The plane of China Airline flying to Vienna is quite full and isn’t as comfortable as the one I flew back to Taiwan from Sydney. I was both mentally and physically exhausted, so I was sleeping most of the time. I wasn’t feeling hungry either, so didn’t eat much on the way. The flight first took 8 hours to Abu Dhabi. It was a bit irritating because within 8 hours, I couldn’t really sleep for too long after finished watching Da Vinci Code, which I thought was very American. We landed in Abu Dhabi at like 1 in the morning. Abu Dabi Airport is very amusing. The interior is decorated like a honey comb with sparkling green colour hexagons. The shops are still open at 1 am! The outside, from what I can see from the sky, is dome shaped. I can’t remember how long the rest of the flight took, but with the one hour break in Abu Dhabi, it wasn’t as long a I thought it would take to Vienna.
Interior of Abu Dhabi Airport
I arrived in Vienna at 7:30 am. The airport is pretty non-special, and there is no custom check, a bit like Taiwan. Well, they do have the “goods to declare” red line, but their “nothing to declare” is just a wide passage with custom people chatting and people going past without any checking. Damn it, I should have brought my Taiwanese food, especially the spicy steam boat… The transport system in Vienna is quite convenient. I took the train to the city centre of Vienna, a rather enjoyable ride as the weather is perfect with no cloud and the train is quite new. The scenery is just lots of very flat green fields. My hostel is not at the centre of Vienna, so I had to change to the underground system, called U-Bahn to Volkstheater and then take a bus from there. When I arrived at Volkstheater and walked out of the underground, I had no idea of where to take the bus. I had a look at the map in my book, but the roads didn’t have signs on them. Luckily, there was an old lady who saw me with my huge luggage and came to tell me where to go for the hostel. So, I had a good first impression with Viennese. But it all changed as I arrived in the hostel. The receptionist was rather cold and not willing to help. I thought they were supposed to make visitors feel more welcome. Well, I guess you only get what you paid for. I couldn’t get my key till 2 pm, so I stored my luggage first (they have a central luggage storage area, but they aren’t responsible if you lose anything). Although exhausted and stinky, I went out to the city centre and had my day of exploration in Vienna.
I went to Votivkirche first. It was an astonishing church. I was supposed to walk from there down to the heart and soul of Vienna, Stephansdom, but I got lost and arrived in my scheduled afternoon destination Hofburg first. It’s just weird that my actual trip was always the reverse of my plan – arriving in my pm plan in the morning and somehow managed to end up at my am plan. The roads in Vienna are very badly laid out. They all curve around irregularly. The streets aren’t very well labelled either, and even if they are, the names aren’t the same as the ones on the map in my travel book… That’s my excuse for getting lost all the time in Vienna. Hofburg is the Emperor’s palace. All the streets in between Hofburg and Stephansdom are very posh. Graben, in particular, which I went after Samantha Brown, the host of Living and Travelling TV said it’s where the locals shop, has lots of boutiques, and it is the road that leads me to Stephansdom, another astonishing cathedral. Everything in Vienna just shows that it has been very rich. Not only are the buildings grand, the facades are exquisitely carved and lots of gold painting here and there. There are also lots of statues here and there. And these photos are examples of the most famous buildings. The “ordinary” buildings are also very classic.
Votivkirche
Michaelertrakt of Hofburg Complex
Selling Mozart concert tickets
I managed to find this chained bakery in Austria called ANKER. It sells sandwiches and pastry for ~2-3 euros, which is pretty cheap in Vienna. I am quite satisfied with the bread, but I think I’ll very soon grow tired of the bread with ham and cheese… On the last night of the stay, I treated myself with a traditional Viennese dinner, Wiener’s Schnitzle. I followed my travel book and went to one that it classified as the cheapest restaurant. The restaurant is called Beim Czaak and is a Beisl, a German word for places selling traditional food. The Schnitzel was quite dry with no sauce. It came with potatoes and salad with more potatoes. The whole time I was just thinking how much better Japanese Katsu is compared to this. The meal cost me ~13 Euro. Yes, it’s from one of the cheapest restaurant…
Oh, how can I forget! I went to a Mozart’s concert in Musikverein, where the famous annual New Year’s Concert takes place. As you all know, I was trying to go and see a Mozart’s opera in Vienna, but neither Marriage of Figaro nor Magic Flute were showing on the two days I was in Vienna. I signed up for the concert with guys dressed up with costumes of Mozart’s time at Hofburg. There were these people at the major tourist attractions promoting various concerts/shows. I chose the cheapest option (39 Euro), which is seated on the balcony. The interior is just once again luxurious. The acoustics of the hall is amazing and I’ve never heard a more harmonic and coherent orchestra in my whole life! Well, it’s Vienna after all, the city where all musicians want to be in. But… I was dozing off half of the time. I was just too exhausted, and classical music is too soothing for the soul. I should’ve bought the ticket for the second day…
When I was at Vienna, I bought two 24 hour pass, which lets me travel on all public transport systems, which consist of the underground U-Bahn, buses and trams. You can pretty much get to everywhere you want with the system. One weird thing though is that no one checks your ticket. You can hop on the bus from the back doors, and there is NO barred gate for entrance to the U-Bahn. Oh, and the U-Bahn system in Vienna is weird that you have to open the doors yourself by pulling the handles, which is proven to be a very difficult task for me. I only managed to pull the doors open once or twice. There is a particular direction you have to pull and I just can’t get it right. The doors close automatically though just before the train leaves. If you want to get on or off any of the public transport, you often have to press a button to open the door. I wonder if it’s because in winter it gets too cold and they don’t want to open the door to let cold air in unnecessarily. The U-Bahn trains are ugly. It has a squared head. The whole system is also a bit dirty and old. People are allowed to eat and drink. Yeah, I think the Taipei Mass Rapid Transport is still so far the nicest and cleanest.
