DAY 11: Vienna

Tuesday, August 17th 2010

We woke up fairly early and took our time getting ready. It was very cold in the tent during the night, and the morning was quite cold as well. Not very nice. We got breakfast from the nearby supermarket and didn't realize to read the fine print, so ended up having to pay about 7€ each. Furthermore, our credit cards were not accepted once again. We didn't bother changing our purchases for something cheaper though, just paid with cash and went back to the camping site to eat.

After breakfast and all that, we went to the amusement park that houses Vienna's Giant Ferris Wheel. We didn't go on the wheel itself though, because it was expensive. Instead, we rode the smaller Ferris wheel and then an insane ride - Prater Turm. It was 117 meters high and very scary. I was afraid that my glasses would fall off the entire time, because it was so windy up there (up until last week, Prater Turm was the scariest and coolest attraction that I'd been on). That amusement park was nice, and there was no entrance fee to the park itself, so we just strolled around for free :)

The view of the Giant Ferris Wheel (and the rest of the amusement park) from the smaller Ferris Wheel

Prater Turm. Yikes.

On our way out, we passed a restaurant that seemed affordable, but since we were low on cash, we walked out of the amusement park and started looking for an ATM. Found a bank, took out money and went all the way back to the amusement park. And of course then we noticed an ATM on the amusement park grounds. Oh well, too bad. At the restaurant we both ordered Wiener Schnitzel and when the waiter asked if we wanted salad, answered affirmatively. The menu sounded like the salad was included. The portions were quite giant, but very good. Especially the salad. I'm proud of us both for finishing all that meat though. The waiter brought the check, and it was more than we'd expected, but I guess he just added the service fee. Or then the salads weren't included in the price, but again we weren't bothered to find out.

Wiener Schnitzel and salad. If we hadn't said "yes" to salad, it would've just been two pieces of meat!

We left the amusement park and had to buy new Vienna cards because our old ones had expired. Then we took the U-Bahn to the St Marx cemetery. An S-Bahn would've taken us much closer, but we would've had to wait for half an hour for one of those. We didn't spend much time at the cemetery because it was starting to rain. We did manage to find Mozart's grave though. It wasn't too fancy, just a small statue there.

Pinky felt like she was coming down with a cold and wanted a cocktail or a hot beverage. We couldn't find a cocktail bar, but settled for Starbucks. I got an Ice caramel latte macchiato (I think I'd developed a small addiction to those, lol).

The final sight we wanted to see in Vienna was Schloss Schönbrunn. I must say my expectations weren't all that high. I thought it would be just another palace. The palace itself looked like it was made out of cardboard - not real. We walked around to the other side of it and I think my jaw actually dropped. The garden was absolutely gorgeous, and there was a hill directly behind the palace with some sort of a viewing station (the Gloriette, according to Wikipedia). And an awesome-looking fountain. Naturally, we had to climb up the hill, which wasn't bad at all because there were no stairs to climb. The view from up there was unforgettable. The whole city, or at least a very large part of it, was visible and it was all very picturesque. From what I'd seen that was my favorite place in Vienna. Here are some pictures, all of which are clickable, btw.

The view of the garden behind Schloss Schönbrunn

The Gloriette and the Neptune fountain

View of the city from the top of the hill

The garden was quite nice too

Schloss Schönbrunn main entrance

The zoo and the labyrinth were already closed, because it was past 19.00, so we didn't get to see them. I suppose that is just something I'll have to see on my next trip to Vienna then!

It got late and quite dark, so we headed back to the camping site. We thought it would be a good idea to make our own rum 'n' coke's to help Pinky beat her cold. So we did just that - there was nothing else to do at the camping site in the evening anyways :P

-Brain