2014-06 "14 on Fire" Vienna
Thursday June 12, 2014
We flew from Miami, dropping Tony’s truck off at work and leaving my Beetle at the airport. Overnight flight to Dusseldorf, hour layover then another 1 hr 15 minute flight to Vienna. The overnight flight was uncomfortable and we didn't sleep much.
Friday June 13, 2014
Upon arrival in Vienna we quickly discovered that they speak German, there! And then we discovered that my bag didn't make it. I was not well treated by the airport contractor that handles these things. No point in going into details but just to mention that I spent a couple of days doubting that I would EVER see my bag again. Thankfully at the end of our day on Saturday my bag was in my room. But that meant I spent all day Friday and Saturday in mostly the same clothes in which I had flown all night. Not being able to change my shoes was the worst part, actually. I bought a souvenir t-shirt. Because, you know, I don’t have enough t-shirts. :/
We left the airport and figured out the airport train to the underground and made our way to the Hilton Vienna Danube to check in.
Along the way we ran into an artist’s display of some magnificent paintings of the stones. We bought a limited print and the artist signed it for us.
We had an upgraded king room on the waterfront and the very nice check-in guy upgraded us still further to the executive floor on top of that. This is more exciting than you might think because 1) we didn't pay a dime for the room in the first place, all four nights free with Hilton points and 2) now we had free (fantastic) breakfast and beers and drinks and stuff. Plus because I have achieved ‘gold’ status with Hilton (it’s my loyalty to Hamptons that has created this situation) I have free Wi-Fi. So we literally stayed the whole four days, ate, used the spa, connected to Wi-Fi everywhere on all devices, had some beers and other drinks and 24 hour cappuccinos, etc. and paid not a cent for our entire stay! Not in any currency.
These are the views from our room.
Ernst Happel Stadium as viewed from the executive lounge at the Hilton
The hotel is a simple couple of blocks walk to the underground station and to the stadium where, on Monday night, the Stones would be playing. We were able to watch the progress at the stadium as they set up over the weekend every time we went to the Underground station. And we were able to sit in the executive lounge to eat or have a drink and look at the Danube off one side and the stadium off the other.
We bought a 72 hour underground pass and that worked for our whole visit, no additional costs and I must say that it is clean and unbelievably easy and blissfully quiet and uncrowded to get around Vienna on the underground! Tony adds:
We were traveling almost effortlessly by the second day. Above-ground walking was a bit more confusing, but by trip's end, we had it mostly sussed out. Just in time to leave. Even though we had our 3-day tickets, they were not checked a single time, and we rode the "U" repeatedly, every day.
Here I am - still wearing the clothes I flew in.
First event was a walking tour of Vienna that was informative and historical in general, but was actually focused on the history and sights of the filming of
The Third Man
. This is a post-WWII film that is considered the best British film of the century and the break-thru creator of the ‘film noir’ style. We watched the movie last week so that it was fresh on our minds and really enjoyed the walking tour.
I'm sorry, that's just funny
The City Canal/man-made branch of the Danube. It is very interesting on multiple levels.
It was used for the sewer shots in The Third Man.
Used for Harry Lime's disappearance.
The Hare is on exhibit and this campaign is all over the city. We tried to find the time to go to the Albertina museum, but it wasn't in the cards.
The big deal about the Hare (Tony kept calling it "The bunny", or Haas, much to Susan's dismay) is, it is only put on display to the public every 10 years. It's kept in a climate-controlled underground vault in between.
Russian Memorial. Funny story about how Vienna must keep all memorials - it is in their treaty.
Presidents and the Rolling Stones have stayed here a the Imperial.
After our walking tour we wandered around on our own for a bit and went back to the Mozart Café, a sight from the film with to-die-for-deserts. We had two lovely deserts.
From the movie - and fabulous deserts, we can attest first hand.
Outside the Opera
Then we wandered around a bit more and watched the opera. They broadcast the live events from the State Opera on a giant screen in the plaza. For Free. Every night. We tried to see something in the State Opera but were not able to work that out. We did peek inside for a bit. It is gorgeous! The State Opera sells out EVERY night (even weeknights)... probably because it's so good, but also because they do
a different program
EVERY NIGHT! We noticed many, many musicians in Vienna, carrying their classical instruments (cellos, horns, flutes, violins, etc) to and fro. We guess that Vienna is probably one of the few cities in the world that can support a large workforce of classically trained musicians, even though it is a relatively small city, population-wise.
The screen where each evening's performances are broadcast live.
We saw the Magic Flute.
We returned to the hotel and into bed by 10:30p – we were actually proud to have stayed up that long. We foolishly closed the black-out curtains all the way and slept solidly until 10:30a. Twelve solid hours of sleep! We regretted sleeping that long, but we sure felt rested!
Saturday June 14, 2014
After having lunch at a strange 'running sushi' restaurant at the stadion mall, we ambled back via the underground to the city center. There as a big gay pride parade going on so we couldn't take the hop-on/hop-off bus and getting around on the streets was difficult so we jumped on a tour bus going a bit further afield in the city. We went by the famous Ferris Wheel and up to the Grinzing village area where there are wineries and breweries. Got out and had a walk around high up on the hillside overlooking the city.
The new Danube is a clean river with much recreational facility. Those little pedal boats have a slide built in!
Amusement park with ...
...the famous Ferris wheel.
Lovely view over Vienna
Wedding was going on.
They all released their baloons.
Then we took a boat ride down the Danube and back into town. Comfortably seated having a beer and enjoying the info screen and the view out the window.
Caught our boat.
While we were in the lock we watched some drama with this mother duck trying to get her ducklings to wait on the steps as the water drained away. They were too dumb. She was so exasperated. They were fine, though.
The boat let us out in the Schwedenplatz area. The man-made canal part of the Danube into the city center has been transformed into quite the party area. We really enjoyed wandering around here and we caught a live band along the way.
Note that the Ben & Jerry's stands (two of them) have beer taps. Yes; they serve beer at the Vienna Ben & Jerry's! YAY! We didn't try it from those vendors, but on the whole, Austrian beer is excellent, plentiful, and not terribly inexpensive. Repeat after me: "Zwei groBe (pronounced "gross-uh") Bier, bitte". That will generally set you back E3.5 (about $4.75) for each half liter (about 17oz.) glass of cold, high-quality beer.
Yes, it's a swimming pool. And a barge. It is a swimming pool on a barge.
It's a beach ... nowhere near the ocean. And a Ben & Jerry's nohere near any ice cream.
In numerous establishments in Vienna (Wein, in the local lingo), there is sand and beach chairs, and one place even had a surfboard... do they KNOW that Austria (Osterreich, in Deutsche).is LANDLOCKED and there IS NO SURF??? Apparently not.
After spending time on the river front we meandered around the Ringstrasse (the city center) for a bit longer and then found a fabulous place to have dinner:
On Sunday we were picked up from our hotel for a drive out to the Danube Valley and the Melk Abby. This also included a longer boat ride.
And from the boat...
Then Melk Abby for a tour and lunch.
Monday morning we awoke very excited about the impending concert. After breakfast we took the underground into the city center and then rode the tram around the Ringstrasse and followed that up by walking around to some of the sights that we learned about.
If you're thinking the architecture in the pics is interesting and unusual, you're only half correct - interesting; yes. Unusual? EVERY building in Vienna seems to be a masterpiece, with architectural embellishments, intricate facades, and statues and sculptures all over the place, without being too "busy" or at all tacky. Here are three examples.
Marie Theresa was a beloved Queen of Austria. She
was the only female ruler of the
and the last of the
. She was the sovereign of
,
,
,
,
,
,
, the
and
. By marriage, she was
,
and
.
Lots of green space complements it all, and most everyplace is open to the public. Very cool city.
This sign appeared to be permanent... there wasn't a cloud in the sky and there were loads of people roaming the park. It was very perplexing!
And then ...
... Ladies and Gentlemen! The ROLLING STONES!
This was 'You can't always get what you want. A local choir performed with them (you can only see a few of them in the back left, there were actually maybe a dozen on each side of the stage.) They did a beautiful job and it was very exciting. I'm pretty sure it was exciting for them, too.
They do seem to still be chums.
As for the Rolling Stones... WOW. They haven't missed a beat, even though they're 70-ish. Mick was in fine voice; Keith & Ron played their licks like the pros they are... and they were having a good time doing it - lots of smiles & shenanigans from them (especially Keith, who, apparently, is quite the onstage prankster). Charlie was stoic, as always, but he still plays as he always has... without working up a sweat. And those pics Susan posted are accurate - we were THAT close... Classify this show in the "experience of a lifetime" category.
After the concert we walked home and we were asleep by about 1a - then had to get up at 3a to catch our flight. Ugh. But it was ALL worth it! :)
We didn't get to see half of what we wanted to... probably a return trip is in order. Tony adds: if you know Susan (who generally disdains repeating trips to the same places), that says a lot for the lovely city and people of Vienna. (But Susan rebuts "not so much the people".)
And remember: there are no kangaroos in Austria.
