It’s funny being on a tour with a set itinerary. There are places you visit that you would really like to spend longer in. Ljubljana was one, Vienna is another. This surprised me a bit as I had no expectations of it at all. It was just a stop before Prague, and I knew nothing about it.
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| The town hall |
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| Town hall |
After a 3-4 hour journey from Budapest we got a short driving tour before dropping our bags at the hotel. Back in town J and I walked from the Hofburg Palace to the stunning Town Hall, where there were lots of sports for people to try. We carried on to the parliament building, which seemed to have three statues of guys punching horses, which was weird.
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| Pow, take that! Animal cruelty - Austrian style |
I had left our vegan eating info in the suitcase so we were flying blind but walked past a fancy looking vege restaurant on the first street we came to! It was closed though. Our guide book had suggested a little square with a holocaust memorial as an interesting site to see and as we entered the first restaurant there was vege too! Ninety percent of the food was vegan so J had a fake chicken salad and I got Austrian wieners with fried potatoes. Very tasty indeed!
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| Weiners! |
We then carried on to St Stephens church which was very impressive both inside and out, and again very different to the others we had seen on the tour. We walked past the opera house back to the Hofburg for the bus back to the hotel.
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| inside St Stephens church |
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| Vienna opera house |
The weather on our holiday thus far has been spectacular, with sun all day every day and temperatures mostly in the high 20s, with a few days in the high 30s, today possibly reaching around 40 degrees. This finally changed tonight though, and with some style.
We had selected an optional excursion to an Austrian orchestra in one of the local palaces. We arrived and went out onto the 2nd floor terrace for a drink as it was still very hot at 8pm. Looking out we could see dark clouds and J saw some lightening. Then we noticed a massive bank of black cloud rolling quickly towards us (pretty much like in Independence Day when the alien ships first appear). The wind started to pick up so we went inside. Before we even got to our seat one of the windows blew open and smashed outside. The others came in saying that all of a sudden the wind had blown all the tables and chairs over. It then started hailing! Andy and Wen E were very excited as they said they had never seen hailstones before.
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| the orchestra |
The performance began to a backdrop of lightening flashes and occasional low rumbles of thunder. The performance was good with some pieces being accompanied by dancing, and some by operatic singers. By the break I was drenched in sweat (as I had been for the last 3 days) as it was so hot in there under the chandeliers. The storm had passed so we got to go back outside and it was noticeably cooler. The seconds half continued in the same vein and I was very happy when they played the Blue Danube as it is one of my favourites (and no, I don’t like it because it is at the start of 2001: A Space Odyssey, I’m not a philistine. I like it because it was at the start of Frontier: Elite II on the Amiga).
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| the opera singers and a baldy head |
On the way home we passed a street where the scaffolding had been ripped from the wall of a building by the wind, hopefully no-one was hurt. TomTom said the tram network was out too.
I meant to mention earlier that the architecture of Vienna is just beautiful. In the town centre there just seems to be street after street of these massive ornate buildings. It is well worth a visit.
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| the Hofburg |
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| there's stuff like this all over Vienna |
My final thought/rant tonight is loosely about etiquette. Really just about how not to be a total douche.
Firstly, if someone has a bit of a coughing fit during a performance, there’s not much they can do about it. You shouldn’t let it bother you. You certainly shouldn’t angrily look daggers across the room in the vague direction of the person coughing each time they cough, because then you look like a tool.
Secondly if a performance is taking place with a visual element, such as dancing, in a flat-floored room don’t hold your camera up over your head recording the whole damn thing blocking the view of the people behind you. If you have to be that much of an ass-hat then sit in the back row.
And thirdly, when visiting the amenities to pass water if there is a urinal free use it. Do not take the only available cubicle and then proceed to piss with the door open as if to mock anyone waiting, and then take so long you must be passing kidney stones.
C’mon guys, just obey Wheaton’s Law. It ain’t rocket science.
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