View from the Window: Vienna

 My trip to Imperial Vienna is over, a week of palaces, galleries and museums, my last holiday was a weekend away with my son in Sicily a couple of years ago and before that Vietnam in 2019. 

I am probably wrong but I seem to remember a time when you turned up with only your passport and off you went. This time we booked with Jet2, then we had to pay to sit together, then we had to pay for the airport transport, and also the airport transfer to the hotel, ching, ching. Then there was the hours of YouTube videos of what to do and not to do in Vienna, where to eat, how to avoid a diplomatic incident, always stand to the right of the elevator or be huffed at. After this there was all the Apps to help you, the translator, the city guide, the local transport guide, the Flexi Pass or the Vienna Pass. At the end of the week I realised all I really needed was a guide book and my passport. I will be prepared next time.

WWII flak towers in the distance, there are six.

State Opera House.

An art museum.

 

Army Museum.

Another museum, once a little pad in the city.

 

St. Stephans, magnificent.

Why is there always a rush at the departure gate, the plane will not take off until everyone is onboard, then you are asked that rows 11 to 25 are to board, you have waited patiently and once on you find rows 2, 5 and 6 are full, these are the same people who stand up and block the aisle as soon as the seat belt sign is off, or before that when the plane still has a mile to go to get to the terminal. Next in line for the firing squad are the people who refuse the polite "turn off all electrical devices", one near me sat through two and a half hours of Rinaldo's (kicks a leather ball around) wife having a great time pretending to be important. Don't get me wrong, Jet2 didn't bother me and I didn't bother them, seamless, it's people.

The hotel was in a perfect location and the staff were wonderful, nothing was any bother. It was a ten minute walk to the heart of the city which apart from two days of rain was very pleasant. Vienna has very wide streets and part of the pavement is allocated to bikes, escooters and mopeds, although clearly marked you have to keep your wits about you, especially for the daredevils texting while careening along. This also applies to the many important people unable to get out of your way due to answering some obviously important text which cannot wait until they are safely stopped or watching who they are going to bump into. I learned after a day or so just to keep my head down and plough forward, "sorry mate, I saw you but you didn't see me!"

We saw a lot during our stay and were suffering from cultural PTSD by the time we left, I enjoyed the Hofburg complex and the Museum of Military History although I missed out on the WWII exhibition in the latter as it was closed for refurbishment, they also do not show off their tank collection until a Sunday morning, we were there on the Tuesday. The Spanish Riding school was a bit of a disappointment and it would have been better to have booked a show rather than watch a training exercise. Our visit to the Schonbrunn Palace was our bitterest disappointment as it was raining, the gardens were past their best and even the animals in the zoo looked cheesed off, added to this was the fact our Vienna Pass only allowed us to see 5 of the 47 rooms open to the public, the Memsahib was not pleased and vented her fury to no avail at the Vienna Pass office later on.

 Her trip on the Danube also hit a rock as the voyage only lasted an hour and fifteen minutes during which you basically saw nothing of interest, we did not have time to spare for a three hour boat ride, but we have sailed on the Danube, nuff said.

A ship of the once mighty Austrian navy.

The raised conning tower of a U-Boot.

This piece moved along the dinner table with the little men playing music!

The Imperial Armoury.

Franz Ferdinand was shot in this car.

We are not keen on Weiner Schnitzel, and Vienna has a lot of Schnitzel, most of the restaurants have pretty much the same menu, so we ended up with Vietnamese (twice, superb), Chinese (don't ask), Japanese and Turkish. We did go to a few local restaurants and Goulash stew and Goulash soup are now firm favourites of mine, in fact I might make the latter this weekend. My favourite which I sadly only managed once during our busy schedule was Kaiserschmarrn, a sweet, shredded pancake served with plum sauce or cream, magnifico. On our last day we stood in a queue waiting about twenty minutes to get a seat in the famous Cafe Central for coffee and applestrudel, we were in good company as past visitors included Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky, Freud and Tito among others, no doubt there were a few famous nice people as well. Although I am not keen on the tipping culture I do respect that the waiters are adult, professional, helpful and friendly, not Kevin in sixth form asking if you want to 'go large' with your Kaiserschmarrn. It was also nice to be served alcohol free beer in large bottles which I would defy anyone to tell the difference from the stuff that has you falling over, yes I too was a denier years ago and I do miss that warm, comfortable glow but it's better than a Coke Zero.

Viennese coffee is the best.

Art on a plate.

Smiling? Must be photoshopped.

The Boss.

We just happened to turn up at the moment the newly ousted leader was making his way across the road to meet his successor. During our travels I got to listen to two young people from the opposite ends of the spectrum politically about the situation in Austria, just for a few minutes, I won't say who got my sympathies. We were also one evening on the fringes of a very large protest with music, banners and flares, the point being that many of the Austrian population had not voted for the views held by the protestors, democracy eh?

Anyway, we are back and our week seems to have flown past, the LMF took the main hit for the holiday and the boardroom are not happy, but what the hell, we enjoyed ourselves.