We got a lift at 4.30am from a very kind auntie and uncle and arrived in Vienna late afternoon. After checking we headed out to find some much needed food. We went with a recommendation from the guide book and turned up at a little Austrian gausthaus (pub) which looked practically derelict from the outside. But once inside it was the perfect traditional place we wanted to find. We both opted for the 'haus weinerschnitzel'.
Amazing deep fried, breaded veal stuffed with bacon, mushrooms, onions and cheese. Served with fried potatoes and beer. Sooooo tasty and just what we needed after not eating since 5am!
After stuffing ourselves with schnitzel we headed out to explore the city, drank numerous glasses of mulled wine and tasted another European 'delicacy' - currywurst, much to Ally's delight.
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| Vienna's Town Hall |
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| Stephensdom (St Stephen's Cathedral) |
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| Ally and his Currywurst |
The next few days were filled with visiting numerous palaces, lots of food and cake, and a ride on the oldest most terrifying Ferris wheel to ever exist.
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| Schloss Schonbrunn This used to be the home of Vienna's Emperor and Empress Sisi, both very famous throughout Austria. The grounds were beautiful and snow covered and the view over Vienna from the top of the gardens was pretty impressive. |
Emperor Fanz Josef and Empress Sisi ruled in the mid-1800's. The pair were cousins and Sisi was only 15 when they were married. Despite Franz Josef being deeply in love with Sisi, she did not reciprocate. 10 months after their marriage she found she was pregnant but being seen as unfit as she was so young her mother-in-law refused to allow Sisi any control over the childs upbringing, even refusing to allow Sisi to name her baby. Sisi became withdrawn, depressed and obsessive about her weight following the death of her eldest daughter aged 2. She rarely saw her children, she had 4, or husband, instead spending hours a day exercising. The couples only son committed suicide and Sisi was murdered aged 60.
Despite his troubled personal life the Emperor ruled successfully for 68 years.
That's it for the history. Sorry for boring you! More pics instead....
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| Schloss Belvedere Home to Gustav Klimt's 'The Kiss' along with many other famous paintings. I intended to take a picture but I was too scared of getting shouted at! We actually PAID to go into both of these palaces, although my inner 'Pugh' was fighting against it. |
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| Cafe Central This cafe is the most famous in Vienna, and it was one of the places I had on my list of 'places to visit'. It was very posh, and rather expensive, the waiters wore bow ties! Past patrons include Sigmund Freud, Hitler and Lenin (not that that's exactly something to rave about). |
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| A sample of the cafe's offerings |
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| The death trap. Not recommended for those scared of heights! Although the views were pretty good from the top. |
After the AMAZING weiner schnitzel we found in our guide book we picked out another restaurant for our evening meal the next day recommended by them. So we headed to Wild, another traditional austrian pub but with a more lively atmosphere. We were given the menus and for the first time since arriving were faced with no english translation of what we were reading. We called the waiter over who very kindly went through practically the entire menu describing every dish.
Upon hearing Ally mention he wanted 'authentic Austrian food' the waiter enthusiastically started telling us about their best starter that we HAD to try. And so we found ourselves eating the heart and lung of veal with a potato dumpling. And I am so glad we took the waiters recommendation! It was so tasty (if I didn't think about what I was actually eating!)
After 3 tiring days of walking around Vienna we headed to the station for our 3 hour train journey to Budapest to continue walking there! Tweet
