Skip to main content

ticking boxes has never been so enjoyable

Arriving in Vienna hadn't started well. The door to the train wouldn't open. Finding another open door, I was left with a mother and 1 year old with a Trunkie, no husband, 4 year old, luggage or money. Turns out the family were Hungarian-Australian and on their way to the airport Oz bound so doing my good travellers deed for the day packed Mum, son and Trunkie off to the airport in a shuttle. I really hope they all made it home together.

I found my way to the hostel and then given the bright sunshine took to the streets having missed the opportunity to take photos of every other city in sun so far!
I made my way to the central Basilica and then wandered the streets finding a Schnitzel house filled to the rafters, a ornate clock, music singing through the streets, pianos being practised on and some of the most beautiful shoes I have ever seen (fit only for Elton John let it be said!). The film festival on that evening started at 9pm and with a rain shower about to hit I opted for a nice Italian meal of the Chef's recommendation (a new favourite in Europe when eating alone with a note pad and camera....makes you look like a foody and they treat you well!) and an early night. 

The following rainy day I made for the Schnitzel house to experience the true Austrian way.  My experience was shared with two lovely Spanish couples and an Australian engineer travelling Europe with a fold up bike (favouring his 20kg limit for a bike than clothes...enough said girls!). The shared experience was really quite fun after queueing for 30 mins in the drenching rain to get in we were happy to bunk in together.
And this feast was definitely a gastronomic highlight. The layers of pork were seperated by another layer of crumbs...I can highly recommend it. The Potato salad was also well worth while...look at me go! I learnt that day Weiner Schnitzel is veal meat hence this just being Schnitzel and hell if you haven't eaten Pork in as many years as I have then this is a bloody good starting point

My new Aussie mate and I made for the corner tea shop for some recommended apple struddel to complete the Austrian feast and what a pleasure it was. On with my rainy day I trod up to the Belvedere Musuem to see Gustav Kilmts Kiss and other great Austrian treasures. A feast for my eyes.

To complete my day and a feast for my ears this time I made for the Imperial Room at the Vienna Palace to see the Hoffburg Orchestra playing the greatest hits from the local boys Mozart and Strauss.  The Imperial Room had been rebuilt after a fire in the 90's so it was very fresh and felt a little soulless. Sitting on the flat in the back stalls was also a bit disappointing but the performances were not. The Orchestra were brilliant along with 4 Opera singers who pranced in and out to great applaud. My favourite was the percussionist who got red carded for pointing a musket at the Conductors head. Such great fun. The finale was something else altogether. The great works of Straus's Waltz. From the opening chords I had tears rolling down my eyes. Thinking of so many happy memories dancing around the kitchen and living room with my Dad and then of all those unlucky boys toes I stood on at High School Balls when we practised and mastered our steps together (thanks Nick T and Wade for the most part on this score!). Hearing the full version played in Vienna was perfect. Oh it still makes me a bit emotional in a happy way as it did then. Experiences are wonderful to revisit, be it around a camp fire, over a dining room table or in the music halls of royalty. 
Hoffburg Orchestra and Guest Opera Singers
The following morning I stepped out to see the Leopold Museum interested primarily to see the Musuem quarter of the city. Leopold holds a great selection of Egon Schiele, Gustav Kilmt and Josef Hoffmann Art Noveau designed furniture. I was in my element! Not least when I got to sit in a hammock and watch the world go by as I learnt about the muesums. 

Off to Tuscany I must go. I've lost my ticket but have my seat reservation so I'm hoping for the best...(and as I post this days later, no a problem at all Travel Karma rocks!)


Labels

Labels:
Location: Vienna, Austria

Comments

  1. TJ and VJ12 August 2011 at 15:53

    Hey sis - glad to see you enjoyed your schnitzel! Its hard to beat over there - one of Vicky's favourites too!

    The opera sounded fun - and enjoyed the trodden toes memory it brought up for you.

    Take care,
    Love TJ and VJ

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breath Taking Everest

I have always wanted to go to Everest Base Camp to see what the closest to the top of the world must be like. My big sister Fiona made it there some 14 years ago on her way to London. She had run into Ants (her old school friend and now my brother-in-law) in the streets of Kathmandu and later met Simon (her husband) after her trek in Chitwan National Park. She had also bought a painting of the beautiful Ama Dablam  (mother mountain for Mum) with Tengboche Monastery in the foreground and it sits pride of place in our family lounge. As a result Nepal and the Everest region screams family adventure to me.     After a couple of days in Kathmandu during a strike (the country is in massive flux as it does not have a constitution or a governing majority) I met Dustin and Elan near my hostel telling them I was keen to do the Everest Base Camp trek. I had been recommended the Anapurna circuit time and time again but with recent deaths due to slips and the coming m...
6 comments
Read more

Blog Catchup Links....

Because I have written my blog in chronological order I have updated a few gaps whilst I am procrastinating from job hunting! Hope you enjoy the stories as much I have enjoyed the experiences and if you have any questions or comments I welcome them..... India  - I had a few items to catch up on so here goes Mumbai/Bombay  -  Hello Mumbai! Bye Bye Bombay! Chandigarh, Punjab -  A Modernist Experiment 60 years on Taj Mahal, Agra  -  Taj Mahal Unvisited Thailand - I have not writen anything for my time in Thailand because my dear Mum says "if you can't say something nice so nothing at all" but here is a great cooking school I attended in Koh Chang of the South East Coast I am desperately trying to write about  Myanmar  for my friend Matthias. Promise its coming, I just need to put some final research into it my dear x I am working on some overview items for you too....joys of having some spare time on my hands "between job" Sensual ...
Post a Comment
Read more

All Creatures Great and Small

Running my first half marathon in 2010 What always strikes me when I attend a race of any distance, is how it takes all shapes and sizes, creatures great and small. And I am no exception. There are people who are young and old, of every race and religion, men in turbans, women in headscarves, topless and toned, slim and leggy, rotund and rouge red, bouncing, compact and flailing. But like all things in life, if You put your mind to goal then it doesn't matter what your genetic code you're going to do your best to complete that challenge. I had lunch yesterday with a dear friend and we discussed how we describe our body shapes on dating websites. She is a completely different shape to me exceeding 5'11 and with a booty I think JLo would covet. I am 5'6 with all the right curves in all of their respective places (I wish I had the confidence to say all the right places !). We both described ourselves as curvy....yet she thinks I'm skinny, sporty skinny but ski...
Post a Comment
Read more