And It Begins: Vienna Zwei

Somehow Vienna knows when I plan to come because it has the same weather every time. It’s cloudy, cold and rainy while I am there and the day I plan to leave its sunny and warm out. Thank goodness I had a rain coat.

Friday: Zach and I arrived at the hotel tired and sweaty and in need of a shower. When we walked up to the hotel, it looked nice but when you walked inside you realized just how nice it was. We had booked ourselves a pretty fancy hotel to begin this trip but I wasn’t complaining. Going from a shared dorm room to this was lovely! We took our time to settle in and shower and by the time we were ready to go out, it was 5pm and cold. We decided to have a night in and grabbed some good old McDonalds and watched The Sorcerers’ Apprentice (yes the Disney movie) and fell asleep at 8:30. We were winners. 

 

Saturday: Since we fell asleep so early, we also woke up early, at 6:30 in the morning. Instead of getting up to see the sights, we watched our first episode of Bones together! For those that know how big of a Bones fan I am, this was a big deal. We had included breakfast in our hotel and let me tell you it was worth it. It had everything you could want out of a continental breakfast and we got regular pots of coffee. We ate so much that both Saturday and Sunday we didn’t have to stop for lunch. It was supposed to be rainy on Sunday so we planned to tour Schönbrunn Palace. As we made our way to the Schönbrunn Palace, we got side tracked at this interesting looking building. As it turned out, we saw the Belveder Gardens. Now if you were to ask me what the Belveder Gardens are, I couldn’t tell you the significance of this. All I can say is they were beautiful. 

The monument by our hotel

It had something to do with a free republic

Part of the Belveder Gardents

The gardens

After we got out of the Belveder Gardens, we made our way to Schönbrunn Palace. We walked all throughout the grounds, which was my favorite part of the palace. The garden area was huge! It was originally built as a hunting lodge so it was forested all over. There was also a huge terrace type building at the end of the garden where Austrian royalty would hold parties or special dinners and even concerts. Mozart played his first concert for Maria Theresa in this palace. 

From the top of the gardens looking down at the palace

The terrace thing (just not sure what to call it)

The gardens

Before we left the palace, we decided we wanted to see the apple strudel show. We got to sample the strudel and learn how to make it! Zach liked the strudel (surprising since he doesn’t like sweets) and the show was fun. We also got the recipe so now I can make it back home. It was a fun thing to do while at the palace. 

After the palace, Zach and I headed into the inner city and went to check out a music museum. I expected it to be all about famous old composers and there was one floor dedicated to that. The others were more about learning how sound works and the ear hearing things. It was an alright museum but Zach and I were both tired and our feet hurt. We decided to try a place to eat from Frommer’s guidebook and we ended up at The Three Axes. I got meatloaf and potatoes while Zach ordered goulash and potatoes. It was the best meal I have had in Austria as far as Austrian food goes. It was so yummy and filled both of us up. That night we stayed in again and feel asleep early. (It’s going to become the pattern of this trip I think).

The streets of Vienna

Zach had goulash

I had meatloaf and potatoes

Sunday: The two last things Zach and I wanted to make sure we saw were the Hofburg palace and St Stephen’s Cathedral. We made it to the Hofburg palace and strolled through the huge stone gates. It’s a very impressive palace and grounds and really screams power and authority. When I was with John, I didn’t realize at the time how much of the palace we actually saw. Zach and I saw the Burg Garden and the back of the Neue Hofburg. It’s also an area that John and I went to but I didn’t realize at the time what we were seeing. Zach and I saw all of the Hofbug grounds including the other garden, Volks Garden (John and I didn’t see this one). St Stephen’s Cathedral didn’t open until 1:30 so we had about two hours to kill. Zach and I saw the Parliament building, the Museum Quarter, the Rathaus, and some random church. It was all really old and the architecture was spectacular to look at. 

The Neue Palace

Mozart!

Volks Garden

Part of the Hofburg Palace. It's so big I can't get the entire thing in one picture

The Rathaus

The alter in the random church we found

 As we were making our way towards St Stephen’s Cathedral and looking for a café, we remembered one that was on the street we were on called Café Demel. It was a fancy little place but from where we were sitting, the bakery was open to see the bakers making different cakes and pastries. We were able to see a baker making apple strudel! It was great! She made three at a time and since we had already had a lesson in making apple strudel, it was fun to see what she would put into hers. 

St Stephen’s Cathedral is beautiful. It’s been worked on by several architects and has many different styles of architecture, although the outside is all gothic. We first went into the catacombs which were as great as they were the first time. I think it’s the perfect amount of creepy and cool plus you learn a lot. Zach and I also did the audio guide and toured the cathedral. I always like audio guides because it provides you with information about what it is you are looking at. The cathedral is beautiful, one of the prettiest I have been in while I have traveled Europe. 

Zach and I were able to try some street food Frankfurters for dinner and had another early night. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and grabbed a sandwich from the store. My German is still poor since I ordered a salami sandwich and all we got was a piece of bread with salami inside. However, we made it work! We checked out of our hotel and made our way to the train station to get on the train to Salzburg. So far, our traveling has been easy going and no trains have stopped! Knock on wood that our trip continues to go so well. Next stop, Salzburg!

Love,
Sara