Bob & Betty go British

Australians in Austria

I can now confirm that Austria is nothing like Australia. There are no kangaroos and they mostly speak German. Plus if it was Australia then it would have taken a lot longer than 1 hour and 45 minutes to fly there.

We made it to the airport with plenty of time thanks to the fact that the threatened train strike was cancelled. Austrian Airlines seemed to be rather efficient although I was disappointed that we had to buy food on board despite paying 300 pounds for our tickets. It's a bit like a Virgin flight in Australia but without the bad jokes and at 2.5 times the price.

On arrival we got a taxi to our hotel, checked in and managed to get a non-smoking room even if it was a twin rather than a double. It was airconditioned and we were tired so we didn't mind at all.

On Saturday morning we made our way into the city on the "clean and safe" underground system. We located the car rental office, picked up the keys and promptly left the car where it was parked on the street while we wandered about for the day.

We checked out the Opera House and were pounced on by people dressed up like Mozart (brocade jackets, wigs and stockings despite the 35 degrees) wanting us to buy tickets to a concert that night. I decided to accept their offer - a bit of Mozart and a bit of Strauss - how bad could it be? We were in the city of music and anyone putting on a concert must be ok - right?

We then wandered about the Albertina Platz, Burggarten, and the new palace. We managed to find the Royal Apartments after a couple of circuits and seeing some traditional Greek Dancers and a lot of horse poo. One had to pay to see the Silver Collection before seeing the Royal Apartments where Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth (yes, spelt the correct way) used to live.

We had a quick lunch and then explored around the Cathedral. It was disappointing to see how noisy and crowded the inside of the church was. But I guess that's how they pay the bills to keep it going and to clean and restore it.

After all this we were very tired and hot so we headed to the Danube river to try and find a park by the water. Unfortunately it was no cooler by the river and there was no park so we caught a train around to the Stadtpark where we sat in the shade and tried to rest and cool down. After reading through the guide books I discovered that there were several monuments to composers in the park so we set off to find them and take photos.

We managed to find an authentic Viennese restaurant and had some local fare. We had Frittatensuppe (clear beef stock with pancakes cut into thin strips), Wiener Schnitzel and Apfelstrudel along with some Austrian beer. Then we headed off to the concert.

The concert was in the Palais Palffy which is apparently where Mozart and his sister also performed. It turned out to be an excellent performance. The performers were very enthusiastic about the music with costume changes, dancing, singing and lots of violins. I was a little disappointed that so many people were taking photos with the flash while they were performing. It just seemed a little rude.

All in all a very pleasant day, if a little hot. Our day in the Czech Republic was all about the motorcycles so I'll let Robert describe the joys of that little side trip. However, I did discover where old 80s music goes to die - The Czech Republic!


My photos are here and Robert's are here.

posted by Elisabeth @ 9:37 PM