Ken and Elise's trip

Day 11: Vienna The City of Dreams

My feet are conspiring with my legs to secede from the rest of my body, but my heart is in love!

I had not expected to love Vienna the way I do. What a magnificent, beautiful city. As far as I am concerned, it comes very close to Paris in being the most beautiful city I have ever seen. Of course San Francisco ranks up there too, but SF is totally different. Paris and Vienna are old--old--old. And their hundreds of years old, glorious buildings could never be built in today’s economy. And there is something magical in looking at those beautiful, beautiful buildings that have been around, some since the 11th century.

Ken, having scouted things out the day before, knew just how to catch the subway to the HOHO. And my ever-gregarious husband had made friends in the city. The ticket salesman remembered him and chatted with him for awhile. In fact he helped us lay out our day, recommending which things we should do first. The we headed for our bus where the driver remembered Ken as well. I was introduced and my hand was shaken. Friendliest service I have ever seen from a HOHO driver!

We started our tour at the gaspingly-beautiful Vienna Opera House where men dressed in 17th century costumes attempted to sell us tickets to today’s show. I got a little chuckle later in the day when we came through again and were again besieged with hawkers. “We’ve seen all those,” I said a persistent guy, meaning that we had seen the brochures over and over again. “Oh”, he said mistaking me and thinking that I meant we had seen a show. “You’ve already been to a show. Well then, tonight’s performance will be only half price!”

The frustrating thing about the HOHOs is that you can’t just get off and get the photos you want. We passed some of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen, but we just didn’t have the time to get off and walk back to get pictures. We only had this one day.

Ken had really wanted to go on the Danube River cruise and I thought it would be fun too. Our HOHO salesman recommended the 12:30 pm. one saying it was the most scenic So a little after noon, we climbed aboard the boat and got underway.

At first I was completely underwhelmed. They must sell different versions of tickets and there were people already ensconced in the best seats--those at the prow of the boat where you could really see out and sit in the sunshine. They weren’t about to leave those seats. I kept thinking that they would have to get off at some point and the rest of us would have a shot at the seats, but they never got off even when we had to. So Ken and I were relegated to the “cheap” (as in snacks and light meals) area which was enclosed. I ordered a very expensive coke which, when it arrived, was all of about a cup full (no ice of course). Ken just ordered water. We sailed slowly down the Danube (which by the way, is not blue--more muddy green). I couldn’t see any spectacular scenery either and I was getting quite annoyed. Those people sitting in the “good” seats were smokers--heavy smokers. Now I’ll freely admit to being a hypocrite. On one hand I say our country is too full of laws (as pertains to helmets for bikers) and in this case I’m screaming in my mind…..”What the heck is the matter with you people! Don’t you know that your smoke is wafting back on the rest of us and I, for one, am HATING it! There should be laws here!” You must remember though,, I was just coming off being sick ,and the smoke was roiling my stomach.

We sent through a series of locks which fascinated Ken (as I sure it would most men) so he, at least, was having some fun. After that was completed, Ken came and asked me if I wanted to come and sit outside along the side where there were some benches. I most gratefully accepted. Once I got out there, everything changed. It was a beautiful sunny day, no one was smoking, and the scenery, while nothing to rave over, was interesting as by now we were coming back towards the city. Lots of outdoor cafes to watch. Fantastic graffiti art.

At one point there was a huge cheer and much laughter and applause. I looked up just in time to see what was going on. A well-built man was standing naked on his apartment balcony letting it all hang out without a scintilla of shame.

Shortly we were back in the city, and Ken and I began our daily round of walk, walk walk. I had in mind to try to find a crystal store and get something for Shannon. Austrian crystal is supposed to be really special, but I never found a store although believe me, we saw some outrageously OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive goods.. At one point I saw a white mink coat in a window and told Ken I was just going to buy that for Shannon. He just looked at me, said “yeah” and kept going. See how much your father-in-law loves you, Shannon!”

I think one of the highlights of the city for Ken was St. Stephan’s Cathedral and it truly is breathtaking. Impossible to capture it in photos--it is far too grand and magnificent.

Ken got it in mind that he wanted ice cream. So off we went on a trek. I have to say he found the absolutely perfect spot. I had wanted to eat in one of the outdoor cafes and this place had just such a place. Not only that they had magnificent, mouth-watering desserts. You know, like you see in gourmet magazines. Ken picked out a strawberry one, they gave him number and told him to go outside and sit and give the waiter the number and she would know which dessert he wanted. He waited for me to choose one (clearly hoping I would pick another one so he could sample two), but my stomach just wasn’t feeling the delight and all I wanted was ice cream. Ken was a bit annoyed with me for turning down the dessert, but hey--it’s my stomach! We went out, found a table, and I checked out the ice cream menu. I saw people everywhere eating ice cream specialties that were amazing! I took the menu and found something called the Mozart. It was chocolate, nougat, and pistachio ice creams with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and pistachios chopped over the top. Sounded good, so I ordered it. Took forever to come and Ken, trying to be a gentleman, was waiting impatiently while his beautiful dessert sat temptingly in front of him. I told him to go ahead but he refused. Finally, mine came and my husband’s jaw dropped. “WHAT is THAT??! he asked. “It’s a Mozart,” I told him all the while feeling pretty impressed myself. The thing was just beautiful. Mixed in with the whipped cream, was a little piece of chocolate with the name of the cafe engraved in gold.

I’m telling you, it was fantastic, fabulous, magnificent! AND delicious. Ken was so jealous he could hardly stand it. Of course, it was just the luck of the draw. I had just thought I would get a nice ice cream, nothing like this. Ken took a taste and starting moaning in joy. Well, what could I do---he’s my husband and he had just celebrated a birthday a couple days before. I shared it with him. I'm pretty sure he’ll talk about it the rest of our lives. He’s already saying it is my wifely duty to figure out how they made it and serve it to him often. Yeah, right!

After that, we grabbed the HOHO again and headed to Schonbrunn Palace which was the summer palace of the Habsburg family who ruled Austria for more than 400 years. It is considered the number one attraction in Austria. At first I was a bit disappointed and didn’t think it all that beautiful, but Ken (whose feet never seem to wear out even when he’s dragging 70 percent of our luggage) dragged me around the side to the gardens which were amazing. The palace from the back is far more impressive and I spent some time thinking about all the Habsburgs and how lovely it must have been to be royalty and wander through that palace as owners and out in the gardens.

The HOHO came an hour later and as it was the last one, we dared not miss it. To my surprise it was KEN who almost made us late. He got into those gardens, got faNscinated with some of the layouts and I had to remind him rather frantically that we better get going. And, yes, it seems to be the story of my life--we had to run to get it. Oh my poor aching feet! It was quite a distance to the bus stop. And to add to the indignity, the driver stopped far before our entrance stop and said “Last stop of the day, everyone off.” So we ended up having to walk a very long ways back to the Opera House with our sore feet.

We were hungry, and there remained one more magical thing in our day. Ken found us a very nice little (and cheap) cafe by a wide boulevard and we sat outside and ate dinner. Nothing grand--pizza for Ken and Asian noodles with vegetables for me, but it was delicious and sitting outside in the warm evening air in Vienna--Priceless! OH, and I must add that Ken had ANOTHER ice cream cone.

Ken’s Note: The part about the cruise that makes it interesting is that it makes a right turn into the lock of the Danube Channel which is about 200 feet wide, then it gets nice The river even has walls on both sides. On one side there is mostly hotels and restaurants. The other side has steep banks with parks and cafes along. You can even see people in lawnchairs enjoying the sunbathing by the river.

The boat lets you off in the best part of the old part of town with loads of shops and cafes.

End of Day 11

Note: I will post in two batches--first River Cruise and then photos of the city.

RIVER CRUISE

Our boat

Graffiti along the river walls. We were informed that much of this graffiti is actually considered real art by a sort of rebel artistic community and that the city encourages it

Some more of the grafitti

Going through the locks--Ken really enjoyed this part

Someone is looking quite movie-starish, don't you think?

VIENNA--The City

The artwork on the walls doesn't show up as much as I had hoped but this was a beautiful building

Hawking tickets at the Opera House

HAD to get a shot of this for Gerry

Although Ken and I both tried, we just could not get a photo that encompassed the glorious St. Stephan's Cathedral. It was absolutely magnificent and this is just a tiny part of it's beauty

Flower vendors