And here it is, FINALLY! The last installment of the Christmas trip blog entries. I miss it so much!
Day One December 30:
We arrived in Vienna bright and early on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, we weren't able to check into our apartment until 10am that morning so we had a few hours to kill. We found a McDonald's in the train station, ordered breakfast and waited for the time to pass. Eventually, we took the subway down to the apartment, picked up the key and checked in. After a quick shower, we headed out to explore. The first stop was Schonbrunn Palace. We took a tour inside the palace and were able to see many of the rooms. The tour included a free audio guide that gave you a good history of the palace and the royalty that lived there. The palace was beautiful and very ornate. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the palace. But we did snap a few of the outside. There was also a Christmas market going on in front of the palace, we had a quick look around the stalls and then decided to head into the centre of the city (the Stephansplatz). The first stop was St.Stephen's Cathedral. We had a look inside the cathedral and then Dave wanted to go to the top before it got too dark. Luckily there was an elevator to the top of this cathedral so I got out of climbing this time! We managed to get one of the last trips up to the top. There was a great view of the city and it was really cool. After viewing the city from the top of the cathedral we were starting to get hungry so we decided to head for dinner and drinks at 7 Stern Brau, a little micro-brewery/restaurant that I had heard about. We both enjoyed a yummy dinner and sampled a few of their micro-brews. The beer was good, but we both agreed the beer we had on Christmas day at the monastery was better. But, it was still delicious! After dinner we headed home to get a good nights sleep so we'd be ready to party for New Years!
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| Schonbrunn Palace |
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| The gardens behind the palace |
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| The back of the palace |
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| Dave and I in front of Schronbrunn Palace |
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| St. Stephen's Cathedral |
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| Inside St.Stephen's Cathedral, they had really cool lights projecting on the walls |
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| The cool roof from the top of the cathedral |
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| View from the top |
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| Dave's dinner: a gnocchi and cheese dish with a variety of meats (it was really good) |
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| My wiener schnitzel and potato salad |
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| Dave's winter beer |
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| My dark beer |
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| Dessert : nut souffle |
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| Inside the micro-brewery |
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| They had a beer vending machine at the entrance! |
Day Two December 31:
Dave and I packed a lot into our New Year's Eve. We woke up and picked up a few supplies at the grocery store across the street (chips and champagne of course!). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a free walking tour in Vienna like we went on in Prague and Krakow, so Dave and I decided to do our own walking tour. Dave found a few websites that had suggestions for walking tour routes, so we printed them out and headed on our own tour of Vienna with Dave as the guide! We had a great time. The first stop was to Belvedere Palace, which was a palace located right up the street from our apartment. It took us about 5 minutes to walk there and we were at these beautiful palace grounds. There are a ton of palaces in Vienna, it's very royal! We decided not to go into this one because we wanted time to explore some other parts of the city. But, we did have a nice walk around the palace grounds and snapped a few pictures. Then, we continued on our way into the centre of town and followed the walking tours that Dave had found. We covered a lot of ground and managed to see most of the sites in Vienna. We didn't go into a lot of them, but it was nice to just walk outside and see them. It was also a beautiful day, sunny and pretty mild. We also enjoyed stopping along the way at some of the stands along the New Year's path and enjoying a sausage and a beer or glass of champagne as we walked. We managed to make a stop at the Sacher hotel to buy a small Sacher torte. Vienna is famous for its Sacher torte and when we got to the cafe at the hotel there was a line out the door to get seated. We decided we didn't want to waste all that time just for a piece of cake, so we went to the gift shop attached to the cafe and just purchased a small torte instead. It costs more than just getting a slice, but it was worth it not to have to wait. Plus, you get a cute little wooden box as a souvenir. We also stopped at a famous bakery called Demel and purchased a slice of cake to go. Dave just pointed randomly, but we ended up with a really delicious cake. We also stopped at one of the New Year's stands and bought ourselves a tiny New Year's pig. Apparently, in Vienna a pig is good luck for the New Year and there were stands everywhere that were selling all sorts of different pig trinkets and stuffed animals. We bought a little one and named him Wiener, so hopefully we'll have a lucky year. After completing the walking tour we decided to head home and rest up for a bit so we'd be ready to ring in the New Year that evening (also, Dave wanted to watch the World Juniors and I wanted to eat some of that cake and drink some of that champagne!).
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| Belvedere Palace |
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| The gardens behind the palace |
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| Dave and I in front of the palace |
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| Came across this neat building on our tour |
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| Enjoying our first glass of New Year's champagne in the centre of the city (the Stephansplatz) |
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| Dave enjoying his champagne |
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| monument |
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| We stopped for lunch at a sausage stand. They were the best sausages ever and Vienna is really at the top of hotdog technology. They serve them in a hollowed out tiny baguette and then put the end of the baguette back on top, that way there's no spills and everything is tucked inside and ready to eat on the go! Also, the bread was super soft and it was so so good. |
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| Couldn't even stop eating mine to take a nice picture |
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| A square we came upon on our walk |
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| One of the stands along the New Year's path, they were selling whole bottles of champagne |
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| Stopping for a beer on our walk at one of the New Year's stands |
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| St.Peter's Church |
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| The roof in St.Peter's |
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| Inside St.Peter's |
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| Getting cake at Demel |
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| Yay cake! |
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| Hofburg Palace (i told you, they have a ton of palaces) |
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| Old ruins in front of the palace |
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| In the courtyard of the palace |
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| museum |
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| more museums |
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| The Hotel Sacher |
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| Eating cake from Demel and having a glass of champagne |
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| Our lucky pig Wiener |
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Once we were recharged and full of cake we headed back out to Par-tay!
Things were getting quite busy down town along the New Year's path as
everyone was getting really excited to ring in the New Year. We did a
little walk along the whole path and had a few glasses of champagne
along the way. There were all sorts of different stages playing music
that catered to different age groups. They had entertainment that ranged
from disco, to waltzing , to rock. There were also food and drink
stands everywhere selling sausages, champagne, beer, and all sorts of
treats. We walked the whole path and ultimately decided to stay at one
of the areas that had a pretty good music concert and some great food
stands. It was a lot of fun and we sang the night away. At midnight we
counted down to the New Year and enjoyed the fire works in the distance.
It was a wonderful way to ring in 2013!
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| The Rathausplatz (where we celebrated New Years) |
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| Stage in front of the Rathausplatz |
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| The streets were VERY crowded |
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| Ringing in the New Year |
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| Happy New Year! |
Day Three January 1:
On our last day in Vienna we slept in and recovered from our festive New Year's Eve celebration. We didn't have time to do much but we did dig into our Sacher torte before having to head to the airport and catch our flight to begin the journey home. Sorry, but most of this days pictures consist solely of cake! The Sacher torte was good, although dryer than I was expecting, but delicious. We had a nice relaxing day, cleaned the apartment, and caught our flight. It was the end of a wonderful Christmas trip and we had a great time.
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| The bag and lovely wrapping the torte came in |
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| Cute little wooden box |
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| The torte |
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| Yum! |
We had a really wonderful time on our trip and we were sad it had to end. But, it was nice to get "home" again and also to eat vegetables finally! While I love a diet that consists mostly of meat, potatoes, and beer , after awhile you just need something green! It was a great trip and I hope to return to visit these places again someday.
Until next time...
Au revoir
