June 30, 2010

And now the Vienna and Bratislava portion of our recent trip.  After arriving from Budapest on the train we managed to figure out the Vienna subway system and then a short walk brought us to our hotel, Pertschy Hotel.  One interesting note that we didn't figure out until much later in the week, you were supposed to buy a full-fare ticket on the subway, not the half-fare (we thought the full fares were for round trips).  Fortunately the Austrian subway police never caught us and we were in full compliance by the back-end of our trip.  Whew.... The room and hotel were lovely although under some construction which meant no sleeping much past 7:30 in the morning when the construction crews needed to move everything around.  After dropping our stuff off, we hit the road to get a feel for Vienna.  What a lovely town from an architectural standpoint.  Absolutely beautiful buildings with all sorts of interesting facades.  We heard about Figmuller's which was apparently famous for their Wienershnitzel - and given the size of it you can see why.  We also discovered that ordering a beer in a wine garden is just not done.  So we quickly changed to some wine and our waiter was happy.

Tuesday was our day to see how the Habsburg dynasty lived as we toured the Hofburg and surrounding museums.  We watched the practice session for the Royal Lipizzaner stallions which we had to settle for since they only do shows on the weekends.  Then an interesting exhibit and the living quarters for Elizabeth ("Sisi") and Franz Joseph (Austrian Kaiser/Emperor in case you don't follow the Austrian dynasty).  We decided that Sisi was a bit off her rocker, but then being the empress of Austria allows you a fair amount of leeway, especially with things the rest of us would just be labeled crazy for.  One item we did decided to disagree with the historical record on is that Sisi was reported (in the museum) to be 5'8" and weigh 90-100 pounds.  Given that Jo is the same height, dear old Empress Sisi would have to be emaciated to have achieved that weight.  And the pictures of her certainly don't depict that - so there is some historical inconsistencies here, we're just pointing out.  It was kind of eerie though seeing the dress she was wearing when she was stabbed - including the hole (just wait there is a theme here).  The exhibit and rooms certainly helped both Jo and I to understand Austrian history better.  We then headed off to see as many of the remaining churches and museums in the area of the Hofsburg as we could before our feet gave out.  On our way back to the hotel we came across the crypt were all the Habsburgs have been buried which is in the Capuchin Church.  Very interesting to have so many generations together in a wide variety of burial regalia.  Be interesting to have one spot my entire family for several hundred years were all located - wonder if that would be a tourist attraction.  After dinner we found a cafe to enjoy some apfel strudel with vanilla cream.  Very good, although I would personally give the nod to apple pie with ice cream (but having grown up on that, I'll admit I might be biased some). 

The next day (Wednesday for the calendar challenged) we braved the public transportation systems again and headed to Bratislava on the train.  After some challenges finding the right entrance to the Sudbahnhof (just to note, Vienna had everyone of their major train stations torn up - why all at once, you'll have to ask them).  Then a 1 hour ride later we were in Slovakia.  Bratislava is bisected by the Danube with a fairy tale like castle up on the hill overlooking the town.  We had a great day touring all the sites especially enjoying the Primate's palace (no vow of poverty for the church leaders back in the old, old days) and the sites over the town from the castle.  However, we did find that Slovakian was beyond our ability to even attempt and technology failed us as Jo's translation app failed since her Iphone didn't get Internet service there.  For dinner where we managed to find a place serving the one dish Jo really wanted to try - bryndzove halusky (see what I mean about pronouncing the language).  This is goat's cheese with potato dumplings and was delicious.  Then we hiked back to the train station and headed back home.

Thursday dawned bright, sunny, and warm so we hit the Vienna Naschmarkt which is an open air market and enjoyed the walk through the stalls with the wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, and goods for sale (they eat a much wider palette of foods than us Americans do - especially in the meat department!).  We didn't buy anything but did decide to make it our lunch stop later.  Then it was off to the Shronbrunn palace - boy did those Kaiser's like a big house back then.  Very interesting tour of the palace with a great English audio tour to accompany it providing more info. on the Habsburg dynasty.  If you want to read about a truly amazing woman, check out Maria Theresa of Austria.  Had 16 children - yes 16 -, ruled a major portion of Europe, fought a couple of wars, and still found time to worry about building a couple of palaces.  Made us feel a wee bit lazy.  Well after touring the grounds we headed back to the aforementioned market for a spinach and cheese filled roll.  Then it was off for a hike to the Military History Museum of Vienna (told you I hit them all).  This helped fill in some of the pieces of Austria's history (since the history of most countries are told through wars) and contained the car and clothing that the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were in when they were shot thereby starting World War 1.  Again pretty strange to see the bullet holes in the car and coat - but after Sisi's dress we were prepared.  We had to rush to find this and didn't really get to study the display as much as we would have like since they were closing the museum around us - we had to escape through the cafeteria to get out.  For dinner we finally enjoyed some Sacher tort, although not at the Sacher hotel.  Very scrumptious and we might give it a try at making one in our kitchen.

For our last day of vacation we took it easy, slept in a little later and took in the Royal Treasury (a little light on crown jewels in my opinion and little too heavy in old regal clothes) and a butterfly museum.  We then enjoyed a leisurely afternoon sitting on a park bench reading in the sun and just people watching.  We decided we needed to find some Wiener Schnitzel to cap off our time in Vienna so that along with some ice cream topped off our day.   Saturday was our last experience on the trains, although we felt pretty experienced by then, as we headed to the airport and the long flights to get home - always sad to end a vacation, but great to sleep in your own bed again.   All in all a great overall vacation seeing 3 of Europe's wonderful capitals.  Would certainly recommend going to any or all three if you have the chance.