Vienna

Ah, the city of music. Vienna was awesome! Steph really enjoyed it too, she's always wanted to go there. Again when we got there, we were quite tired, so we sought some dinner, then crashed. On the walk back to the hostel from dinner, we quickly noticed that our hostel wasn't in the nicest neighbourhood, and proceeded cautiously for the duration of our stay. I think everyone at the hostel was Australian, residents and employees! Again, our room was all girls, all Australian this time though! Before sleeping that night, we checked out the lounge, and didn't like what we saw. The place was over capacity with teenagers, Australian of course, and they were behaving pretty immaturely. They were engaging in such things as dancing on pool tables, pouring beer on each other and stumbling around callowly. We didn't stay. In our room, we stayed up for a while and chatted with one of our roommates. We learned that the reason all the Aussies were there was because they were with the Tiki Tour that had booked this hostel. At midnight, I had a bit of Absinthe with Steph for my birthday; she bought some in Prague. That stuff gave me crazy dreams!

The next day we started our sightseeing. Our hostel was pretty far from the downtown core, so we took the subway. We got off near the Parliament building. This building was designed by Theophil Hansen and heavily alludes to the classical Greek and Roman periods. My interest and admiration towards ancient Greece and Rome led me to take loads of pictures of the beautiful architecture!








Across the street from the Parliament is the Burg Theatre. Steph and I were interested in seeing an opera in the city of music, and what better occasion than my birthday! We went to the theatre to see if we could get more information about shows for that evening. There was a gentleman sitting on the stairs dressed in an 18th century costume with an advertisement for the Vienna Mozart Concert. Apparently, these costumed guys hang out at all music halls and opera houses, selling tickets for this concert at the Musikverein theatre. Steph got tickets here for that evening, an excellent birthday gift!
Our next stop was at probably the most majestic city hall I've ever seen. There was a community event going on all around the hall, and all around the city for that matter, but I'm not sure what it was because I can't read German!






Across from city hall is the Josef Meinrad Platz, a busy little park. We relaxed there for a few minutes.


We passed one of the five University buildings in the area
on our way to Maria Teresien Platz. In this square are nice statues and MuseumsQuartier (if you go to the link, you have to click on "about mq", you can't navigate directly!). I was already on cultural knowledge overload by the time we did the walking tour in Berlin, (remember, only days before this trip, I was at the Louvre and the Vatican Museum amongst many other cultural wonders) and I think Steph was overwhelmed too, so we didn't see what MuseumsQuartier had to offer. Though I was interested in seeing the new 'Monet to Picasso' exhibit in the Albertina, I would have liked to see it when I was in a better state of mind to appreciate it.




We passed Vienna State Opera, one of the more attractive opera houses, at least from the outside.
We wandered through the shopping district, which, like many other European cities I've been in, lies amongst buildings older than Canada, on lovely cobble stone roads dedicated to pedestrians only, and dotted with intricate statues. Notice the Mc Donalds in the old building? It seems strange to see something so commercial take over something historical!




Afterwards, we found ourselves at Karls Kirche, or Charles Church, named after the Emperor Karl VI. It was built from 1716-1737 and is considered the most beautiful church of Vienna in the Baroque style. We sat on the border of a park by the church's pond, and caught up on some reading until we had to get ready for the opera.

The opera that night was perfect. The Vienna Mozart Orchestra played beautifully and the opera singers gave a moving performance. Though it wasn't on the program, I really would have liked to hear Johann Strauss' the Blue Danube, my favourite classical song since I was a kid. Wasn't it a nice birthday treat when they played it as the encore!





This is a statue of Mozart in the opera house. Don't mind my casual jacket, I didn't pack prepared to see an opera and had to make do with what I had. At least it wasn't as bad as all people sitting around us in jeans! After the opera, Steph tried to find a place for me to get a slice of cake, so I could have some birthday cake, but we didn't have any luck. I hope to make up for it when I get home... :)

We were up very early the next morning to see the infamous Vienna Boys' Choir sing Sunday morning mass. Tickets are required to enjoy the luxury of a seat. So we stood in line an hour and a half before mass began to get standing room. Even arriving that early didn't grant us any kind of view, but the resonance of the angelic voices reached us easily enough. I'm really glad we got to hear them, there is hardly a sound more pleasing than a young boy's clear, soprano voice. Mass is held in the Hofburg Palace Chapel, Hofburgkapelle. Hofburg Palace holds a great deal of other cultural treats, like seven museums (including the Albertina), the National Library and a fun butterfly house.









We got a look at Stephans Dom, or St. Stephen's Cathedral, which has been under construction since 1147!




We then went to Stadt Park, a place I wanted to visit to see the Strauss memorial. We relaxed there for a while, again with our books!







After that, we returned to Charles Church, to do some more relaxing! On the way back to the hostel, I saw a sculpture I had seen on several post cards. I'm not too sure of its purpose, but I got a photo with Steph in it anyway!
Back at the hostel, the teenagers seemed to have cleared out. We had a few drinks and ended up bumping into the two Americans we met in Prague! We knew they were coming, but didn't think we'd actually see them, so we had a few drinks with them, then got ready to leave the next morning.
I really liked Vienna. However, being in the city of music, I thought I would see more dated architecture other than the public buildings. This really is a posh sort of city; our hostel was far from the city centre because that area is dedicated to five star hotels only! I think I would compare Vienna to Madrid, in terms of general appearance and ratio of locals living or commuting downtown. Whereas Prague was full of tourists in every place we saw, Vienna seemed like a nice, ritzy place one could live, not just visit. I'm really glad I made experiencing music a priority here, these guys know how to do it!

We had to catch a flight back to Amsterdam the next day because that is where Steph's return flight was leaving from, so we spent another night in Amsterdam. We went to the airport early because we had invested in lounge passes and wanted some time to enjoy them! After we checked our bags, we went to the lounge for a surprisingly nice breakfast. They had some fantastic pumpkin soup! We had a couple drinks and used the free Internet before we caught our flight. It was raining again in Amsterdam. This time we stayed in a hostel, not the rude hotel again! As soon as you walk in this hostel, there is a circular area covered with pillows, for people to relax in. We got some photos of people seriously relaxed, who probably had something to help them relax! If you click on the photo, you can see a bigger image, and you will see the people in the background more clearly!

We were craving junk food, so we headed to Mc Donalds (I allow myself to go there once a year!) This hostel was right down town Amsterdam, so we were right in the middle of all the excitement. You could say that we saw fascinating people, at least they were when we could understand them, at Mc Donald's, at 2 pm on a Tuesday afternoon! Let me know if you want to know just how fascinating these people were! Forget the rabbit hole, we were in Dr. Seuss Land!

We met another Aussie in our room, Tim. We hung out with him for the evening at the bar in the hostel.

At some point, Tim felt creative and built a tower with glasses and a water bottle, then topped with a lit candle! When it didn't crash and start a fire, I felt it worthy of a photo or two!

Again, my throat was bothering me, so I went to bed well before Steph and Tim. Steph and I had to share a queen sized bed again, but this time they managed to put it on a top bunk! Steph is worried about falling off bunk beds, so she wanted to sleep next to the wall. When I woke up for us to catch our flight, she wasn't there, and I had a vague recollection of her saying she was going to sleep in the hall. I looked in the hall, without any luck. I combed through the entire hostel, and finally found her on a couch in the basement common room. After asking why this is where I found her, she told me that I wasn't being especially co-operative in my sleep in moving so she could get in the bed. When I apologized, she told me that she instead had a good time, and stayed up almost all night playing pool with more friends she made.

We said our good byes at the airport a few hours later. I really had a good trip with her. Perhaps it's the only child syndrome coming out, but I think we got along so well because Steph and I respect each other, and not once did she try to tell me what to do! If we wanted to do different things, we didn't make a big deal about it. We never imposed our preferences on each other. After all, it was both of our vacations! I'm glad I got to see these countries with someone, especially someone so fun! It was a very fulfilling experience!