Trip Day 10 - second full day in Vienna

Doing this blogging I got nosy when we had been in Vienna before, where we stayed and what sight-seeing we had done. Here is the answer to Vienna 2014!   We were there several days so click on "newer posts" at the bottom of each one. Re-reading all this I can't belief all the things we did 10 years ago. I am so happy I blogged then!

Saturday

Rather than using a bus, we all got a 24 hour ticket for the public transportation. It is very easy. When you use it for the first time you stick it into a machine which prints a stamp on it with the time when the 24 hour use of the ticket started.  Then you can put it into your pocket. You only need it again if a controller is coming through. Bernie said that this doesn’t happen often. 

We went to Schloß Schönbrunn. There was a lovely Christmas Market going on. I didn't really have any exceptions (which is always good). 

First Bernie showed us the model of the castle. That is also where we are going to meet at the appointed time. 

Somehow this was the first thing we saw. Children on top of some hay having fun and throwing loose hay on top of each other. It was right next to a stall where kids could work wood projects. I went in to see and was told "children to work only but if you pay you can work a project too".

It was all very interesting.

These are all Christmas decorations made from natural things like oranges and spices. 

It was amazing how many golden balls where on this tree.

Ha-ha, we could see ourselves in this one.

The way they served these was just so genuine. Got to try this at home. I asked a young family whether I was allowed to take a photo. They were very nice.

But then we bought our own. And we bought a red Glũhwein for James and an Orange Ingwer Punch with Amaretto for me. Oh my gosh, was that good. We had to pay 5 Euros each deposit for each of the cups. You could give them back anywhere and get the deposit back. We did keep one though because it said which Christmas Market it was from. The other one we gave back and got the 5 Euros back. Between the stalls where standing tables and it was really nice.     

We left Schönbrunn via public transportation again. First of course the u-bahn with which we came. Then we changed to a streetcar ... except ... the streetcar didn't come. Because something happened somewhere in the underground, some transportation mode was not working anymore. We waited and waited and didn't really know what was going on. Bernie called 3 taxis. One came and went with some of our people. Another one came and some more of our group went. Our taxi never came but a streetcar finally did and we hopped on. 

Needless to say that the very slow walking and the excessive standing around and waiting did a number on the backs of several of us older people. Poor James was the worst effected.

Finally we were at the Belvedere. And there we had to wait again until everybody was together.

When we had all bought our tickets we walked around the castle and on the other side was a lovely view.

Too bad the photos really don't express how pretty it was.

Finally we went inside and were given time until 4 pm. The castle must have been really impressive at one time but is now an art museum. No furniture or anything like that.

Still very impressive though.

Some art pieces we quite liked. There was a lot of talk about paintings from Gustav Klemt but sorry to say, James and I could not get excited about them, famous or not.

The Rodin statue (above) and this painting by Tina Blau (1882) and the next by Olga Wisinger-Florian (1899) were more our taste.

But than, if you are in pain because of your back you can't really enjoy to study the art in detail. I texted Bernie not to wait for us because we were on our way to walk back to the hotel. My phone with the GPS told me exactly the way and how long it would take walking.

We had walked half-way when we realized that we had not drunk any liquid all day except that one Glũhwein each. The Lord provided. Right there was a pub. It was getting dark quickly now.

It was a lovely cozy pub, just like a pub should be. We were sent upstairs because there the chairs were more comfortable. We were happy.

I saw this sign across the room and managed to capture it. I love that sentence. So true!

We had not intended to eat anything but the pumpkin-curry soup sounded so tempting. It was very delicious and the pumpkin seeds were the dot on the i.

We continued our walk and recognized some of the places we had seen the day before at daylight.

The Votive Church and our hotel. 

We were back just after 5 pm. At 7 pm we decided that we didn't really wanted/needed dinner but we wanted to try that Kaiser Franz-Josef Torte made from the original recipe from 1898. It was advertised in the bar. I must say it was worth it. Much better then the Sacher Torte which we had tried 10 years ago.

We had signed up for an optional tour leaving at 7:30 pm: "Musical Vienna" at the Kursalon. A hired bus brought us there. 

An orchestra of 13 musicians played a selection of wonderful Vienna music (waltzes, overtures etc). Online it says: experience Vienna's musical history at Kursalon. Enjoy Strauss and Mozart, performed by the Salonorchester Alt Wien with ballet dancers and opera soloists in the beautiful setting of a historic venue. 

We really enjoyed it tremendously. What surprised me most were the dancers. I usually can't get too excited about them but this young couple danced with pure joy in there faces and with so much grace, elegance and so much expression that you could not help but be excited about it. Of course we were not allowed to take photos during the performance. What a shame.

The bus brought us back to the hotel again and we fell into bed really soon. What a day!