LAST 24 HRS IN VIENNA

Well we certainly have been busy trying to get Vienna to improve it's appeal on us over the last 24hrs. For the record here is a pic of Dominique´s foot next to the toilet to show how little space we have. I can lean back against the wall to pee.

However, I can say our rating for this place has gone up a fair bit....maybe all the wine we consumed at the food and wine festival this afternoon has certainly helped...more about that one later.



We decided that the best way to tackle this city was to get on a tour bus for a few hours and see the main sights. Tour booked, we had a few hours to kill so we tackled the subway and headed off to the Saturday markets. They were very large with half being for food and wine and the second half being for a type of a flea market. You will recall in Japan we had the impression it was a "tiny town" well Vienna´s food is anything but tiny ... the food is all big. ...a vanilla slice that I was very tempted to buy would fill a dinner plate, it was huge and had pink custard not yellow. The pizza stall had pizzas that again were massive. One had a whole egg on every slice and was about 6 slices in size. The fruit and vegetables again were all large, we would only need one or two strawberries to fill up!!!!


We strolled through the trash and treasure part in case some great little souvenier was to be found. The atmosphere through this part of the market was bottom end. We headed back to the food market and with time to kill we grabbed one of tables outside a food wine cafe for a little refreshment.... more wine.... and people watching. What fun we had. The stall owner across the alley offered to be photographer for us but found it hard to get a clear shot with the mass of people constantly pouring by. We got many jealous looks from the passerbys as there were few tables available. Here is a pic of me Dominique managed to get.




We have had a few more challenges mastering their subway but have got the hang of it now we actually have a paper copy of the subway map. So off on our tour we went after our break at the market.

The tour guide was quite impressive and informative and gave us a small look at the cities key highlights..he spoke 5 languages,had a great with and our tour was in english.


The tour for the most took us around the city on the ring road. The buses are not allowed within this space as the roads are a bit tight. We passed many fabulous buildings and monuments. The tour highlight was touring through the summer palace, Schonbronn, built about 300 years ago with a total of 1300 rooms all lavishly decorated. One room that stood out to me was decorated with Chinese art works which in themselves were painted with gold paint, the walls were lined with Carribean timbers beautifully inlaid around the many paintings which went from floor to ceiling...remembering the ceilings were about 15 plus feet high. The estimated value to replace this room alone was over $10 million.The floors throughout were extordinary, again beautifully laid timber patterns and colours. I can see why they had uprisings when all the taxes collected from millions of poor people went into the construction and decorating and I haven't even mentioned the gardens!!!!!!


What a piece of work...oh my god..just splendid..fountains, statues, monuments, lawns, tulips, roses, trees, trees and more trees. (see arch on hill in background)



We were dropped off back in the city next to one of Vienna´s most famous coffee shops, the Sacher Cafe. As we didn´t actually eat the Sacher Torte that morning at breakfast, we thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up... so in we went. At the front door we were directed to the cloak room to check in our coats and then we were taken into the formal tea room. I immediately felt very priveliged and lucky to be sitting in such a fine room with my wife. I should mention that the Sacher Torte and the Apfel Strudel accompanied with fine tea made for a very relaxing hour.... Vienna gained a few brownie points with this one!
After the delicious afternoon tea we strolled up the main pedestrian street stopping to watch street performers, windown shop and people watch. At the end of this street is St Stephans Cathedral. I looked up and to my surprise, I saw the roof Emmeline told me I had to find. You are right Emmeline, it is amazing. (Here is a picture of Dominique outside the cathedral)

Mass was going on in the cathedral and they had part of the interior fenced off so the tourists would not disturb the congregation. This was fine. We still managed to get a good idea of what it is like and here is a pic to show you.

Sorry to talk food again but we had a late dinner which was sensational. It was an intimate Italian restaurant. No menu´s and no prices had me feeling a bit uneasy at this stage. The maitre di (an exceptionally large man..... which told me the food here was pretty good) came to introduce himself to us and went through what was on offer for tonights meal. We passed up on the scallop & truffle pasta and went for the beef carpaccio as our entre. For mains we settled on a mix of seafood (2 x types of fish, prawns & calamari) accompanied with a lovely fresh salad. The wine suggested by the head waiter was fab with the meal. I finished the night having consumed one very large glass of Grappa too many. (I think the continual plying of Grappa was to soften the blow of the final bill!!!!!!) It was worth every cent......

A late and slow start to the day was needed. We caught the subway again to the far side of the City and Danube River with the plan to walk all the way back. It was great to get out and move and get some air... the temperature yesterday and today have been in the low teens. Very pleasant.

Having done enough walking and wanting to rest our bruised feet we hit the subway and made a bee line for the University area where yesterdays tour highlighted a local region festival. We also wanted to have a closer look at the buildings... and get a feel for this part of town as it looked like it had alot to offer.

To our surprise the festival was not only showcasing local holidays and day trip available but it was also a BIG food and wine festival. At the front door we bought our 2 x wine glasses (filled with a delicious rose number) and kept walking in search of a weiner on a roll. (we have been trying to eat and drink local produce where possible in each place) We noticed in the centre there was a bit ring of hay bales and sat here to drink our first wine, then our 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th glass of wine. We also managed to consume the weiners, pretzels, apple strudel and these other little crunchy baked treats) Needless to say we enjoyed ourselves for many hours. (we did actually glance at the building once or twice and figured that was enough looking for one day) To add to the atmosphere there was constant entertainment going on all around us. With one main stage and several small stages.

By this stage we were both somewhat inebriated and to my amazement we managed to get home via 2 subway trains in one piece. I reckon we were both asleep within 2 mins of walking in the door for an late afternoon catnap.

We spoke with the kids this morning (we are trying to chat with them at least once a week... we are missing them lots but they are going great at home with Emmeline and we will see them soon) and Ashleigh said it looks like we went to Europe for a restaurant crawl with not much sight seeing happening. We will try and do better but its really hard as the food and wine just keeps getting better.

Bye for now
Mark