Sunday..Funday
Trip Start
May 14, 2009
1
23
25
Trip End
Jun 12, 2009
Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Sunday, June 7, 2009
June 7th Vienna
Sunday. It isn’t the best day to be in a city for the first time especially a city like Vienna. In major international cities like London, Paris, Rome, etc, shops and sights will be open, with select exceptions, Vienna on the other hand was a ghost town. Our overnight train arrived at Vienna Sudbanhof around 9:30, after checking into our hostel we took the subway to Stephensdom, which is Vienna’s city center. Here café tables fill the plaza and the Stephensdom Cathedral looms overhead. While the café tables were filled and some tourist shops were open the rest of the city wasn’t
Vienna
. A 20 minute walk from Stephensdom to the Hofburg Palace, one of Vienna’s most visited historical sights offered little other than the occasional window shopper. The Stephensdom is a large Gothic Cathedral, that is being restored covering much of its two towers in scaffolding and preventing vistors from riding the elevator to the top for a view of Vienna’s old town. Vienna and Austria in general managed to escape much of the destruction which came with the World Wars offering a well preserved city. The walk from Stepehnsdom to the Hofburg palace was almost like taking a walk back in time. The cobbled streets and the 19th century shops were far from the metropolis that was Rome. The Hofburg palace was the home to the Habsburgs for many years was a large palace that dates back to the 1200’s and has been expanded since. The current president lives in the Hofburg palace and it is also the home of the famous Spanish riding school, which is like the sea lion show at the aquarium, but for horses. Not far from the palace is Schonbrunn, which was created by Maria Theresa and now is home to a butterfly observatory, a large well manicured park, and a tour of the palace will show you where Mozart placed his first concert. The Vienna State Opera house is a large building that commands attention from passer-bys as it was where Mozart preformed many of his concerts and it is an ornately decorated building. Vienna doesn’t offer the attractions and museums like other European destination’s, and with everything closed the best option was to just stroll through the streets and literally feel like you are in a different era
Best Ice Cream in Europe
. There are numerous pedestrian only walkways and the streets are fairly traffic free. Thankfully, Vienna being the “World’s Coffee Capital” many coffee shops were open and were lively and full of people. We stumbled into one just past the Stephensdom, and it was the release we needed from a maddening day of closed shops. A melangie is the Viennese take of Cappucino and is what they are known for, and I had to try it, it was good but this coffee shop tempted guests with pastries and ice cream creations that were irresistible. I got a chocolate ice cream like cake that had fudge in the middle and made me forget about the disappointment of coming the Austria and running into a barren city. One thing about Vienna is it is a fairly expensive city more like Switzerland than Germany or the Czech Republic(which are very cheap) Our hostel was just 17 euro, cheaper than many of the ones we stayed in, but restaurants and coffee were priced just like any other expensive city in Europe, so a trip to the grocery store is a must. Vienna is a city that demands a stroll through the old town and shows what prewar Europe most likely looked like. It is a cultural city that I missed the chance to experience by not planning more than a Sunday there. Tomorrow we have a date with Prague, and I am not sure what to expect from it. 
