Breakfast with Birgit đ was great! We haven’t seen each other for 7 years pretty much since we both left Vancouver December 2012. We had a great catch up and she treated me to breakfast which was very generous đ The portions were MASSIVE at the cafĂ© & restaurant Freiraum.
Walked around went to a nice little cafĂ© that has over 100 years of history! CafĂ© PrĂŒckel was very pretty inside and I just had a kombucha to rest… I was still so full from breakfast! The food others were having looked very nice and didn’t look too pricey.
Walked through a nice garden to get to the public transport to go to Belvedere palace and make use of my day pass! It was a nice palace but seemed a bit pricey to get in for me and I didn’t have that much energy to traipse around. Then checked out the St. Stephen’s cathedral. That was gorgeous too đ I think it was 6⏠to walk into the middle part to see the paintings on the pillar more up close. I just opted to see them from the sides.
Then off to Schonbrunn palace. At the metro, helped out some gals to look up where they wanted to go. Yay internet! Trains: you can pull a lever where only one of the doors open… how interesting! Gorgeous palace and extensive grounds for the garden. I felt tired as well so didn’t go in there either.
So… Off to Naschtmarket! Huge and lots of range of fresh food!! So many spices, fresh veg, sprukers, many little cafes and restaurants, kitschy stuff too. Lotsa Turkish goodies: dips, dried fruit, grilled meats. An organic spices, tea and chocolate store was playing super cheesy saxophone music haha. There are Asian Supermarkets with good sauce. No eggs. Some fish and lots of meat stalls and cheese too. Still lots open at 430pm on a Monday. I headed home after much excitement at the market.
Some simple vegetarian miso soup for dinner as my tummy was still feeling a bit queasy. 
When will it pass?! Sigh….
Read up on the wikipedia article about the history of Vienna. Wow, it sure has a very rich history and culture of all these empires it has been a part of… even the capital of many of them! It has made me appreciate it more. đ
A good sleep in does wonders. đ After that, a healthy breakfast and a quick wash of the hair, off I left for the day before the rain prediction for 3pm. Well never mind: it was sprinkling when I left the house.
With courage (and an umbrella), I set off for Rathaus (Vienna city hall) and the Votive Church (Votivkirche). Nice town hall. Has a free tour M W F. Church is stunning. Gorgeous stained glass windows and painted walls and ceilings. Free to go in. Good cuz all other museums and galleries are on avg 15âŹ. Pricey.
Really annoying to have to pay to use the toilet everywhere. I was getting very crabby. I did make it to St. Peter’s church is amazing! Golden statues bursting out from along the walls and every inch is painted. So stunning. Free! I was very impressed with this. Many websites say that if you’re going with someone, have them guide you into the church with your eyes closed so you can be awestruck by the gorgeousness of it all when you open your eyes. I feel that I’ve seen quite a few churches in quite a few different cities and countries and this is pretty special.
Austrian national library and Hofburg were both lovely from the outside. The library wasn’t accessible to the public easily unlike the State library of Victoria in Melbourne. Hofburg was huge too! At this point, I was getting super cranky and desperate for a restroom so I strode boldly into a busy cafe and a waiter pointed my lost, desperate self to the washroom. Phew! Lucky there.
Off now to find food and the Chinese food at Grill ImbiĂ Haus Hong Kong was fabulous!! Good, classic wonton noodles. Found a Japanese market too so got snackies and hojicha yay! đđ So ecstatic!!
Called a few leboncoin places and no one wants to do 4 months so airbnb is really my best bet. Tried to get some free wifi to get going on nutting down a place for Toulouse. Many gorgeous, historical 100+ year old coffee houses but wifi was a bit sketchy sadly. At Freiraum, it was a much newer establishment but the connection wasn’t very good either. I did try the popular Austrian Gemischter Satz wine and it was dry and very tasty.
There was an entry fee of 8⏠for Karlskirch (St. Charles Church) but they were advertising for a classical concert that evening and on Wednesday too. My friend from Vienna confirmed that the Vienna Ticket Office website is real and an official site. So I booked them and : WOW!!! So much more respect for strings and loved the singer and feature violinist. Really astounding and very memorable experience as the church was absolutely breathtaking inside too and stunning as a backdrop.
Another wow… 15 ppl standing to block off the exit at the metro station to check tickets! What a use of resources I must say. Speaking of differences at the metro, one can pre-press the button on train doors so it opens upon arrival… interesting!
Great view at 18th floor of the fancy “dress to impress” at Das Loft bar. Lovely cocktails we had with the whiskey sour and flower drink. They kept topping up the free snackies for popcorn… I must have ate the equivalent of a pack! Lovely night views to see cathedrals and other sites.
Mmmmm lovin the Hojicha đ I like my tea light and I don’t want to waste tea bags so I’m known to keep my tea bag for several additional rounds of tea. Call it gross, call it environmentally friendly, call it frugal but hey, if there is still flavour, best not to waste it?! Also, found the wifi connection for the place I’m staying in so double yay!! Day is off to a great start.
Off I go to the bus station and gotta find the international bus terminal! It is separate from the other ones in a totally different area – as in, cross a crosswalk to the other side of the street – but nearby. Look for the bright school-bus-yellow/orangey busses. From U1 Hauptbanbhof station, take the Laxenburger StraBe exit. Annnnd don’t forget your passport đđ OOPS. Looks like I’ll be going tomorrow haha
Off I got back to the Schönbrunn Palace and got the ticket for 20⏠to visit the whole palace. Pricey!!! It’ll be my only museum/gallery thing and it’s a UNESCO-Heritage site so hopefully it’ll be good. Finally in as I was provided the 10:55am entry and it is stunning. I was about to take a photo and the audioguide just read my mind and told me no photos lol. Simply gorgeous. Cool room with Chinese and oriental art. Onto the grand tour now and Wow… the “Millions room”: Crystal mirrors and rare rosewood panels with indo-asian art miniatures. Well worth the extra 4⏠đ and it was really 50 mins for the entire visit… spot on! Yikes, line up for the cloakroom is so long! Luckily it didn’t take more than 10 mins but signage needs to be more clear as people were lining up to just enter but most ppl have packs too…
Ooo schnitzel time! My friend recommended both Glacis Beisl as well but it wasn’t along the way for me off I went to feast at FiglmĂŒller! TIP: There is the original Figlmuller restaurant in a little alleyway but due to it’s popularity, they opened a much bigger, multi storey restaurant around the corner. Same ambiance and quick, snappy, friendly service so worthwhile to beeline there too if you’re in during the rush period.
It’s as big as my head! What a massive schnitzel! Super crispy and very tasty. Got a sparkling as that is nice and a Grunter Veltliner white wine as apparently that pairs well with schnitzel. Mmm both paired well, esp the wine as it’s smooth in contrast with the fried bits. Omg so massive the portion and so good! It falling off the plate! Potato salad with some fancy pumpkin seed oil was nice but nothing to write home about. Goodness! When i left at 1446, there were 30 ppl in line to go inside for food oh my!
I also completed the ringstrasse sighseeing tour on the public tram system. While you can pay to ride a yellow tourist tram with commentary, you can do it yourself with an itinerary (I followed this awesome checklist/play by play from TripAdvisor) and you can just easily swap trams. Like a circular tour of the city where the tram goes by most, if not all, of the main touristy buildings. There are ticket machines aboard trams so very convenient. Very nice ride and relaxing to see everything with people going about.
At Karlsplatz metro station, there are neon lights on the ground and ceiling for the train colours! Very cool. After that, I was bushed and went home to tick away at the computer a bit more and touch base with my parents are they’re planning to visit for about a week in France. After that and a quick, simple dinner + a whiskey nightcap, it was bed time for me.
On the last night, I went to my friend B’s house. Such a lovely, spacious place with lots of light, a yard and pool đ She’s set up very nicely with lots of room for her 2 adorable kids to play and enjoy life. We had some more yummy Austrian wine and tried some crispy, dried wafer-thin meat chips, other thin bread crips and other yummy pita chips đ We also ordered in Indian food and enjoyed a chill night. It was great to meet her family and I feel very lucky to have her really welcome me and take care of me in Vienna. đ
Antics & Adventures 