Vienna – full of culture, cafes and comfort

Its nearing the stage where we constantly need to keep asking where are we? What day is it? Four months of constant travel can obviously result in total disorientation. Well we are now in Vienna Austria. And if the amount of time spent on Wikipedia researching this city is any indication of what we think of it – then we obviously love it. An hour cannot go by where I do not whip out my phone to Google a monument, building, gallery, museum or word. I have even started looking into its history dating from pre Neolithic times (with the discovery of the famous Venus Von Willendorf circa 29,500 bc) up to the present day.

Did you know that for the eighth consecutive year Vienna has been ranked first in the world for standard of living? After three days here and I think its pretty obvious why. Grandiose open spaces, sweeping streets flanked by spacious footpaths, museums on every corner, palaces or some type of incredible building on every second corner, concerts every night, the best metro system in the world, cycle paths everywhere, cold drinkable tap water, minimal cars (replaced by trams and horse-drawn carriages), appetizing food and apparently cheap rent for a major city. Why wouldn’t you want to live here?

We have spent the better part of three days so far strolling the streets, visiting the museums and at night watching the screening of live operas on the external screen of the world-famous Vienna State Opera (about 100 m from our room). The Natural History museum we visited yesterday (home to Venus von Willendorf (one of the oldest pieces of art in the world), actual meteors, a planetarium and real dinosaur skeletons) is by far the best museum we have ever visited. If we had had museums like this as we grew up then we may have had more interest in evolution, science and history.

If we have to say anything remotely negative about the place (and it’s really a positive negative) is navigation of the streets. Because there are actual cycle paths (complete with their own street lights), tram lines and roads – you must have your wits about you when coming to any intersection. Its compounded by the fact that they drive on the wrong side here.

When arriving at any new destination we try to walk from the station if possible. It gives us time to assimilate and stretches the body after the prolonged sitting. An unfortunate side effect of this is that arguments always ensue as we try to get a grip on our bearings and navigate our way in a foreign city. Arriving at our accommodation is always an interesting experience. As most of our rooms were booked at least 12 months ago over the internet (Booking.com – great, no deposit, no cancellation fee) – we never have any idea of what the place is going to be like. We have struck it lucky this time. Its a hotel  and its huge, clean, modern with the fluffiest pillows, plushest doonas and a lovely view. I am enjoying the Austrian custom of having a doona each.

We have again been dining at night from the local supermarket but tonight we are going out and hunting for the ubiquitous wienerwurst (hotdog). Tomorrow its back on the train – this time for the four-hour journey to Prague in the Czech Republic.

Some interesting facts. Dogs appear to be allowed everywhere – even in department stores (think Myers!). Smoking is still allowed in most places (restaurants etc) here (as it was also allowed in France and Italy). Famous people from Vienna – Marie Antoinette, Niki Lauda, Gustav Klimt, Johann Strauss. The Asian tourists (usually meek, polite and surprisingly plentiful) are so much more considerate than the loud  Americans (sorry to any Americans reading this).

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