Vienna
Trip Start
Jan 05, 2008
1
48
61
Trip End
Jun 20, 2008
Vienna,
Austria
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
After a night trip in the train from Florence to Vienna - Austria, we dropped the bags at the hostel
and rested for a little bit. The trip wasnt all bad, as the train was not full and we both had two seats each, but still it wasnt the best night we had, so it was good to spend the hour or so resting in the hostel.
Our hostel was located in the west side of the town and very close to a metro station, so that was good and helpful. We left the hostel late in the afternoon, so we only visited one site on this first day. The place was called Schloss Schonbrunn, which used to be a hunting lodge but then Maria Theresa (whoever she was) turned
the place into a palace. We were able to walk thru the surroundings for free, and that was nice, since the best of it was its outside. The building was very pretty, but the gardens were prettier. We wandered
around for some time, walking thru weird shapped trees and gardens. At this place we saw a "squirrell-rabbit" animal... it had the body and tail of a squirrell but it also had ears and it hopped like a rabbit. The little thing was not affraid of humans, as two of them came very close to us. Jarrett spent at least 10 minutes trying to get a
good picture of the thing but since it didnt stop hopping the picture is not very good. Oh well.
Still in the palace surrounds from the gardens we walked to theNeptune fountain and to the Gloriette, which it will be hard to explain what it was but you can see it in the picture.
Schloss Schonbrunn
Up there we were pleased with a panoramic view of the west side of Vienna and that was very nice. Day 2
In the morning we headed to downtown to visit Stephansplatz, one of the old cathedrals in town. Then we went thru the Imperial Palace, a complex with several buildings which are today galleries, museums or concert places...down to the Museum Row, a street with about 6 different museums. There we stopped at the National History museum to heat up. It has been really cold and rainy since we left Greece.
We also walked thru the Parliament house, and other interesting buildings and cathedrals. One of them was being prepared for a bike festival and there were people building bike ramps right in front of the cathedral, which we thought was a very weird spot for a bike demonstration.
We also visited the business center of Vienna, called the Uno City, which has nothing really. We went to the Ferris wheel at an amusement park but it was not very appealing for us to ride it, so we had lunch and left. Then we hit the Belvedere palace which we also wandered thru the gardens and appreciatted the facade of the
building. Even though we only spent one and a half days in the city, it was enough. Vienna is very pretty and charming but it is a city after all and there is just so much you can enjoy.
