Nov 2008

For the last day in Vienna I was set on taking photos of the butterflies at the Schmetterlinghaus or Butterfly house near the Hofburg palace. So after another hostel breakfast, check out and storing our bags in the luggage room we were headed back to the subway.

The Butterfly house is a huge greenhouse creating a tropical environment in the middle of the city.

For 5 euro a person you can walk around and take photos of the butterflies. They spend their time eating fruit and fluttering around the greenhouse. I think we also found the warmest place in the whole city.


The train didn’t leave for home until 1640 so our next stop was the Praterstern which has a huge ferris wheel. Unfortunately most of the park seemed closed since it was a Sunday. So we decided to try to catch a movie but by the time we got the subway back there we found out it was closed. Next try was for lunch at a restaurant advertised by the hostel but after we walked all the way there it was closed because its Sunday! Our second choice of restaurants was also closed…..because its Sunday. Finally we ended up eating lunch at a Turkish restaurant called Sato which atleast gave a 10% discount to those staying at the hostel. The rest of the time was spent setting up a trip to Dublin in March
The evening will be spent on the train home. Next weekend we plan to hit some more Christmas markets in Germany since my mom will be in town.

Today was a much slower and easier day – especially since we didn’t get going until about 1030. I had read about a market called Naschmarkt (roughly translated “munchies market”) a few subway rides away that also had a flea market on Saturday morning. The market is famous for having lots of spices and foods from other countries. Supposedly gourmet chefs come here to get their ingredients. First thing off the subway we hit a stand selling those wool sweaters with fleece inside from Nepal. Curt got a gray one with some matching gloves. I’m waiting until we go to Nepal

The rest of the market was crazy busy at every food stand. You know it was full of locals when they didn’t automatically speak to us in English first. Everything is sold by the 10 gram weight. So for example this cheese I got was 1.90 euro per 10 gram but ended up being 6 euro. It can be a bit confusing. We also got 5 euro worth of dried fruit before leaving the market. It was hectic and busy with lots of odd things like a shark with a tomato in his mouth….
We didn’t really have other plans until 1400 so we decided we would see what this ice palace was in the museum quarter. But after a few subway stops we saw the advertisements that said it opens at 1400. So instead there was an arts and crafts thing that was inside! They were selling very weird things, none of which interested us. Moving on toward the Spanish Riding School which was having a tour of the stables at 1400. On the way we went thru another Christmas market and Curt had another Kasekrainer while I had some potato wedges.
After the detour we found out the guided tours of the Spanish riding school were sold out for today. I was devastated since I was set on getting pictures of the horses. So instead of touring the stables I napped at the hostel.

Around 1630 we were back on the subway headed to the Volksopera for “The Nutcraker” or “ Nusscracker” as it says here. The tickets were waiting for us and then we headed off for a quick pizza before the show. The tickets were good at middle center and the show was amazing. It had a different twist on it though when the kids played video games on a huge screen that rolled down on to the stage. The nutcracker also looked more like a spiky haired doll than the nutcracker we all think of. The villains weren’t mice but robots and somehow the second part included flamenco dancers. Either way the story was still the same and dancers were good.
Back at the hostel we had our free “welcome” drink of wine and beer and set off to watch my favorite movie – “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”.

Day 2 in Vienna was a LONG one. By 0830 we were awake, showered and eating breakfast in the hostel kitchen. It was 3.50 euro per person for the usual European breakfast. Then I wanted to go to a camera shop to price some lenses but they were WAY more expensive here than someplace like best buy. So we headed to the subway and the center of town. The subway ride ended at Theatergarden and we walked past the parliament and rathaus before turning toward the Hofburg palace. Our path crossed the Spanish riding school so we stopped in to pick up our tickets for later in the evening.
The day was VERY cold so it wasn’t long before we decided to check the block on the sachertorte. This is a famous cake in Vienna started at the Sacher Eck Café and hotel. It came about because the hotels main chef got sick and so his back up had to come up with something…..the sachertorte. It is chocolate cake with a thin middle layer of apricot and outer layer of chocolate. It was a bit dry so Curt nicknamed it the “sucky torte”.

Next on the agenda turned out to be a tour of the Hofburg palace apartments, Sisi museum and silver museum. There is an audio tour that is pretty good and you know what you are looking at. After the Hapsburg empire fell all their kitchenware went to the museums and you can now spend 30 minutes looking at it. The display of some of the place settings is just amazing. There is a table centerpiece that is 30 meters long!
The same ticket also let you in to the Sisi museum. Sisi was the nickname for Empress Elizabeth who no one really liked until she was dead (she was assassinated on a trip to Geneva). All she cared about was her long hair and skinny waist. I can relate to her though because she loved to travel. She was very young when she moved from Germany to be the Empress of Austria and overwhelmed. She did have some gorgeous jewelry though and the replicas are on display.
And lastly was the apartments of the rich and famous. One suprising detail was that the stoves in the room where only supposed to allow the room to get to 50 degrees!
The tour lasted a few hours so we had to head straight to the Opera house for the tour at 1500. For those who can’t or don’t want to go to a performance at the Opera house you can still have a look around on one of these tours. It was stated that they seating area was once a lot more intricate but it was ruined in the war and never rebuilt to the same level. Most people in their time didn’t actually come for the show but to socialize. Today you can still socialize because there is an Opera Ball around Easter time. During the ball you can rent one of the opera boxes for only 17,000 euro!

The Opera has a different performance each night so there are 3 crews working backstage to take down and put up all the sets. The tour took us back stage while they were working to set up for a play.
I had read about another Christmas market at the Rathaus so after the tour we headed there. It was dusk and the lights of the rathaus with the trees and other decorations was gorgeous.

Most of the stands end up being the same old thing but we did get a kasekrainer which is a sausage with melted cheese inside stuffed into a huge hot dog bun. It was delicious and made a great dinner. Our feet hurt so bad by this point that we decided to head to the hostel for like an hour before coming back for the Lipizzaner Horse show.

The break was very important because we had standing seats for the Lipizzaner show. The Spanish Riding School has two levels with seats along the balcony and then standing room anywhere else. It is the most beautiful riding hall in the world. The horses can call be traced back to 6 stallions that came from Spain about 400 years ago. They were bred to have small heads and legs with massive bodies. All the horses there are stallions and they come at the age of 4 years. It takes about 6 years to get them trained to perfection.
The first part of the show is young stallions. They are born black and over time turn their famous white. So the young horses are a dappled gray. They didn’t do much other than trot around and be beautiful. They were startled by the audience clapping though!
Next was a couple of senior horses followed by what we were all waiting for - the famous jumps. These were done by 3 horses with riders without stirrups and by 2 horses on the long and short rein. This meant the riders were walking beside them. They in turn did their famous pirouette (quick turns), courbette (getting on hind legs, originally to make a living shielf for their knight) and capriole (a strong back kick that was meant to floor the enemy.) The stallions were gorgeous when they leapt into the air to get their sugar cube at the end
After that was a rider on only the long rein. He stood directly behind the horse and with only the rein and his voice gave the horse directions. This is supposedly the most difficult of all the movements.
The finale was a ballet where 8 horses moved to Mozart music in perfect time with each other. Unfortunately no photos were allowed because it would irritate the horses! The standing tickets turned out just fine and the show was well worth the 45 euro! But here is your vienna horse photo - the carraiges were all lined up outside the Hofburg palace.

We decided to actually eat dinner at a restaurant near the hostel called Mozart Strube. It advertised traditional Viennese food and a special for the hostel. The atmosphere was pub like with a large group singing at their table. I had chicken schnitzel and fries while Curt had the goulash he has been talking about for weeks. Exhaustion set in after eating so we headed to the hostel for bed.

Thanksgiving dinner for us was a turkey sandwich from the commissary on our 6 hour train ride to Vienna, Austria. It seems as if we are pretty much skipping right to Christmas!
The train ride was uneventful and by 1330 we were in Vienna. The West Bahnhof dropped us basically right across the street from our hostel, Wombats City Hostel, The Lounge. There are two Wombats hostels in Vienna and since the directions to ours said 2 blocks from the train station we kept walking. Soon enough we realized we didn’t see another hostel in 2 blocks so ended up back at the one we passed which turned out to be right. We just have no luck with directions!
But we got our room without difficulty and for a change we have our own bathroom. We are on the top floor with slanted roofs and windows overlooking the street. It is basically a nice clean dorm room and that is perfect for us.
After some map orientation we got our 72 hour subway pass for 27 euro and headed to Schonbrunn Palace by dusk for photos of the palace and the Christmas market. This is what I mean when I said we are skipping right to Christmas. The markets here started in mid-November and I was dying to get to one. So a few subway stops later there we were in a large square full of food and souveneir stands.
Our first stop was for gluhwein which is a warm, spiced red wine that they sell in different mugs for each market. After you are finished with the mug you can give it back to them to get your deposit back. We walked around the market and got two Christmas tree ornaments including one of the stars in the photo.

Next up was to try some of the food around. There were several stands with huge skillets full of a mix with different noodles, potatos, vegetables, etc. We chose the one with gnocchi, cheese and bacon.

The stuff was delicious. I hope this is a Christmas market thing rather than a Vienna thing because I will have a lot of it before the end of the season if they sell it in Germany. It didn’t take long before we were headed back to the subway and hostel. After putting on a few more layers and weighing our options we decided for the movies.
I know this sounds crazy – we are in Vienna – why go to the movies. But there aren’t many theaters in Europe that play the original version of movies in English. I really wanted to see Madagascar 2 but since it isn’t out yet here we saw the latest 007 movie. It was nice just to sit in a theater with popcorn and soda (no ice here though). After the movie we headed back to relax at the hostel. Not a bad thanksgiving!

It seems no matter what or where I am I wake up around 0700 so we were ready to go by 0830 after having our donut for breakfast at the hostel. The hostel was about 20-30 minute walk from the Old Town so a bus ticket was in order. The ticket was about 26 crown or 1 euro and took us right to the Charles Bridge. The rain from yesterday was now snow so our first looks at Prague castle were thru a haze of flurries. I think we had a special travel moment this am with the snow and no other tourists.

The free tour on the agenda didn’t start until 1030 so there was a couple of free hours to walk across the Charles Bridge, take photos and shop a bit. I had to hit the garnet stores! By the tour time we had seen the charles bridge, been down Karlova street and photographed the astronomical clock and old town square.

At 1030 the guide was waiting at the meeting point hoping no one would show up for the tour in the snow. The tours are run by college students that do it is a part time job – they basically work for the tips. She was a bit hard to understand but she was a sport about guiding us around in 20 degree weather. She took us from the old town to the new town and ended in the Jewish quarter. The highlight was in the WARM national library where there is a seemingly endless tower of books that appears to hold up the ceiling. The tour was over by 1300 and we tried to make a beeline for lunch. When I say tried I mean that we couldn’t seem to find anything very easily even with a map because the streets are very curvy and change names frequently.

One of the maps had mentioned a pizzeria that appears to be in a cave where you can watch the guy flip your pizza dough. The place was called pizzeria Kmotra Kavarna near Wenceslas square. The order of the day was margarita pizzas with the beer I promised myself yesterday. It was great to be able to thaw out in a nice cozy environment. By the time lunch was finished it was almost 1500 so we headed back to Karlova street to see about the marionette show – Don Giovanni. Supposedly this opera was Mozart’s gift to Prague. The show was 1 hour 15 minutes for 1000 crown. The theater felt like it was in the attic of an old house with wooden benches. The puppets put a funny twist on the opera and I was glad we were able to fit the show in.
I had read in Rick Steve’s book about a tea house – Dobra Cajovna or “Good Teahouse” – where they elevate tea to an almost religious ritual. So of course we headed there. When you sit down they bring you a long menu of teas and a bell. After you finally decide what you want you ring the bell and a “tea monk” comes to take your order. I got some kind of phoenix tea that tasted pretty bad and Curt got a cinnamon flavor. The problem was they didn’t give me the sugar I’m used to dumping in my tea! But the place was cozy and warm!

After tea and just down the street was our second show – the WOW show at the Blacklight theater. It was definitely an experience. The tickets for this one were 1100 crown for an hour show. The storyline was about the dancers trying to find their inner child. It was an interactive theater with rain falling on us, bubbles, snow, big beach balls the audience bounced around and last but not least actors dressed up as giant spiders that came to harass the viewers. The display was amazing because it seemed as if the actors just disappeared from the stage. It can be related to a somewhat tamed down Cirque de soliel show.
Of course when we came outside to walk the rest of the way home it was snowing again. As we were fighting the map, the snow and the highways with no sidewalks Curt decided we should just take a taxi and in 5 minutes we were safe and dry back in the hostel. Tomorrow we leave early to head back to Germany and the snow awaiting us there. See you next week for Thanksgiving from Vienna!