Advertisement
Published: September 30th 2017
a
Display at the Hopfburg palace - apparently this is a very special napkin fold reserved for special occasions. Only a handful of people know how to do it. Who really cares? It's a stupid napkin you fools!!! Why the secrecy?Geo: 48.2092, 16.3728
Up early to buy a train ticket for tomorrow. Korean girl thought I was Korean and talked to me in Korean. Turned out she spoke perfect English (she lived in California and NYC for a few years). She was looking for a hostel - I walked her to mine. Ran upstairs to use the can ... she was gone when I went back down.
I saw her walking back to train station and chased her down. My hostel was full and she wanted to look for one closer to the south station where she was leaving from tomorrow. Told her that nothing is there and suggested "Wombats" hostel down the block. Luckily for her, there was room. But not for me! It was much nicer than mine. Nice leather couches and a flat screen TV. I made a bad choice again 😞
Went back to hostel for breakfast while she showered. Banana, biscuits, and coffee. Then off to Hopfburg Palace again, this time to see the actual palace. First, we walked down Kartnerstrasse - dead on a Sunday morning.
Palace - included audio guide but too much info!!! Boring cutlery and plates were the start of the exhibition. Was overwhelmed before
b
This guy really is a Wiener! They're all over the place pitching touristy concerts. getting to the Sisi museum and the apartments. Sisi was a former queen that was famous for her beauty. She died a tragic death ... is compared to Princess Di. But Sisi was not well-liked when she was alive, only when she died. Honestly, she seemed like a narcissistic (obsessed with beauty and dieting), bipolar, psycho!
We had a quick sausage for lunch. Then ... Hotel Sacher for its famous Sacher Torte. Chocolate cake ... slightly dry, covered in chocolate. Very good ... rich, but not too rich or sweet. Famous cake - almost lived up to its hype. Had a coffee with milk - didn't live up to the expectations of the fine Viennese coffee. The Spaniards and Portuguese do it much better! The cafe was very elegant.
Soo went back to the hostel to unpack and rest. We made plans to meet up for the film festival. Pet peeve - ATMs that don't tell you the limits. If you ask for too much it spits your card back without telling you how much you can take. Took me 3 tries to finally get money. Why??? Irritating.
Walked to Ressel park - nice square, not too many people. Walked
c
This might be the Natural History Museum. into Wien museum for the bathroom. Could be an interesting place (the museum, not the toilet). Stadt park - nothing special. Vienna is much quieter on Sundays.
Walked to the "Bermuda Triangle" - local nightlife district. Not much to see during the day, however. Stopped at a cafe to relieve myself. Had a hazelnut torte .... hazelnut cake ... hazelnut cream ... chopped nuts ... with a walnut on top ... heavenly. I think I could survive on hazelnuts alone. The door to the toilet was as thick as a bank door. It's only crap people, not gold!
Saw some reasonable priced fast-food sushi in the train station. Comparable in price to Calgary restaurants. Met Soo at 6 PM. Down to the food court at city hall - 2 choices for me - Brasilian or Paella. Had to go with Brasilian since I missed it in Bratislava. Chicken, steak, mixed veggies, with rice. Wasn't quite churrascaria quality as everything was partially cooked and then finished when it was ordered. Still very good. Some kind of sauce was on it ... not sure what it was but it was tasty. Drinks were very expensive so I didn't bother. Soo had a tortilla -
d
Mozart statue in park beside palace. looked good.
Soo and I grabbed seats 45 minutes before the show. We just sat there making fun of things ... it was a blast. I always miss not having someone around to make rude comments to. Hopefully we can stay in touch and remain friends. We exchanged war stories at the cafe earlier.
Me - I talked about Isabel. Soo - she met a guy from Seoul on a cruise down the Seine in Paris. How cliched, but how great is that? They spent a week together and are continuing things (he left already).
By the way, I never knew this but there is a network of Korean homes worldwide that rent out beds to Koreans - 20 euro per night including breakfast and dinner. Nice for Korean travellers!
La Traviata was the opera for the night. Amazing! 3 operas I have been to - in Verona, I thought only of my aching butt while sitting on the stone with only a crappy cushion to protect my butt from the cold hard stone. Salzburg - too cold and rainy. But here, it was excellent. The male lead looked like a bizarre mix of Colin Firth, Mr. Bean, and some
e
The inside of the Sacher Cafe. greasy Italian dude. But it was an incredible performance. Apparently it was the highlight of the 2005 Salzburg festival. I didn't want to leave but both of us had to get up early for the train and the opera usually takes forever. Probably would have to catch a night bus as well and I didn't know what the routes were.
A perfect night, still. Sometimes I get a bit tired of traveling ... then I go to a place like Vienna and am recharged and rejuvenated. Back to the hostel ... lively bar downstairs but again, I was too tired to partake. I need to take things slower and enjoy some of this!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.429s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.109s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
