Day Twenty Four

DAY TWENTY FOUR

The day started for us bright and early at 6:30am. Admittedly Kurt had been up from 5:30am with the excuse that he had to get our last load of washing for the trip underway. Given the lack of washing and or drying machines in most of the eastern European camp sites, we’d build up quite a back log of laundry. For both of us staying at the A&O Hostel has been a real treat with all the creature comforts available here. Beyond the laundry the private toilet and shower make life much more comfortable than usual.. it’s quite amazing how quickly one adjusts to deprivations in personal comfort levels – only to be surprised when you experience nearly normal living conditions again. There’s no doubt for both Kurt and I that besides driving our own vehicles again, our respective en suit bathrooms back home will be the most appreciated luxury we return to.

Our morning showers attended to we breakfasted on the hostels 4 Euro buffet before suiting up for our second day about the city. Yesterday we took in the big tourist sites in the centre of Vienna and were looking forward to what lay ahead of us with our very own local guide Michael. We met Michael on one of the main subway interchanges and made our way to Vienna’s open air market which runs down a pedestrian road for approximately one kilometer. It’s a bright and busy affair with road side stalls selling fish of every description (including octopus and shellfish), meat and poultry, cheeses, pastries, stuffed olives, sweet meats, fruit, vegetables, dried fruit and flowers, including tulips from Holland. We stopped at a sea food restaurant to sample fried prawns before buying more chocolate and some liqueur for home.

Back onto the subway we went to see the exterior of an impressive Roman styled church called the Kalskiche. From here we walked to the best known hotel in Vienna (and probably the most expensive) called the Hotel Sacher. It’s particularly famous for creating the Sacher Torte – a kind of cake that apparently tastes pretty good. We stopped at the hotel for a great tasting Melange, Vienna’s most popular type of coffee, essentially an espresso weakened with cream. At this point it’s worth mentioning that Vienna is especially well known for it’s coffee houses (and thus it’s wide variety of unique coffee servings) where artists, philosophers, politicians and the like have historically mingled and pondered life, the universe and everything. This may help explain why we had a double espresso with orange liqueur yesterday at the Lippizan palace.

Leaving the hotel we tubed through Vienna’s efficient underground system to the Palace of Schonbrunn. Set on a massive estate (probably 8 square km) it was the summer residence of the Hapsburg’s. Once set on the edge of Vienna it has now been enveloped by the city, but retains its 19th century country charm. We wondered around the outside of the palace into the gardens since we’d visited the main palace in the city centre yesterday. The back of the palace looks over acres of open land bordered by forest. A hill in the distance is crowned with a magnificent structure called the Gloriette where apparently tea parties were held in summer. At the base of the hill is a highly ornate water feature which when running in summer must be an incredible sight to behold. We walked up the hill and passed by what was once the private zoo of the royal family (now open to public) and on to the Gloriette, enjoying the wonderful view down over the palace in the distance and Vienna beyond.

From the opulence of the palace and its massive grounds we walked to the Tafelspitz restaurant but at 21 euro a meal we thought better of it and went for Sushi instead. I must admit I’m growing quite fond of sushi, never really having eaten all that much of it back home.

Tubing back through the busy underground we emerged near the famous Opera hall with its ever present touts in period costume trying their best to sell the nights performance. We briefly visited the ‘stables’ of the main city palace – the various Emperors kept up to 600 Lipizzan horses here to ride and pull carriages. The stables complex itself looks like a palace and stretches half a kilometer.

Kurt wanted to buy an additional suitcase for hand luggage (our gift collection – mainly chocolates - now looks decidedly in need of its own baggage space), so we went to Maria Hilfer street where as you’d expect we visited the best known shopping centre in the city.
Bag in hand we returned to the tubes and bid farewell to Michael. We would be seeing him again shortly since his wife and daughter were inbound on the evening train from Insbruck where they had been visiting family.

We had enough time to return to Betsy and collapse on our beds for an hour power nap. Michael is as fit as ever and needless to say he put both Kurt and I through our paces. We think we walked about 12 to 15km over the course of the day, definitely more than our usual exercise. With enough time for quick showers we were off to meet up with Michael, Verena and Caroline at the train station. Bags in hand we found a near by Coffee house for a bit of a chat and some refreshments before we went our separate ways again for the evening.

Tomorrow morning we head out of Vienna for Bergtesgarden via Michael’s house for breakfast.