After visiting Paris and Rome, we had sort of become experts in reading maps, making itineraries and also finding good restaurants. We thought it wouldn’t be a difficult task to explore Vienna (Wien) in 2 days. We didn’t bother much to plan anything. Soon after we reached Vienna, we bought a map and a city guide book. Then we started searching for the train stations. We had to reach this place called Landsstraβe-wien-mitte, from where our hotel was abt 600 m. There are two ways to reach there one is by taking the CAT trains – express trains that runs every 20 minutes from airport to Wien Mitte and the other is to take the local train (either S-bahn or U-bahn) It took us almost 30 minutes to figure out the entrance to the train station and another 15-20 minutes to find out which train we have to take to reach Wien Mitte. There are different zones of train present in U-bahn and S-bahn metro services – S1, S2 till S15. There are also lines that are numbered as S60, S 80. We didn’t dare to find out details of each of them. There was a train ready to leave and suddenly someone told us that the train would go to Floridsdorf and it would go through Wien Mitte. We didn’t have tickets, but the TC told us not to worry and signaled the train to stop till we had boarded. After ensuring that we and our luggage’s was safe inside, he gave the green signal. We got tickets in the train and soon the train stopped at a station. I tried to read the name of the station and tried to locate in the metro map, but it was of no use. My spouse was sitting 4-5 seats ahead and I was a little scared as I couldn’t find any station in the metro map. Looking at my restlessness, a passenger sitting next to me enquired where I wanted to go. When I told him the name, he said it was the right train and also told me that it would take abt half an hr to reach there. He also told me to get off at the station that comes 4th after he gets down. Though he was telling me in german, I could follow what he was trying to say. After abt 15 minutes, I saw a station name that was mentioned in the metro map.. What a relief!! We had to be very attentive to see the board outside as the next station was not announced in the train, nor was there any display of the arriving station. We stood at the door with all our luggage 3 stations before Wien Mitte and finally got down. We started walking towards the exit and the so called Central place was completely deserted. It was abt 11.00 pm. There was nobody around and barely some light. We got sort of scared in the dark and we started looking out for this street called Linke Bahngasse. From the map it was clear it was very nearby, but we could figure out which direction we were standing and which way to proceed.. We started walking in a direction where there were some light and then finally enquired abt this place from a Falafel vendor. He told us to go straight and our street was there… I had a feeling that it might not be wise to go straight, but we just thought of following what he said. After walking for a couple of minutes, we realized it was the wrong way. We decided to take a right turn and keep walking straight. The map suggested that this road would end at Linke Bahngasse and from there we could find out the number and decide to take left or right. The road was dark and we continued walking in the street. It was sort of scary, but we continued walking. Finally when we reached that place, we were able to locate the hotel. Actually this place is nearby the station, but we took the wrong street, hence ended up walking in small dark streets. The hotel was quite good and our room was inbetween 2nd and 3rd Floor. The room was much bigger and better that we had expected. That night we planned our itinerary and went to bed peacefully. By the time we woke up next day, it was almost closing time for breakfast. Somehow, V reached there first and then called me. We were the last ones to have breakfast. The time was just abt 9.30, but Austrians (or Germans, as it’s the national language) prefer to have breakfast by 7.30am. When we started exploring Vienna by train, it was not that bad at all….
One can get thoroughly confused while trying to pronounce the name of the street or plavce in Vienna. Here are some jhalaks – Zwischenbrucken, Klostergrβfelsielung. The best way is to ask someone is by showing the name to the person. The names of streets in Autraia is the same as in Germany, like a name ending with ___Straβe means big streets and names ending with __gasse means smaller streets. In Nederlands, the road names mostly end with __eweg for small streets like Konningineweg, lorentseweg. The bigger streets end with _____straat like langestraat, havenstraat etc.
Schonbrunn Palace view from Neptune fountain.
Vienna was indeed a very beautiful city, with lots of historical monuments here and there. There are tons of places to visit, lots of restaurants around. Our first destination was Schonbrunn Palace. This place is one of the most popular attractions of Vienna and there are lots of interesting places to explore and visit nearby this place. We took a direct train from Wien Mitte and reached the station by abt 30 minutes. It took us abt 15 – 20 minutes to reach the palace gate. The temperature was quite cold there and we saw heaps of snow nearby the gate and also near the palace. We didn’t want to go inside the palace as we wanted to see something different and started walking in the garden. One can visit Palace Chappel, Gloriette, Neptune fountain, Palm house, Sundial house, Maze Park, Schonbrunn Zoo, Tyrolean garden and others.
Just outside the front side of the palace, there was an open market kind of place where there were lots of stalls selling different things – candles, small toys, bread and pastries and even spices. After taking a few pics there, we walked till the Neptune fountain and from there we were sort of disappointed by the fact that the Maze house was closed due to winter.
View of Neptune fountain and Gloriette from Schonbrunn
From there we went to Schonbrunn Zoo- the oldest zoo in the world. This was apparently found in 1752. This was the third zoo, I visited in Europe after Berlin and Amsterdam. Each zoo had its own uniquenss and this one too was quite unique. Its not a very bog zoo compared to the others, but the way the animals have been maintained is really worth appreciating. There was a rain forest section, where the temperature and humidity was maintained like those found in our forests. There were lots of birds and small animals that were left free inside and we could see different varieties of birds, bats and plants in side the place. After looking at a few more animals, we decided to have lunch there inside the Palace restaurant. The restaurant seemed like an expensive one and we didn’t expect to get good food there either. The place had only 4 vegeratian recipes and we decided to have the creamy pumpkin soup and Rissoto. To our pleasant surprise, the restaurant was not very expensive and the food was very good..awesome!! We were quite happy and from there after loitering around here and there, we went to Palm house.
Handsome tigers and playful bears at the oldest Zoo in Vienna.
The next day started early for us and we checked out by 7.30 after a good breakfast and reached airport by 8.30. We happened to meet an old colleague at the airport. The feeling of meeting someone you know outside India is totally different. We wouldn’t have had so much enthusiasm while speaking this person had we met in India, but I guess that’s how it was. I have observed this behavior with many more people and I have no words to explain why this is so. Probably an expert can give a satisfactory answer... Our trip finally got over and it was indeed a very memorable one. Till date we discuss about how much fun and relaxing it was, to have this long pending and well deserved holiday…
