Day six of our holiday dawns and we're off to Vienna, picking up our tickets, first class this time, from the automatic machine at the station. The weather's turned, there's rain in the air, which by the time we reach the border is hitting the ground pretty hard. Budapest and Vienna are within spitting distance of each other and we roll into the Westbahnhof before lunchtime. Our hotel is six stops on the metro, near the Donaukanal. It looks a bit 1970s from the outside but is very comfortable and with a metro and tram hub right outside, handy for everything. The rain has eased and we wander into the centre and have a look round. I'm trying not to burst into song but there's a post-downpour mistiness and the steady beat of a synth drum in my head.
Just around the corner from Stephanplatz and its dark and brooding St. Stephen's cathedral, so different from its Hungarian namesake, is the Mozarthaus and we go in just as the rain restarts. The composer looms large across the cultural landscape of Vienna but despite this ubiquity we later manage to buy a small bust of Beethoven for our souvenir by mistake!
The museum is a fascinating tour through Mozart's life and times in one of his many Viennese houses with scores, a few instruments even some original décor. It also sets the record straight on the Salieri controversy. The rain has stopped again by the time we leave.
We've scouted out three options for dinner just round the corner from the hotel, but one of them is shut and another doesn't appear to be there any more so we head into the third. It advertises traditional Austrian fare and I'm down for an authentic Wiener schnitzel followed by apfel strudel. Obvious but so tasty. Sarah's main course comes in two halves it's so substantial. It seems a really genuine place, there's an old man and his very small dog at a table by the door and the patron is very friendly. We like it so much we eat here both nights.
A post dinner wander finds us back at the Stephansdom where an art installation is being projected on to the façade, and we stumble across a statue of Johannes Gutenburg, father of modern printmaking and arguably one of the most important figures of the second millennium.
Our second and only full day in Vienna is one filled with art and cake. It's bright and sunny again and we spend the morning in the MuseumsQuartier, principally visiting the Leopold Museum of modern art and being blown away by its brilliant Schiele exhibition as well as a well curated tour through the Vienna secession. After lunch and a quick tour round MuMoK it's time for a little more tradition.
We head off across the Burggarten towards the Opera, pausing to admire the large Mozart statue, and onward to the Café Sacher because today's afternoon tea just has to be the world renowned Sacher Torte. It doesn't disappoint. Wedges of chocolatey, cakey loveliness duly consumed, we catch a tram around the inner ring back to the hotel. It's been a few weeks since Eurovision and Conchita Wurst's famous win, but the trams are all decked in rainbow flags alongside the city standard.
The plan for our early evening entertainment before dinner is to visit the Wiener Riesenrad - cue bouzouki music...
We enter the park and the sounds of Mozart hit us again, this time accompanying the dodgem riders. The Ferris wheel dominates the otherwise modern amusement park and we buy our tickets joining the thankfully sparse queue. Halfway round it gets a little rocky and my hand gets a bit crushed as the vertigo strikes. Otherwise, it's a thrilling end to the day.
Our final day in the Austrian capital is even busier, even though our train leaves that evening. After dropping our bags at the station we spend the morning at the Hofburg Palace with its ridiculous displays of opulence and wealth. There's a museum devoted to the royal silver collection, elaborate place settings and the finest porcelain the Hapsburgs could plunder and a very interesting exhibition on the life of the Empress Elisabeth.
We pass out through the stables of the Spanish riding school, catching some of the white horses being groomed, and on to the Albertina gallery - also part of the palace complex. Curiously there's a large pink rabbit on the canopy and we decide to go in. This last minute decision to visit turns out to be very serendipitous as it's one of the rare occasions that the extraordinary Albrecht Durer drawings are on show, hence the rabbit. But that's not all, the whole collection is stunning.
We had planned to finish off the day at the market getting provisions for the evening, but first we visit the Secession Building. A stunning architectural statement and exhibition space it also houses Klimt's famous Beethoven Frieze. It's breathtaking.
Alongside the market, Vienna's version of the Hollywood walk of fame, the Musik Meile, is little more classy than its American counterpart, a succession of the great and good of classical music are represented; we spot Strauss, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and of course Mozart before we wander off and spend a small fortune on our train picnic. There's a bar with a massive bottle of Aperol on display so we sit a while with a spritz but find we still have a couple of hours spare. We decide to bite the bullet and cram one more sight in so head off to the Belvedere Palace, a large gallery housed in the former summer palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy. It's a little way out of the centre and I have a minor internal panic about missing the train but half way round the tour is the reason we came; a heart-stopping room full of the most sumptuous works of Gustav Klimt. There's a small crowd gathered at the far end and as they move away, there it is;
The Kiss in all its golden glory. A fitting climax to a wonderful trip, and one we nearly missed.
Vienna is so beautiful and we're sad to leave but the Cologne sleeper pulls out at 21:40 and we have to be on it. As we wait at the station we're briefly tempted to get back on a train to Budapest but we restrain ourselves and board the EuroNight train as planned. We tuck into our picnic with a glass or two of a tasty red and are asleep not long out of Linz. After a restful night, breakfast is taken as we speed along the beautiful Rhine Valley, waving to our friend Marlene in Remagen as we pass.
We have the rest of the morning to kill in Cologne and as it's right there by the station we visit the famous cathedral before joining the Brussels express for the Eurostar home.
Carbon saved: 210kg
May 2014
Just around the corner from Stephanplatz and its dark and brooding St. Stephen's cathedral, so different from its Hungarian namesake, is the Mozarthaus and we go in just as the rain restarts. The composer looms large across the cultural landscape of Vienna but despite this ubiquity we later manage to buy a small bust of Beethoven for our souvenir by mistake!
We've scouted out three options for dinner just round the corner from the hotel, but one of them is shut and another doesn't appear to be there any more so we head into the third. It advertises traditional Austrian fare and I'm down for an authentic Wiener schnitzel followed by apfel strudel. Obvious but so tasty. Sarah's main course comes in two halves it's so substantial. It seems a really genuine place, there's an old man and his very small dog at a table by the door and the patron is very friendly. We like it so much we eat here both nights.
We head off across the Burggarten towards the Opera, pausing to admire the large Mozart statue, and onward to the Café Sacher because today's afternoon tea just has to be the world renowned Sacher Torte. It doesn't disappoint. Wedges of chocolatey, cakey loveliness duly consumed, we catch a tram around the inner ring back to the hotel. It's been a few weeks since Eurovision and Conchita Wurst's famous win, but the trams are all decked in rainbow flags alongside the city standard.
We enter the park and the sounds of Mozart hit us again, this time accompanying the dodgem riders. The Ferris wheel dominates the otherwise modern amusement park and we buy our tickets joining the thankfully sparse queue. Halfway round it gets a little rocky and my hand gets a bit crushed as the vertigo strikes. Otherwise, it's a thrilling end to the day.
Vienna is so beautiful and we're sad to leave but the Cologne sleeper pulls out at 21:40 and we have to be on it. As we wait at the station we're briefly tempted to get back on a train to Budapest but we restrain ourselves and board the EuroNight train as planned. We tuck into our picnic with a glass or two of a tasty red and are asleep not long out of Linz. After a restful night, breakfast is taken as we speed along the beautiful Rhine Valley, waving to our friend Marlene in Remagen as we pass.