite discovering it by accident, we were keen to have a look inside. Not to mention it was one of the places our Vienna Passes could be used (thankfully we had them visible around our necks, because we were going to buy tickets to enter before a man came along and told us we didn't need to).

Before 1 o'clock came around we went into this place we found for lunch. It was a pizza and pasta place, but it worked a little different than a usual restaurant. Upon entering you receive a card. This card stores how much you have bought. You scan the card when you go up to the counter to order and then as you leave they scan it in on the register an you pay.

I ordered a pasta which had olive oil, garlic, chilli, pine nuts and parsley. They also cook it in front of you. They have portioned packets of the pasta ready to go, and just put it in as you order. In a separate bowl they add the other ingredients, then mix it all together at the end.

It was yummy, and to have a huge bowl of pasta and a coke, it cost me 9,90 euro. Food is so cheap here! Albert ordered a pizza which is made to order, but neither of us could finish our meals. The pizza was only 8 euros.

Not that our day's plan had already been messed around with us not realising things were closed, it was in here we also bothered to check our ice hockey tickets for the evening. If we hadn't, we probably wouldn't have made it. We had planned our day for a 7pm start, when in fact it was a 4pm start. Really, we had plenty of time, it just meant we couldn't go back to our hotel and dump everything we'd bought that day bore heading back.

The museum (called Kunsthistorisches Museum) isn't that big, and didn't take a long time to get through. Probably not worth the 20 euros to be in there for 30 minutes, but as we didn't have to pay, it was worth it for us. There are actually some really nice things in there. The cradle used by the royal family, a gold-bound gospel. Not to mention the crown that was worn by the emperor! Most descriptions are written in both German and English, though the odd one you just had to guess what it was.

I would recommend going in to have a look if all things royal are your thing (like it is mine). It's genuinely fascinating to see things dated back to centires ago (the 13th century was when the Hapburg rule began). Even things such as baptism outfits worn by the emperors.

They have a souvenir shop on the way out. I bought a finger-sized crown made of 24 carat gold. On a normal day I would not spend 35 euro on something which is seemingly useless, but what are holidays for? Albert bought a musical egg which is really nice, too!

There wasn't much else to do, so we caught a taxi to the ice hockey at Albert Shultz Eishalle (Hall). Vienna Capitals vs. Graz 99ers in the Austrian Hockey League (known as the EBEL). I know nothing about this sport , but Albert does and could explain what was happening to me. It was a good atmosphere with fans with drums and large banners and supporter songs and phrases. The Capitals won 3-1, which I think pleased the majority of the crowd.

So despite shops being shut, and even tourist attractions being closed, we managed to find things to do and enjoy our second full day here. Tomorrow we have booked an all day tour, which means we can relax about having a plan and go wherever they take us!

I hope you enjoy these pictures.

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Photos

Snow
Albert when we walked through a very snowy garden

Snow
Ashleigh when we walked through the snowy garden.

Gold Gospel
Used by the imperial - the Hapburgs

Capitals vs. Graz
The black ones are Graz and the yellow the Capitals

Military Museum
A statue out the front, seeing as we couldn't get in.

Nice View
A lovely view from our walk through the garden. I'm glad it snowed. It makes everything prettier.

Palace
A view of the whole palace/building. I'm still not sure what exactly it is.

Pasta
The yummy pasta Ashleigh had

Picture frame
Belonging to the imperials

Royal Cradle
Used by the imperials

St Stephen's Cathederal
We haven't been here yet, but we passed it today.

Waiting for the Bus
Snow on the ground behind us, and it was actually snowing at this time. So very pretty!