Vienna was just an overnight stop on the way to Budapest. Derek and I did not expect to enjoy it so much. It might have helped that the guide for our free tour was an older Austrian man named Wolfgang.
The first thing Derek and I noticed was the change in the architecture. To date, the old cities have had sharp corners and were very dramatic. Vienna is more soft and elegant. (I am sure one of you knows the correct architectural terminology for this.)
Vienna is a very old city once occupied by the Romans. In the mid-90’s, construction workers were digging a new subway line when they hit some ancient walls. The city has chosen to leave the walls exposed for all to see.
Although Austria was ruled by a monarchy until the 1920’s, they have had rulers that were all about the people. In the early 1700’s, one such ruler changed the law to give all children the right to go to school. He also opened the hospitals to all people. In his later years, he passed some rather weird laws like everyone is to be buried in mass graves.
It was interesting to hear our guide discuss World War II from the Austrian side.
Hitler annexed Austria before the war. This was easy for Hitler since 85% of Austrian’s supported him. But after the war, Austria washed their hands of the situation and said “not our fault”. Our guide told us that when he was in school, history lessons stopped at 1939.
In the 1970’s, Austrian started to accept and talk about their part in the war. In the beginning of the 1990’s, they placed a memorial in old town to remind the people of what they were capable of.
Some interesting facts: We all know that Mozart and Porsche are from Vienna, Austria. But how about the inventor of Red Bull. Currently the 2nd richest man in Austria. Gutenberg invested the printing press. Derek said without him, we would not have computers.
I didn’t know Sigmund Freud was from Vienna and Jewish. We were told this created a major problem for Hilter because Freud was internationally known and respected. Hitler ended up allowing any Jewish person to leave Vienna of their free will before the war.
With our time in Vienna, Derek and I also visited the Anchor Clock which tells time by having different figures move across the face left to right. Every minute it moves closer to the other side until the next hour begins and a new figure appears. It was 4:32pm when I took the picture.
We climbed the tower at St Stevens church. 343 steps. All in a narrow, spiral staircase. We were both dizzy when we got to the top. The way down was actually worse.
We enjoyed some apple strudel and went out to the summer palace. What a place!
The grounds were huge! I loved Neptune’s statue.
Our AirBnb was out of old town but professed to have a view of Vienna. The flat was in a cute neighborhood with fabulous food. And yes it had a view of the city. Our host said there was a view of the sunrise over the city, if I wanted to get up and see it. Sunrise was at 5:30 so I was going to need to get to bed early.
Derek and I headed out to get a late dinner. Markus, our host, recommended a little Italian restaurant right around the corner. A local place sounded fun.
We scored a table outside and the waiter quickly arrived. His English wasn’t very good but neither is mine. I just started pointing to somethings on the next table, the green bottle of sparkling water, Pellegrino. And I asked for a pint of beer. Soon our drink showed up which was a beer and a bottle of Pinot Gris. Oops!
I hadn’t had wine on the entire trip so I gave my beer to Derek and dove it. In the end, Derek helped me finish the bottle. Good thing we only had to walk a block.
I still set an alarm so I could watch the sunrise but ended up not needing it. I woke up at 5 with a pounding headache. Big surprise.
I sat on the deck, drinking water, holding a cold, wet towel on my forehead, watching the sunrise over Vienna. Not the worse hangover I have ever had.
