July 7, 2015: European Rail Trip: Day 12: Vienna

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: VIENNA

Wandering about in Vienna!

Well hello hello and Greetings from Vienna! 

I'm taking just a wee bit of a wifi break here at Starbucks (guess it's my turn...lol). Inside joke.

My break is between our 2.5+hr walking tour with (yet another) Andrea, and my 3hr biking tour (Elisa has opted out due to the heat).

But before I go any further, please enjoy some of the sites for our walking tour!

So as you must realize, that in order to have material to write about and to live my adventures, there will be times that I just can't force the time to make our editorial deadline. 
So I'm sorry. But you can look forward to lots more fun scoop later on today! 

NOTE: this was written earlier in the day and since then everything has been added.

After our lovely tour, and going into St. Stephen's, Elisa and I parted ways. 
She went to go eat and I came here to quickly put in my 2 cents and then go biking!! 

Here are a few quirky things that you probably won't find in tour books that our tour guide Andrea had mentioned to us:

 - By law in Vienna, cars must stop at the crosswalks but she noted DO NOT do this in Budapest - they'll run you over! 
And we have to agree!

- Only 9-10% of the population are dog owners!

- Generally Vienna has good weather because of the breeze coming off of the Danube. Which means that they also have bad hair! Lol

-Vienna loves to celebrate life!
Annually they have more than 300 festivals, and over 400 balls! My type of motto - CELEBRATE LIFE!!

- They are the 3rd richest country in the EU behind Luxembourg & Germany.

- They are 3rd safest country in the EU - so safe that the president lives in a regular apartment and he walks the city gardens without a bodyguard!

She also mentioned that they don't have Emperors or Empresses, but they do have their jewels - in the treasury!

Next up was...
The biking tour, it was quite lovely and I got to check off several things off of my wish list that just would've been too darn difficult to achieve without being on bike. 

My poor wilting cousin Elisa had dreaded the heat (hence opting out of the bike tour), however the bike tour actually began by riding along side the Danube Canal (Dave would've loved this!) and it was a lovely temperature - nothing whatsoever to complain about. 

We were heading to the Prater and the Wiener Riesenrad - the giant ferris wheel which was build in 1897!!!

We continued to ride through the beautiful and lush Prater (the city park where the Viennese go for recreation), which at approximately 6,000,000 square metres is nearly twice the size of Central Park!

However, once we had made our way back towards the "city" we were in the sun (luckily not for long) and it was rather HOT.

Each of us on tour were all staying quite hydrated and this was really the only portion of the ride that was uncomfortable...
In fact we had even rode over the the Schwarzenbergplatz and were able to sit there for a while and enjoy the ever refreshing mist that the wind had carried from the large fountain. It felt AMAZING!

One of my highlights of the tour was going to the Hundertwasserhaus, which while it's said Hundert had no influence from Gaudi - it totally brings Gaudi to mind for me!

The tour guide, Kasper reminded me soooo much of a friend of mine.. Personality, looks, everything. They could've been twins separated at birth! Lol 

Anyhow I want to totally recommend going on tour with Vienna Explorer - it was a pleasure and both expert guides that I had experienced touring with were nothing short of excellent!

Okay, I gotta say that after waking up at 5:30am and after 12 hours of non-stop going. I was actually kinda a bit tired and while waiting for my last transfer heading back to the apartment, I actually sat down for the few minutes to wait! 

Wow, makes me wonder if this is how other people feel after only a much shorter day...

Well anyhow, another fairly LONG day again tomorrow. But at least the temps will be much lower and it's suppose to rain!!!

I've gotta go shower now, this weather and all the activity has made me rather grimy!

Talk to ya tomorrow,
-T

Elisa's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: VIENNA

First Day in The Imperial City

Gooten Tag from Vienna!!  

I am so excited to be here with Tanya and see her experience this great city.

In St. Stephen's Cathedral

Quick Rant...
I was getting dressed today - moving along, I began to put my make up on and I could not find my mascara!!  

I thoroughly looked through my make up case, all my other bags and it's no where to be found!
Ugh - feel so naked without mascara!  I'll have to pick some up today when we pass a store.

Second rant - it's supposed to hit 100 degrees today in Vienna!  WTF?  Tanya and I were scheduled to take a walking/biking tour, but with all the advisory alerts, it's not even about me hating the heat, so much as the fact that it's so unsafe to be out in the sun, exerting ourselves.  

Tanya was on the phone with the tour company all morning, trying to see if we could reschedule the tour OR just take a different offered, for tomorrow. But, it's not offered tomorrow.  So... guess what we did today...


Now, before I talk about today, let me tell you a little about last night...

Our first day in Vienna was totally uneventful.  We arrived (with no problems!) via taxi from the airport.  Settled into our rental apartment, cranked out our blog for yesterday and before we knew it, it was nearly 8:30pm.

Tanya (in her usual, amazing way) found a long list of vegan/vegetarian restaurants and sweet shoppes around the area.  Unfortunately, none of them are within short walking distance to our rental apartment.

We opted to walk right around the corner to a favorite of mine from my last trip in April 2014 - Pan & Wien. (Check out my Foodie Friday article: CLICK HERE.)

They actually have two venues within a block of one another - the summer location is an outdoor garden seating area which is where we ate last night.  It was so lovely. Check out Tanya's side for the picture of us!)
 

 Alrighty then, back to today...
We left our apartment, (which by the way is NOT air conditioned but VERY cool because it is such an old building) and started walking towards the train station as we needed to rendez-vous for our tour.

It was about a ten minute walk. Taking the train in foreign cities is always like a little adventure to me - and the Vienna metro is very easy to navigate, clean and convenient.

LOVELY FLOWERS ALONG THE WAY TO OUR TOUR

Now, can I move from Rant to Rave!!! 
Yes, what an amazing walking tour!!! What a difference from our tour in Budapest (which Tanya does not like me to remind her about).

It was 2-1/2 hours and not only did we see some of the top sights in Vienna, BUT, we also garnered so much historical information about this city, as well as a great number of quirky facts.  
CHECK OUT TANYA'S BLOG FOR A NUMBER OF THESE VIENNA FACTS!!

Our Walking/Biking TourCompany in Vienna

There was so much packed into these few hours, so I'll give you a few highlights with a bit of information:

Maria am Gestade Church

This church is an example of Gothic style of architecture.
What makes it Gothic - well, a good rule of thumb according to our tour guide is that it is very "vertical" and tall. 

The Gothic style started in France around 1050 AD and at that time, people still believed the world was flat, and that God was up in the sky.  So, by building high, it brought them closer to God.

Maria am Gestade Church - example of Gothic Building style

The Gothic Style, which spread through Europe until 1500, also had many rules associated with it.  For examples, the entrances are always in the west, where the sun sets.  This entrance was where the royals entered.

The East was always where Mary, the Mother of God was placed since she was considered the "light" having given birth to Jesus and East is where the sun rises.

Men and boys entered from the south and girls entered from the north and stayed on that side once inside.

Close up of entrance Maria am Gestade Church

Jewish Ghetto
Just like the rest of the cities we visited on this trip, the history of the Jews always ends the same way - horrific and tragic, as of World War II.

Up until the 1938, with the "return" of Hitler, (It's called a return, since this was his birthplace), there were over 200,000 Jews that lived in Vienna.  Over 65,000 were killed during World War II.  

Now, in the former Jewish Ghetto, stands a memorial to honor the 65,000 killed.  It was designed by Rachel Whiteread and it is an inside-out library.  The inside is hollow to represent the murdered Jews. 

Memorial Honoring the 65,000 Jews killed in World War II

A little bit of background for you history buffs.  The Austrians welcomed Hitler with open arms because after World War I, and the fall of the Hapsburgs, the empire was very small and instable.  After the civil war in 1934, and growing unemployment, people were desperate for someone to help.

The Viennese  looked to Hitler for what he did in 1933 in Germany.  Under his leadership, over 6 million people became employed. So, in 1938 when Hitler "returned" to Vienna, he was welcomed with open arms in hopes of the "good" he could do for Austria. But, of course, that was not his intention and by 1942 - there were over 36 concentration camps in Austria alone. Very sad.

Some pictures as we toured...

Pictures along the way

A few interesting facts about Vienna:

Mozart performed at age 6 in Vienna. His fame skyrocketed after Maria Teresa heard of him and brought him to Schonbrunn Palace to Play.

Music and theatre were always a big part of the culture of Vienna. Emperor Franz Joseph loved the theatre but did not like sad endings.  He actually had the ending of Romeo & Juliet changed when performed in Vienna.

Mary Help Street is the longest shopping street in Europe.

This year marks the 450th anniversary of the Spanish Riding School.

The Hofburg
The Habsburgs were one of the principal dynasties of Europe from the 15th to the 20th century.


The Hofburg is the former royal residence of the Hapsburg's, and is the largest Palace in Europe with 18 buildings throughout the grounds. 

Over the past 15 years, there have been four modern museums added, which have become a popular hang out for young people.

We entered the grounds of the Imperial Palace into the beautiful Volksgarten, full of its beautiful rose gardens, which filled the air with its fragrance.

The balcony of the Hofburg is well known for where Hitler made a speech to the Viennese from a balcony on March 15, 1938 with the heroic statue of Archduke Karl in the background. 

The Volksgarten at the Hofburg

A newer building (1800's) in the Volksgarten has Greek style

The Hofburg

St. Stephen's Cathedral
This beautiful church is a combination of architectural styles.  It started off as a small Romanesque church.  But, as Vienna began expanding and growing, it turned out that St. Stephen's found itself situated in the center of the city. 

As a result, the goal was to make this church more grand and impressive.  The original little church was torn down and a new "second" church was built in 1220 in the Gothic style.  Interestingly, St. Stephen is the first Christian who died for his religion.

Ok - just a little humor - saw this guy in St. Stephen's - "Dude, it's a Catholic Church."

Now, after the walking tour, Tanya and I split up.  She, being the trooper she always is, went on to do the bike tour portion of our tour.

I continued walking around the city - just taking in the sites and doing some window shopping.  It was horribly hot!!

On the way back to our apartment, I made a quick stop at the supermarket where I picked up some fruit and salad and much needed WATER!!!

Well, my dear ones, I'm gonna bid adieu for the day!!

See ya back here tomorrow.  

-E
xoxo