Vienna

This is just a short entry as we only had 24 hours in Vienna. We caught the train from Budapest this morning, which meant a 4:30am start for us. Considering we've been sleeping in until after 9 for the past 3 weeks, this was hell. But it was nice to be back in a German country, as we know some basics of the language and understand their public transport system, which makes it a bit easier. We actually felt a sense of relief seeing things written in German, because the Czech and Hungarian languages are really difficult to follow. 

 

We weren't able to do an organised walking tour as the times didn't work out, but Brian downloaded a self guided walking tour so we headed off with iPhone in hand to visit some of the iconic sights in Vienna, like St Stephens Cathedral and the Belvedere Palace. 

Vienna is beautiful and reminded us very much of the term 'old money' - you can see why it's considered one of the jewels of the EU. Everything is very old (St Stephens was built in the 1400s!) but well kept and just about every palace and cathedral was being refurbished. Scaffolding makes for terrible photos though!

 

We made sure we tried a traditional Viennese coffee (kaffee) house, because they're famous for their coffee. I ordered coffee and wieners, while Brian got the apple strudel. It was amazing, though I didn't realise at first that the grated cheese that came with my wieners was actually grated horseradish, which hurts like hell when you eat a whole mouthful. 

 

The best part of my day? Well in German, wiener means 'sausage'. But in Vienna I kept seeing the word wiener in a context where 'sausage' just didn't make sense. But Brian insisted it meant sausage. After a day of walking around looking at the Sausage Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sausage Mozart Concert Hall, we found out Wiener in Austria actually means 'Viennese'. Because Vienna is called Wien (pronounced Vien) in Austria. Hahahahaha hilarious. Sometimes I wonder how we get by in these foreign countries. 

We're just having a quiet night in tonight, as to tomorrow we fly out to Istanbul ready for Contiki: round two. 

Love,

Kobi and Brian

xxx

Wieners, strudel and kaffee at Cafe Sperl

Model replica of St Stephens Cathedral

 

One side of St Stephens Cathedral (complete with scaffolding)

 

One of thousands of statues in the city

Viennese Palace