Vienna, Here We Come!

We have a Sunday morning train to Vienna from Bratislava, and we have no regrets about coming here.  It was really enjoyable and scenic -- thank goodness we had nice weather to help give a good impression.  Our train is at 10:30am out of the Petrzalka station across the river, still only about a fifteen minute cab ride away.  Of course, we get there ridiculously early at 9:30am.  The train station here is pretty empty, but that's okay.  The train ride is relatively uneventful -- it is only one hour to Vienna -- but there is one odd thing to note:  no one ever checks to see that we have a ticket.  I guess we are on the honor system.  When we arrive at Vienna's modern new train station, we have a short cab ride to our hotel, the Hilton.  

We probably got to the hotel at 11:45am, which is way to early to check in.  We are told to come back in about an hour, so we drop our bags and head out for a walk in the old town.  Today is overcast, which does not create a good impression; plus, since this is Sunday everything is pretty dead, and nearly everything is closed.  Still, we walk around and take in a few sights:  we see the Mozarthaus (a place where Mozart lived, I suppose) and the St. Stephen's Cathedral.  We can enter the cathedral, but only in the back, since a Sunday service is underway.  Best to exit quickly; we'll be back another day.  A fair amount of time has passed, so we decide to go back and check on our room, but it is also lunch-time.  We think is is best to have some lunch.  We see a restaurant on a side street called Pfudl's that seems to have a traditional Austrian menu, so we give it a try.  They have an outside eating area, so that is where we sit.  Our lunch is filling and very good.  Rob has veal in a goulash sauce with spaetzel (like fresh mini-dumplings), and I have wienersnitzel -- super good!  A few drops threaten while we eat, but do not amount to anything.  We get back to the hotel, and it is bad news:  our room is still not ready, so we wait.  We go upstairs to the Executive Lounge and are forced to listen to one set of Texans tell another set of all the places that have traveled -- painful to listen to all this bragging.  One funny note, though:  they can't seem to pronounce Schonbrunn Palace, the Royal summer home in a suburb here in Vienna.  She just calls it, "Shamburg Palace."  Long story short, our room is not ready until 4:15pm, nearly five hours after our arrival.  Since the weather is not so good, we guess that is okay to have so much wasted time, but really not ideal, of course.

We go to our room and decide to head out for a walk.  While we were waiting, the weather cleared, and now it is sunny.  We walk along the Ringstrasse (large boulevard around central Vienna that is actually more of a horseshoe shape than a ring) admiring the beautiful, very grand buildings.  All of Vienna seems so GRAND; I can think of no better word -- mostly neo-Renaissance architecture that makes every building seem like a palace -- what a place!  We see the State Opera House, the Neue Berg (where Hitler declared "Anschluss" -- the annexation of Austria to Germany in 1938), and the Royal Palace.  However, we hear music ... so we follow it to Vienna's town hall (rathaus).  What do we find?  

This week, Vienna will be the focal point of all of Europe as it is this year's host of the one week Eurovision song contest.  Eurovision, although little known in the United States, is a BIG DEAL in Europe.  Think American Idol on steroids.  Each country gets one entry and the whole contest takes one week and is, of course, televised.  The finalists and winner are all chosen by popular vote with one twist.  You are not allowed to vote for your own country's entrant.  Tonight is the opening night party at the town hall complete with a red carpet, large screen TVs, and huge crowds. Just as we arrive, the 2014 winner of Eurovision arrived on the red carpet:  Austria's own Conchita Wurst.  She is a pretty girl(?), who just happens to need a shave!  Well, now I've seen everything (not really but close)!  Later on, we researched Conchita and found that he identifies as a man when he's not in drag and identifies as a woman when he is.  We guess he/she is a big star here (back at the hotel later on, we watch his/her winning performance last year on YouTube; it is sorta good).  Judge for yourself ... Here is a photo from Sunday night posted on the internet (Audrey Hepburn inspired?):

 

Oh well, we can't really get close to the action here, so we leave.  We walk back a different route back to the hotel to try to get our bearings in Vienna -- coming to a new city is always so disorienting and daunting.  It is important to try to get familiar quickly so that you can overcome your intimidation and find/see all that you want to see.

We don't want much food for dinner, and we are surprisingly tired, so we just go to the hotel restaurant called S'parks for chicken caesar salads, then it is time for bed!