Oct 5, 2011 - Vienna

Today we have the whole day free. What luxury I had a sleep in as not feeling the best, went down for breakfast, then back to bed for a while. This afternoon decided I needed to get out of the hotel rooms so dragged my sorry body into the city, and glad I did, needed the fresh air, went back to Hofburg Palace and visited the imperial apartments, the silver collection and the museum of sissi, who was also know as Empress Elisabeth, and became quite a recluse, even though she was recognised as one of the most beautiful woman of her time, she...

Oct 4, 2011 - Vienna

Today we are heading through the Hungarian plans to Vienna, once the centre of the mighty Habsburg Empire. arrived late morning for a quick lunch prior to heading into local sightseeing, via the ring boulevard, passing the state opera house, the Jewish quarter, then in what seem to be a marathon sprint with our local guide to Spanish riding school, hofburg palace (the winter residence if the Austrian Imperial family), visiting St Stephens Cathedral. Now I feel a theme coming on, everyday seems to be both a palace and a cathedral, this tour...

Sep 26, 2011 - Salzburg

Today was an exciting day in lovely Salzburg, Austria (pinch myself)! After a good night's sleep (blessed with cool outside temps and a borrowed hotel fan...white noise), and a quick breakfast, we were picked up for our (Panorama company) Sound of Music Tour. Though at times I suppose some would think it a bit cheesy, I thoroughly enjoyed singing all the songs from the movie with about 50 other tourists on a huge bus. We had an excellent guide and she would stand and lead us in the songs as we neared the actual sights of the filming. We saw...

Sep 23, 2011 - Vienna

Our hostel in Vienna is like being at Grade 5 school camp, there are a million 12 year olds and a canteen. Vienna is also lacking a free walking tour which we have come to rely on for all our information and history. Thus we aimlessly wandered the streets of Vienna merely observing all the beautiful buildings, stumbling across some opera (Don Giovanni), some break-dancing and a particularly talented old drunk man standing on a box dancing in a dragon cape. We also went to the Leopold Museum (for free! yay!) where we were deeply disturbed by...

Sep 23, 2011 - Mr Bean and apfel strudel: Vienna

We’ve begun our trip as we mean to continue – with a lot of chocolate and wine, too much walking, and way too much laughing for the comfort of everyone around us. As we pull out of Vienna on the train, I’m just munching my way through some almond kernel chocolate from gorgeous little Durnstein on the Danube. This wonderful town, that Mum and I discovered last year, was spectacular all over again.... the boys were ribbing me that it couldn’t live up to sky-high expectations, but it did , it did.... What a gorgeous place it is. We arrived...

Sep 7, 2011 - Vienna

nice trip to visit my mother spent a lot of time with my mom and her boyfriend: went to parks, Prater, ate a "real wiener schnitzel" went a lot to the university of vienna to think about my bachelor thesis topic read a book: "think and grow rich", very interesting insights

Sep 7, 2011 - Vienna, Austria

Today, Vienna. In the morning, a bus and walking tour of some of the high-lights of Vienna. On the bus, we travelled on the "Ring" road to get to the old town centre. The city is home to many different styles of architecture and we saw the Hofburg, the Winter Palace of the Habsburgs, and the palaces of many of the nobility associated with that family. The Habsburgs ruled Austria and Hungary from 1278 to 1918. In the very heart of the old city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. This is a wonderful example of ornamented Gothic architecture, with an...

Sep 1, 2011 - Vienna ウィーン

My first destination is Vienna because I am flying with Austria Airlines. Austria Airlines has an onboard chef in the cabin, so the food provided during the flight was very good! I have never had such a good meal in the plane in my flying experience! (Have I mentioned to you that I used to work as a flight attendant for a short period long long time ago!? Speaking of good airplane food, when I was working in the plane I served passengers with frozen chicken and later I was scolded by the cabin service manager…bad memory!!!). Anyway, I was...

Aug 30, 2011 - The Eventful Summer

Thoughts on an eventful summer: it has literally, been full of distinctive elements. The funny thing about distinctiveness is that it doesn’t have to involve something new, but rather something re-discovered. After 32 visits to Budapest, for instance, there could be a feeling of déja vu, but being a spectacularly superficial sort with an associative rather than a linear mind I keep re-learning things. I’ve read Hans Brinker, or, The Silver Skates seven times. I still can’t tell you how it ends. I can, however, describe the Leo Boivin hockey...

Aug 29, 2011 - Innsbruck to Vienna

This morning we drove to Salzburg from Innsbruck. On the way we picked up a guide and drove up to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. As the road up was too narrow for our bus we had to stop at the base and take another bus up. There were 4 buses that went up at one time, and the other 4 buses coming down the mountain stopped half way down the road to let us past. The drive up was pretty terrifying, the driver was going really fast and looking over the edge it was a very long, steep drop down. When we got to the top of the mountain we had to walk...

Aug 27, 2011 - A Walk in the Park and a change in the Weather

After breakfast this morning we set of for the U-bahn - Underground, Subway, Tube, Metro, LRT - and arrived at the Prater a few minutes later. This vast park was the Hapsburg hunting ground till Josef II opened it to the public in 1766. I knew it was large, but until you stand at one end of the arrow straight Hauptallee and look down the broad, chestnut tree pathway for five kilometres, it is hard to imagine just how big it is. One end contains an amusement park - Vienna's answer to Disneyland - with its signature Ferris wheel which moves...

Aug 26, 2011 - Belvedere and dinner

After breakfast we set off for the Belvedere. This is a palace built for Prince Eugene, Duke of Savoy. It was he who brought the Lipizzaner Stallions to Vienna from his native Spain, hence the "Spanish Riding School". On the way we stopped at a fountain and memorial built by the Russians, but paid for by Austria after World War II to thank the Russians for liberating Austria from Germany. Needless to say, the Viennese do not think much of it. We also passed, as we do every day, many beautiful and unique buildings. Some are embassies and...