Vienna

Vienna – wow what a city. We’re feeling a little jaded and like we’re getting ready to go home, but this is a fabulous city with so much to see. Had a great train ride from Poland, back through Czech to Vienna. Trains are so good – get to talk to people, lots of room to stand up and store gear, great comfort and you (usually!) can work out where you are supposed to get off! We did a reasonable amount in Vienna right at the start of the holiday and in our 5 days here at the end – out to Schonbrunn Palace (I think the Hapsburg equivalent of Versailles). Huge and impressive, but we enjoyed the gardens the most. Nice quiet spaces, lots of trees and flowers and every so often a folly of some description or other (eg a faux roman ruin). Also went to the Belvedere Place which has (they said) the best collection of Austrian art. David was keen to see the Klimt collection and it was fabulous. What else? The Hundertwasser Haus was great (D) or a letdown (M). This is the dude who designed the toilets at Kaikohe (?) but he was a big-time architect/artist in Vienna before he came to NZ. Very eclectic buildings, not unlike Gaudi (‘the straight line is godless’). LOTS of walking through the city looking at building after building with naked figures holding up doorways, lots of art deco stuff (probably better in Prague) and generally a very imperial-looking city. It’s funny how many people we’ve met who basically tour Europe by going to city after city after city. We’re getting a bit tired of all the noise and people and hassle and have probably most enjoyed the time in the small towns and countryside, although there’s no doubting there’s so much to see and do in places like Vienna and Prague. Kind of along that line, we managed a day trip up the Danube with the main visit being to Melk’s Benedictine Abbey. Pretty amazing place, with over the top baroque figures, paintings, architecture etc. It’s been really hot in Vienna as well, with temperatures of 30C and hot sunshine (although dry) most days. We have found it hard to sleep out of aircon, and with the window open some nights we’ve had a lot of noise from the location of our (relatively downtown) accommodation. We used airbnb to book a room being hosted by Gabriela, and it’s been great talking to her about travel and the city and so on. Airbnb is basically a home hosting service, although there are different types. Our room here has been a really spacious and light room with its own ensuite but Gabriela makes us breakfast and often stays to chat. Superb. Just writing this now from Vienna airport, where we now head back to Frankfurt with a wait of 8 hours and then a flight back to Swingers. We’ll post some summary ‘best ofs’ for the trip which we’ll sort in Frankfurt. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading the blog. Photos to come