Walking Wien

The morning started early as I headed out the door of the hostel in the brisk coldness of Vienna. I headed to the underground which is just around the corner and took it to Stephansplatz where upon walking up the stairs onto the street above I was greeted with a massive cathedral called, St. Stephens. The square around it was peaceful and quiet and only a handful of tourists could be seen walking around. Most people looked like business people all dressed up and walking to work. This is a very nice and upscale area. The doors of the cathedral were open so I walked on in. It was beautiful! However, they were charging to go in further and there was a gift shop with a lighted sign facing the main area. I found it odd, yet I can recall that Notre Dame had a similar set up. I didn't stay long. I headed down the main drag of shops and upscale brand stores all the way to the Opera House. I had looked online to see if I could attend an opera, play, or concert. Sadly, most of the places were sold out until Wednesday night. I'm sure if I really wanted to I could search box offices for some standing room tickets, but I decided not to worry about it and just go about the day. The theaters are so spread out and I didn't want to be on a "mission" the whole day. I headed toward the Innere Stadt where the main concentration of sites are. The museums here are plentiful and huge!!! I walked all the way to the end of the Innere Stadt and continued back toward St. Stephens. As I walked I began to hear the sounds of military calls and marching. I followed my ear to find where the sounds were coming from. A couple of turns later I find myself in a courtyard with nearly a hundred military men in full dress standing in their unit lines with rifles in hand. There was a military band off to the side and a Color Guard as well. When I arrived the main Sargent or captain....we'll just call him "Lieutenant Dan".........was expecting the troops to ensure that all the guys were dressed and standing tall. He'd occasionally go up to one and brush his shoulder as to remove lint. A small group was gathered, but there were a few buses parked off to the side where people were watching from inside the bus. Lieutenant Dan started yelling instructions and the military men began doing their formal routine by maneuvering their weapons in various positions in unison with each other. By this time more people had come to watch. In the middle of the routine a giant drove of kids started walking from the main street into the courtyard. They were walking single file and were all dressed for Fasching. It was like a Halloween Parade. They walked right behind the military men and into the building. There must have been over a hundred children. Lieutenant Dan then marched the men into the building. It was cool!

Troops

I continued walking and stumbled upon a city information office. I got a better map and asked what sights I should see. Other than what I had already seen, the lady recommended the palace, an old ferris wheel, and an art museum. By the way, the art museum is called, "Belvedere" and they have signs all over the place with an artist (Van Gogh style) rendition of Mr. Belvedere. Funny! It actually looks more like William Daniels.......he was the voice of KITT in Knight Rider and also was the principle in the TV show "Boy Meets World". Anyway, I headed back in the direction of St. Stephens. The cathedral's tower was now open and so I climbed it to the top. It was a tough climb! However, the payoff at the top was worth it. At the top they also had a small gift shop and served cold drinks....a good idea. One girl asked the man behind the counter, "Do you climb those stairs everyday?" and the man replied, "everyday".

View from St. Stephens

After, I started to head back to the underground but I heard another sound. This time it sounded like a full band. I walked down the drag and, again, followed my ear. This time I encountered where looked like a college band, but they were all dressed for Fasching. There was about 20-25 of them all rocking out to popular music on their instruments. I listened to a couple of songs and was going to leave, but then they started doing the conga-line around the crowed and played the song, "Does Your Mother Know" from Mama Mia so I stuck around quite a bit longer. It was a blast! They were such a fun group! By the way, the song "Does Your Mother Know" has been stuck in my head all day!!!! It's a good song so no worries. It is actually making me excited for Greece. When they were all done most of them set down their instruments and then pulled out their cigarettes. It was funny.

The Band

I made my way to the underground and headed toward this ferris wheel. When I got to the nearest stop I could see the ferris wheel immediately. I walked toward it and found myself in an Austrian Fairgrounds called, "The Vienna Prater". It was cool, but first the ferris wheel. The Giant Ferris Wheel was built in 1897 and you can see it in the movies, "The Third Man" AND the James Bond film, "The Living Daylights". The Giant Ferris Wheel looks old and is very unique with its giant cars. I decided to take a ride. When I entered I was led into a room which looked like a fun-house with all of these mirrors. There were also smaller versions (but still big) of the cabs. Inside each one was some sort of model depicting various themes. They were all automated and did various motions. Don't know how I can better explain it. Well, walked over to the entrance and walked in my cab. It was pretty big. A family from Italy joined me. As the wheel started to move you could feel the cab move just enough as it rocked high up in the air. The family would all rush to one side to see the view and you could see the cab tilt drastically to that side. I'd always go the other way and balance us out. The 360-degree view was fantastic. You could look down into the cab next to us and see a luxury dining set-up with white table clothes. It looked as if they did private events and parties in these thing. Great idea! When the ride was over I decided to walk around the fairgrounds for a while even though most everything was closed for the winter. There was one ride open....bumper cars...and at one point there was only two people on the whole ride. It's pretty funny and not very exciting to watch only two cars try to hit each other. I walked on. The place is very similar to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. The ride I enjoyed the most (ascetically) was the haunted house. It was different looking.

The Giant Ferris Wheel

Cab of Ferris Wheel

Me in Giant Ferris Wheel

Haunted House

Looking on the map I noticed that I was pretty close to the Danube River. I decided to head that way. On the map there is a thin island and the underground train even had a stop on the island so I decided to check it out. The park was nice and I walked around for about a half hour. I wish there was a bike rental because this place would be great for a bike ride. The cool part was that they had these scattered Beer Gardens along the park. Sadly, all closed up for the winter. In the summer I bet this would be an awesome spot to hangout.

The Park

I walked back to the underground and took it toward the palace. At my connection station I decided to go up top just to see if there was anything interesting. There was! There was a cool looking museum that appeared to have a Mozart exhibit going on. By the way, my sister Heather and I were talking about how popular Mozart was in Vienna and I thought Salzberg was the big place for Mozart, but I think Vienna wins. Mozart is all over Vienna! He even has his own brand of chocolates.....and he only lived there for about 3-4 years. Crazy! I got back on the underground and took it the rest of the way to the palace. The palace grounds are HUGE! I walked, walked....and even did some more walking. There are many fountains, paths, and areas to explore. It even offered some great views! I walked around for a couple of hours and still didn't see everything.

Palace Grounds

The Palace

I made my way back to the underground to go back to Stephansplatz to find some grub. I actually had a hard time finding a place to eat. I was starving, but I couldn't find anything. I started walking the back streets and still nothing. I walked further.....WAY outside the tourist areas. I saw a sign that had a big beer mug on it and I said, "Oh, please serve food!!!" Outside a menu was posted and I couldn't read a word. I looked in the window and saw rolled silverware on the tables. "That's a good sign" I said to myself. I entered. The place was empty...it was still early for dinner, but I was hungry. The man wearing lederhosen greeted me.....he was not masked nor did he hit me on the back. Thanks for reading! Anyway, this restaurant was awesome! The exterior looked like a crappy bar, but the interior was well constructed. Some of the booths were inside these giant beer barrels. So cool! Most everything was wooden and looked rustic. Very mountainous! I ordered, "Schweinsschnitzel" which is basically breaded pork with potato salad. It came out and it was huge! I said, "my Austrian friend says that you eat schnitzel with jam? Is this correct?" He said, "Oh, yes, you eat it with cranberries....let me get you some". It was wonderful! The name of the place is Krugel Gastronomie Betriebs GmbH, which I was told roughly translates to "Many Beer Restaurant Company" or something similar.

Schweinsschnitzel

After dinner I headed back toward the hostel. I've decided that another full day in Vienna would be too much. You could spend days upon days in Vienna, but that is if you have the money for concerts, museums, and the like. If I could be sure that I could see a concert, play, or opera I'd stick around I think. However, it was such a great day that I'd like to leave it at that. When I got back to the hostel I did some laundry while I prepped for tomorrow. I got chatting with two of the guys in my hostel: Dave and Tommy. Dave in from Michigan and working as a teacher in Frankfurt, Germany. Tommy is from Iran and is on a 3-month tour of Europe. He goes back home in 3 days.

The hostel here has been great. The staff is pretty good and the people here are pretty nice. They have laundry, musical instruments, a kitchen, laundry, and a bar. It's clean and wasn't too expensive at 15 Euros a night.

Well, sleep I must! Tomorrow I'll wake up a little early and will be in Budapest by 11am.

Auf Wiedersehen!