Vienna - Week 11

Our train ride to Vienna was smooth and comfortable. The electric trains in this area are clean and quiet, without the clickety-clack of train travel “back in the day.”  Roger says it is due to the fact that the rails are welded together eliminating the joints that caused the noise.  The main train station in Vienna was busy when we arrived, but we followed the picture signs of a bus out to the street and hopped directly aboard a waiting bus going our direction. (We had researched ahead of time which bus to take to our AirBnB.)  We thought the driver would sell us a ticket, but no.  So we and our luggage hopped off the bus, returned to the train station, found a bus ticket machine and, with the help of a cute, young man who spoke English, bought the requisite ticket. He noticed that we were over 65 and made certain we bought the cheaper ones. We left the train station again, found another bus waiting to whisk us to our AirBnB, and within 30 minutes, we were ensconced in our rental, unpacking once again.  I must say that the entire time we were in Vienna, not one person ever asked to see our tickets for buses or metros.  On the other hand, one lady was brought into the main ticket office while we were buying a 7-day transit pass for not having a valid ticket…so they must have some controls in addition to the honor system.

Our rental is in the 6th district, southwest of Vienna’s center.  It is accessed from the sidewalk through an old door which opens into a wide hallway.  At the end of the hallway is another door into a large shady area with trees and hosts.  At the far side of this green space is a small elevator that took us to the 1st floor (in this case, really the 3rd floor, but who’s counting when you have an elevator).  A quick turn to the left onto an open-air hallway led to our apartment with parquet floors, 14’ high ceilings, windows and a balcony overlooking yet another green space below.  Our space is far removed from the noise of the city.   It feels like another world…so quiet and calm.  After unpacking, we left the apartment for a Thai dinner on the street near our apartment (actually very good!) and a little grocery shopping for the next few days.  

We were totally unprepared for our first visit to Vienna.  No Rick Steves to guide us here.  That is to say, there probably is a Rick Steves’ Austria, but we didn’t buy it.  Vienna is overwhelming...it stimulates all the senses at once.  It would take at least a year to see/do everything you might want to see.  To get a handle on how to attack the the endless sightseeing options, we decided a visit to the Tourist Information (TI) Office at the city center.  We hopped a nearby Metro and went into town. The metro system in Vienna is wonderful: it is clean, efficient and feels very safe.

We found the TI center quickly and were fortunate to find a lovely English-speaking Viennese woman who helped orient us to her city.  She advised us not to purchase the “city card” which we had used so successfully in Ljubljana. Rather she unfolded a map and proceeded to circle places that we should see within the center and the outskirts.  She happily informed us that if we ran out of places to see before the end of our stay, we should return and she would add to our list.  She even advised us to buy a 7-day pass for all forms of transportation (bus, metro, trolley) in the city.  That has worked out beautifully.

Our walking tour that first day took us around the beautiful State Opera House, up to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, to the Danube canal (more later on this) and into a warren of tiny streets with shops and restaurants.  There we stopped for a lazy lunch at an outdoor restaurant: die Feinkosterei.  It was phenomenal.  Roger (who is a born risk-taker) tried the Wiener schnitzel again and loved it this time.  This time, there was actually veal encased in the breading.  I’m embarrassed to say that I had a tiny steak smothered in a heavenly chanterelle sauce with potatoes. I haven’t had steak for so many years—it was incredible! So much for my vegetarian dreams.

After lunch, we continued wending our way through the neighborhoods of Vienna on our way to the Hapsburg Winter Palace.  We got lost (you already know what app I will blame for that), but eventually we found the enormous group of buildings that make up the palace. These monarchs had money!!!  We didn’t do tours of the inside, but just enjoyed walking around the ornately carved and decorated buildings.  Tired from our day’s wandering, we found the Metro station and headed home.

The next day, we visited the summer palace.  Again, we did not do tours of the interior.  But the buildings were exquisite…less formal than the winter palace, and the gardens were enormous and enjoyable.  We spent most of our time strolling through the gardens (both formal and wild) and enjoying the pools and fountains.

We visited the Nashmarkt, an open air market of snacks, fresh vegetables, spices, and now meals that has been functioning for 100s of years.  Farmers would bring in crops from their fields and fishermen would sail up the Danube to sell their catches.  It is open every day and on the weekends, it expands to include a flea market.  

Another day, we rode the Metro to the Danube.  Who could visit Vienna and not see the Danube?  You may recall that I mentioned our seeing the Danube Canal on our first day.  The canal’s path is actually the path of the Danube itself in the Middle Ages very near the city center.  But today, the actual Danube River flows farther north in a new path…and it is indeed a deep blue.  The river is moves slowly and very wide.  An island with walking/biking paths, a children’s park and lots of swimmers splits the river into an old and new branches.  It was lovely to escape the busyness of the city, find a shady bench, sit and watch the Danube flow by.  In this area of Vienna is also the Giant Ferris Wheel which we had to see.  Built in 1897, it still goes round and round.  The lady at the TI assured me that it was safe.

One evening we attended a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at St. Stephen’s Cathedral.  Four violins and one cello entranced the large crowd for precisely one hour.  I think we were all amazed that the young violin soloist could make his finger move so perfectly and at times quickly on his instrument for such a long period of time.  More amazing was the sweetness of the violins.  Violins can be screechy.  I know because I played the violin for a couple of years in elementary school and all the instrument could do for me was screech.  (user error?)  We did do a half-day wine/dinner tour in Vienna.  We drove outside the city to find acres of vineyards.  We tasted at 3 wineries, the last also served dinner.  A delightful afternoon with a very international crowd.  We represented the U.S., an Israeli couple, a New Zealand couple and a couple from Holland. Quite a fun group.

This ends our 2022 summer adventure.  We fly home early tomorrow morning.  A couple of you have asked if we tired of traveling.  In truth, cities wear me out after awhile.  But I could hop from small town to small town forever I think.  Still we are looking forward to returning to friends and family.  For those of you who stuck with us through the 11 weeks, you deserve gold medals.  It has been fun having you with us.

Villach, Austria - Week 10

Villach was an unplanned treat.  We struggled to find efficient rail transportation from Lake Bled to Vienna.  A change of trains was required in Villach with very little time to change platforms—like 3 minutes or several hours (not fun with our luggage).  Originally, we planned to return to Ljubljana for a few nights thinking we could find a direct train from there.  But when we checked train schedules, that didn’t work either. So we opted at the last minute to stay in Villach, ensuring we could make a direct trip to Vienna at the end of our stay.  That turned out to be a brilliant decision because we fell in love with Villach.

Two reasons may explain our passion for Villach:

1.  It’s a charming human-scale town of 60,000 people many of whom (because there was some sort of weeklong festival) were running around in lederhosen and drindls.  

2.  We booked a room overlooking the river at a hotel for our 4-night stay.  It included a breakfast buffet that was out of this world.  Once we ate breakfast, we didn’t need anything else to eat that day.  Saved a lot of money.  In the evenings, we shared a glass of wine, a slice of cheese and bread in our room. I can’t tell if we lost weight because we skipped so many meals or if we gained weight because of all the food we ate at breakfast.  When we return home, our scales will let us know.

This is just a sampling of the food.  You’re probably getting hungry about now!  There were egg dishes, cappuccinos, sweet rolls, juices, champagne on the weekend—I could go on and on.  One morning at breakfast on the terrace, we met a wonderful couple from Brisbane.  As it turns out, their daughter and our son were in the Physics program together at the University of Brisbane in the early 2000s.  They both remember one another.  Small world!

We arrived in Villach by direct train from Lake Bled.  Others on our train, missed their connection to Vienna because the train ran about 10 minutes late.  We checked into our hotel early and took off to explore the town and have a bite to eat for dinner.  Roger had Wiener Schnitzel “cordon bleu” (in this case, heavily breaded, fried ham and cheese).  No veal or if there was, it was paper thin and he couldn’t find it.  I had a spicy pasta dish with chunks of heavily breaded fried lamb.  I know: it doesn’t sound good to me either in retrospect, but I was dealing with a menu in German.  After our meal, neither of us wanted to look at anything breaded and fried ever again.  We waddled back across the river to our hotel, stopping at the Tourist Office en route.  Villach is on the Drau River—not the crystal clear water of Lake Bled.  In fact, it was pretty brown.  Yet people were kayaking on it and having fun.  And there are pedestrian and bike paths that go for 100 miles along each side of the river in both directions.  Another unexpected treat…each night from our hotel room, we could see a water fountain show reminiscent of the water show at the Bellagio, on a smaller scale of course. On Friday night, the show was accompanied by laser lights, singing and music.  Such fun!

Very few people speak English in Villach which surprised us because in Slovenia nearly everyone did.  In fact, in both Croatia and Slovenia, English is a required second language and students are required to take a third language of their choosing.  This is such a contrast to U.S. and (I guess, Austrian) schools.  Fortunately, the lady in the Tourist Information Office spoke a little English and more importantly, handed us a “Tour the City” pamphlet in English.  We decided to begin the tour the next morning after breakfast.  It took us all day.

The following day, we planned to rent bikes and ride along the river to a nearby lake.  But the bike rental fellow said the bike path was on roads for much of the way.  I am nervous riding a bike near fast-moving cars, so we decided to take the little commuter train to the lake (Faak Am See) instead.  There are about 6 lakes and a hot springs area all within biking distance of Villach if you are braver than I am.  Lots of people were biking along the roads.  Faak Am See has clear aquamarine water (like Lake Louise or Banff) with houses and cabins dotting the perimeter.  In the center is a small island with a resort on one edge.  We took a boat to the island and walked around it on a wooded trail.  

The last day in Villach, the festival was in full swing…lots of eating, drinking (beer, of course), dancing and singing.  Roger has a pair of sweat-stained lederhosen from the 1960s that he should have worn if he had brought them…they still fit.  But they are not as stylish as what the newer generation wears.

After a short time, we became uncomfortable in the crowds—no one wore a mask except us. So we opted for a walk along the river.  It turned into a very long walk down one side to a distant bridge and returning on the other.  Good for Roger’s FitBit goals!  

After our 4th night at the hotel and our 4th huge buffet breakfast, we boarded our direct train to Vienna (4.5 hours), the final stop on our 2022 summer getaway.