Vienna: Synopsis

Right now my life could be something straight out of a movie. Alex and I have just ended a busy two days in Vienna and are now bundled up in a cold train on our way to Budapest. Its foggy, gray and cold outside. We are passing miles of farmland, littered with fields of trees and rows of windmills. And here I am just staring out the window huddling under my long coat and scarf. Everything seems so archaic…

Anyway, our trip to Vienna was much more hectic than our relaxing stay in Prague. After arriving in the cold city we found our way to our hotel, which was a feat in itself. It was freezing outside, I would’ve bet that it was colder than Prague, if that’s possible. And we couldn’t seem to find our hotel.

Hotel Geblergasse, when we finally found it, was nowhere near the city center. Relatively speaking it wasn’t too far out, but it wasn’t in the center of town. And for the price we were hoping for a big better of a deal. Luckily we didn’t really spend that much time there.

The first night we spent in Vienna was great! We found a little place to eat, had our fill, then napped until we were to attend a ballet. Alex had bought tickets for the Weiner StaatsOper, or the State Opera House around the same time we bought our plane tickets for the trip. And although he spent quite a bit of money on tickets we still had seat in the nosebleed section. Our view, however, was great for the seats. The Opera House itself was beautiful, and the ceiling and walls were enough to wow us.

This ballet was the first I’ve seen, and it was Die Bajadere. It was based in India, and had some exotic qualities to the dancing and music. During the intermission Alex and I shared a small bottle of champagne and just enjoyed the beauty of the building – we decided it was definitely worth the time and money because we will probably only do this once in our lives!

After the ballet was headed to the dining area of an upscale hotel across the street, called Hotel Sacher. We enjoyed their tea, coffee and apple and cheese strudels. The dining area looked quite upscale and I though the prices would be tremendously high, but the prices were very reasonable – I would recommend it to anyone.

The second day in Vienna began early, although not as early as we hoped. In our room they pushed two bed together so while I was sleeping I keep getting caught in the crease in the middle, and it was a bit cold in our room and we had inadequate covers, so I was constantly waking up during the night. Because of my lack of sleep I slept in a bit, and we started the day a bit later than we wanted to.

When we finally got out the door we began by going to the Schloss Schonbrunn Castle. It was the imperial seat of the Hapsburgs, most notably Franz Josep and Maria Theresa. We went on the grand tour and saw 40 different rooms of the castle. It was mostly in Rocca style, and there was a great variety of styles and colors used in different rooms. Like many other castles, artwork and grand pieces of furniture decorated the whole palace.

Then we stopped by the University of Vienna, and it was one of the most ornate colleges I have been to. It could have been a museum. Next was the Museum of the Imperial Treasury. Alex gets deathly bored in museums, and in this one he was obviously hurting. It was much like other museums…of pretty things that only the elite collected. But some of the displays were very interesting, such the Hapsburg empire having a piece of the cross Jesus was crucified on. They also displayed what was supposed to be a piece of the tablecloth the Last Dinner took place on. Most of the other stuff included Jewels and religious cloths.

We also hit the Jewish Museum, whose permanent exhibit included an unfinished room and a display of a hidden synagogue. It was extremely small. The visiting exhibit was of a Jewish Viennese architect, Josep Frank. This exhibit was definitely larger and more interesting.

The last of our day included trying to visit a cemetery where there were memorials of very famous musicians such as Mozart. However, it was closed so we just got really cold in the meantime. We didn’t have much more luck when we took a tram to the Nausmarket, an outdoor market place. Everything was starting to close up, so we settled for eating dinner at one of the small restaurants in the middle of the Market place.

After an hour of trying to find a place to eat breakfast the next morning, we finally decided on the familiar McDonald’s McMuffin. Afterward we didn’t have much time to do anymore sightseeing so we returned to our hotel, gathered our luggage, and headed for our train to Budapest….

Prague: Day 2

Despite the cold, our first full day proved to be really satisfying. We woke up pretty early, ate a fulfilling Czech breakfast and we were out the door by 9:30, ready to do some exploring.

We first walked up to Petrin Hill, which is a little touristy village very close to our hotel. We rode up a funicular tram to the top of the village where there was a small replica of the Eiffel Tower. Two hundred something steps later we were overlooking all of Prague, and had the most beautiful views of the city.

Also I made Alex pay for tickets for a mirror labyrinth. It was exactly what you would expect – a small building with a small mirror maze, probably more for little kids, one historical painting to justify the building, and another room with silly mirrors. I though it was great…Alex was a little less enthusiastic, but it was still a fun time.

Afterward we walked around some nice village-like streets, walking in and out of little shops. We also visited a small art gallery, we are thinking about getting a piece of art as our souvenir but Alex has a specific idea, like a painting of Prague during the winter as we are here during that time. We have a couple days, hopefully we will come across something really nice.

To warm up, we stopped for a bit in a little café an enjoyed a great cup of cream of mushroom soup and really rich hot chocolate. We finished in time to witness the changing of the guard at Prague Castle, said to be Prague’s most popular tourist site. The guards are much like the British guards, unmovable and fun to take pictures next to!

We paid for the long tour in the castle, which included passes to the Old Royal Palace, the Story of Prague Castle, the Basilica of St. George, the National Gallery and the Golden Lane. And everyone had access to the Cathedral. The Cathedral was really something else. It was like pictures you find in history books of really beautiful churches. This one was in the Gothic style and it took five hundred years to complete it.

The Cathedral was huge, over 160 meters long, and housed some of the most beautiful displays of stained glass and artwork I have seen. This is not saying much becuase I haven't seen many ancient cathedrals, but it was definitely worth seeing. It was pretty crowded, but all of the artwork and mini chapels surrounding the nave justified the crowds. We invested in the audio tour of the Castle and the Cathedral alone took up soundbits 1-25. Most of it was history of the cathedral, and the saints, members of royalty and patrons buried there, or memorialized in mini chapels.

The artwork in the National Gallery is alone worth the visit. A lot of religious-themed paintings are housed there, but there were a lot of Bohemian historical paintings as well. In the Story of Prague Castle they displayed skeletons of people buried in the castle community, as well as the artifacts and dress they were buried with. The displays, among many other things, illustrated some very interesting parts of their historical culture.

We will post pictures as well, but here is a link with some history and pictures of Prague Castle: http://www.prague.net/prague-castle

By the time we left it was getting dark already. Alex wanted to buy our tickets to Vienna ahead of time, just in case, so we utilized the public transport (which is almost as extensive as New York’s) and rode the metro down to the train station.

Then we finally headed out to get lunch/dinner. We were both in the mood for Italian, and after a brisk stroll trying to find the nearest tram we luckily found a restaurant called Pizzeria Coloseum, and sat down to eat. Alex ordered Lasagna and I had the best plate of Spinach Ravioli with Cheese…one of the best Italian meals I have eaten. The price was really good as well. Unfortunately, we ate pretty late so we didn’t get brats today, but I am definitely looking forward to one tomorrow!

So our long day ended with a brief tram ride back to the hotel, us immediately jumping under the covers to warm up, and almost directly after lying down we feel asleep for a refreshing two hour nap.

Our itinerary tomorrow includes attending mass (not sure of the church yet), hitting up the Jewish Quarter, Christmas concert in Wenceslas Square and who knows what else!