Vienna - 17 October
17 October
We woke up this morning to a wall outside our window. We initially thought it was the dock and it must be low, and then when we went up on deck we realised we were in a lock. A pretty impressive thing to witness, and I had no idea how large they are with multiple boats in there at a time, but they fill fairly quickly, about half an hour and you are off again.
We opted for the city tour of Vienna in the morning which started on the bus which took us around the ring road and pointed out all the sites, then we did the central city on foot. When we had initially arrived on the boat it looked like a very modern city with a lot of high rises, but once we were in the inner city the architecture was absolutely beautiful. Most of the city was built in the baroque period which is my favorite style, and they have kept the buildings pristine. Such a contrast to Budapest a few days ago. Because the buildings are mainly made from sandstone they turn black over time because of is extremely porous, so all of the public buildings are washed to keep it looking nice. With €150 fines for littering it is also immaculate, one of the cleanest cities we have visited.
Austria has a very high tax rate, but it does mean they can keep the place looking nice, they have free education right through including university, and their public transport costs them €1 per day. There are also very few homeless/beggers. Only a few that we saw, in comparison to other cities we have been to.
There are a surprising number of bikes nine the city, with bike lanes everywhere.
We didn't ride the ferris wheel, but it is very cute, it's almost like the original city eye back in the 19th century with little caboose looking carts that you can get a candlelit dinnern in. 1 course per rotation.
It is only still there because the city ran out of money to take it down.
We managed to have a look in St Stephens Cathedral in the middle of the city, and also walked through part of the Spanish riding schools where the Lipizzaner horses were in their stables. They didn't have any shows on the day were were there, but would have loved to see them perform. There were all sorts of sights including lots of churches, monuments to the plague and even a modern art piece which was a vagina with teeth 😳
After seeing a few of the key sites in the central city we caught up with a good friend Caleb who is living in Austria now and went for lunch.
I wanted to try Austrian Schnitzel as I have only had it in Germany so we found somewhere that had veal schnitzel and Sacher Torte (which is apparently a must have in Vienna). The veal took the entire plate, but it was devine. Cost €30 each, so we basically paid $120NZD for 2 schnitzels, and then found out that was on the dinner menu on the boat that night. Oh well. The Sacher Torte is basically a chocolate cake with apricot filling and fondant icing. I have to say not really my kind of cake, but had to try it.
After a nice catchup with Caleb, we headed out for the evening to a classical music concert with the Vienna Supreme Orchestra. It was in a concert hall, and the building was beautiful. An old fashion light that went like the clippers, and the room our concert was in is the Engineers Banquet Hall. Beautifully ornate carved ceilings and the whole room is wood, so the acoustics were stunning. No need for a sound system. We had the orchestra, a baritone and soprano, and a ballet couple, so lots of variety and very entertaining. It really completed our Vienna experience!
We woke up this morning to a wall outside our window. We initially thought it was the dock and it must be low, and then when we went up on deck we realised we were in a lock. A pretty impressive thing to witness, and I had no idea how large they are with multiple boats in there at a time, but they fill fairly quickly, about half an hour and you are off again.
We opted for the city tour of Vienna in the morning which started on the bus which took us around the ring road and pointed out all the sites, then we did the central city on foot. When we had initially arrived on the boat it looked like a very modern city with a lot of high rises, but once we were in the inner city the architecture was absolutely beautiful. Most of the city was built in the baroque period which is my favorite style, and they have kept the buildings pristine. Such a contrast to Budapest a few days ago. Because the buildings are mainly made from sandstone they turn black over time because of is extremely porous, so all of the public buildings are washed to keep it looking nice. With €150 fines for littering it is also immaculate, one of the cleanest cities we have visited.
Austria has a very high tax rate, but it does mean they can keep the place looking nice, they have free education right through including university, and their public transport costs them €1 per day. There are also very few homeless/beggers. Only a few that we saw, in comparison to other cities we have been to.
There are a surprising number of bikes nine the city, with bike lanes everywhere.
We didn't ride the ferris wheel, but it is very cute, it's almost like the original city eye back in the 19th century with little caboose looking carts that you can get a candlelit dinnern in. 1 course per rotation.
It is only still there because the city ran out of money to take it down.
We managed to have a look in St Stephens Cathedral in the middle of the city, and also walked through part of the Spanish riding schools where the Lipizzaner horses were in their stables. They didn't have any shows on the day were were there, but would have loved to see them perform. There were all sorts of sights including lots of churches, monuments to the plague and even a modern art piece which was a vagina with teeth 😳
After seeing a few of the key sites in the central city we caught up with a good friend Caleb who is living in Austria now and went for lunch.
I wanted to try Austrian Schnitzel as I have only had it in Germany so we found somewhere that had veal schnitzel and Sacher Torte (which is apparently a must have in Vienna). The veal took the entire plate, but it was devine. Cost €30 each, so we basically paid $120NZD for 2 schnitzels, and then found out that was on the dinner menu on the boat that night. Oh well. The Sacher Torte is basically a chocolate cake with apricot filling and fondant icing. I have to say not really my kind of cake, but had to try it.
After a nice catchup with Caleb, we headed out for the evening to a classical music concert with the Vienna Supreme Orchestra. It was in a concert hall, and the building was beautiful. An old fashion light that went like the clippers, and the room our concert was in is the Engineers Banquet Hall. Beautifully ornate carved ceilings and the whole room is wood, so the acoustics were stunning. No need for a sound system. We had the orchestra, a baritone and soprano, and a ballet couple, so lots of variety and very entertaining. It really completed our Vienna experience!
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