Vienna
Last weekend we flew to Vienna for a long weekend. We left Heathrow on Friday morning and landed in Vienna in the afternoon. A quick taxi ride later and we arrived at our hotel - the König von Ungarn right in the city centre. This was one we'd found on Tripadvisor and it was excellent. Staff were very friendly, rooms were exceptionally clean and you could not ask for a better location.
The Friday afternoon we had a wander round St Stephens cathedral (right outside the hotel) and then we booked in for a Strauss/Mozart concert held later in the evening. We had something to eat at Figlmüller, again recommended and that was magnificent. The schnitzel was bigger than the plate! It ws a good job we booked as it was exceedingly busy as well. After that we walked down to Stadtpark where we saw the Strauss statue and then headed into the venue for the performance. I wasn't really sure what to expect but I must admit I really quite enjoyed the concert. It was expertly played and they also had singers and dancers so overall I think it was good value.
The next day we got up and took a horse and cart ride around the city. We'd seen quite a lot the day before but thought we just had to do the whole horse and cart trip. It was not bad value and it took us to the Imperial palace, around the city, St Stephens' etc...
We then met up with my work colleage CH and his wife Wal. They both live just outside the city and had offered to act as our chaperone's for the next couple of days. The first stop was at Schonbrunn Palace. This was originally the Royal family's garden retreat but what a retreat it is! Fabulous palace and huge gardens. What was interesting though was that whilst the Palace itself was enormous, the individual room where the Royal family lived were relatively small. The weather was baking - around 35 degrees so the cool of the house was most welcome.
On the way back we went for something to eat at a local winery. These places make the wine on the site and are only allowed to open when they have wine to sell. They signify this by the bush being displayed outside the place. We ate at one in Probusstrasse and apparently there was a famous Austrian actor there as well. We did not recognise him unfortunately.
The next day, CH and Wal picked us up and we travelled out of the city towards Lake Neusiedl. This is a huge expanse of water which is located two thirds in Austria, with a third in Hungary. We ate in the town of Rust, famous for its Stork population which are welcomed with their nests on the tops of most of the buildings chimneys.
We took a boat across the lake and the scenery was stunning. All around the lake there is an enormous amount of reeds which are harvested, dried and then used as thatch roofing.
We headed back through Slovakia, running through Bratislava before crossing back into Austria on a tiny ferry over a river. We then went into a wine cellar of CH and Wal's friends. This was a pretty big wine cellar which had effectively been two cellars made into one. We had some great wine and he showed us around. I was struck by the amount of black mould there was in the cellar. Apparently this is very good for the air as it filters it. We then went round to CH's and Wal's cellar which they have completely restored...amazing work...
Finally we ate at a local restaurant on which we feasted on meats, cheeses and pickles, and of course, wine...
The last day we got up late and just headed down to the Museums Quarter. It's a very pretty par of Vienns, but with the heat, we didn't linger outside too much. We ate again at the Italian restaurant and then slowly wandered back to the hotel where we sat with a beatiful bottle of red and watched the world go by.
We had a lift back to the hotel from a friendly US tourist and then it was back on the plance for the flight back to Blighty...all in all, a very pleasant experience and one which I am very grateful to CH and Wal for the time they extended to us...
