Vienna, Austria: no gondolas or kangaroos

Phillip and I left Salzburg Friday morning and are in Vienna, Austria. (Vienna, not Venice, no canals. Austria, not Australia, no kangaroos.)  On Friday afternoon, we walked along the Danube River and found our pier for the boat we will take Tuesday to Slovakia. For those who thought of pastoral scenes of beauty when I said the Danube, it may very well have such scenes, but they are outside of downtown Vienna! The section we walked had a concrete path next to a concrete wall. Some trees were planted along the path, but not enough to call it shaded.

Danube thru downtown Vienna

Yesterday (Saturday), we met with Seiji, our Global Greeter guide. He is from Japan but lives in Vienna now. He spoke English well and took us around the high points of the Ringstrasse, the ring road around the Old Town portion of Vienna. (Built when Emperor Franz Josef ordered that the military fortifications be torn down and a road circling the city be built in their place in 1857.) Seiji pointed out the oldest restaurant, describing the four flags which are markers by the Austrian government that the location has historic significance. We also saw a church built in 740 AD and the Hoher Market, the oldest square in Vienna that started as a Roman outpost.

four flags signify historic importance

Seiji took us to a location on my list, the Volksgarten. We also went by the Hofburg Palace, but I wanted to save my "Phillip palace credit" for Sunday's Schonbrunn Palace. (I figured Phillip is good for just one palace tour!)

Volksgarten, a rose garden

The Lippanzer stallions train and perform here, but I didn't pre-order a ticket. We went by the ticket office and it was very crowded, too crowded to expect to get a ticket anytime in the next two days. Seiji know where we could get a glimpse of the horses in their stable, so I was able to see them.

Dancing Lippanzers in their stalls

We also walked by the Vienna Opera House, the only large one in Europe that provides reasonably priced (6 euro) standing room only tickets so that performances are accessible to regular citizens, not just the wealthy.

fountain at the Vienna Opera House

Another of Vienna's showpieces is St. Stephen's Cathedral. I hadn't read that the interior had anything that would appeal to Phillip, so we were both satisfied with viewing it from the outside. We could see the unusual tiled roof, quite different from other cathedrals we've seen.

St. Stephen's tiled roof

After walking us around to these sights and giving me a tip about getting to our Sunday destination (my route wouldn't work because of subway construction), we bid auf wiedersehen to Seiji.

Seiji, our Global Greeter, with Pat

Phillip and I then walked to the Nachtmarkt. Anything with "market" in its title is a draw for me. This, however, was more like cafe row. We walked thru it and Phillip bought a Leberkase on a roll. I thought it looked like Spam. Phillip said it was more like a piece of thick bologna. Since Phillip likes both Spam and bologna, he enjoyed his Leberkase.

Phillip buying his Leberkase

After the Nachtmarkt, we were tired of walking, so I checked the tram map and found a tram stop just around the corner. We rode the tram all the way to Prater, the stopping point of this tram line and the park closest to our hotel. Phillip and I did walk a bit more, thru the park. The north end of Prater has an amusement park, free to enter, with most individual rides priced at 5 euro. We saw an ad that people could buy a package of 20 ride tickets for 45 euro, quite a savings. And then we came to the ride that people can see for quite a distance, the ferris wheel. It cost 11 euro to ride, but each ride is 20 minutes!

Riesenrad, the ferris wheel

We might have considered it, but each ride is only 1 revolution - it is a very slow ferris wheel! And I zoomed in on the ride cars... notice any windows?

It was 88 degrees at the time I took the picture. A metal car with no windows in full sun. I told Phillip that it wasn't a ferris wheel, it was a human rotisserie!
We walked back to our hotel, and since we were just about walked out for the day, I found the closest well-reviewed restaurant, Tethy's Cafe, which was right across the street. I'm so glad I found it, as the Wagner's Kalbsragout (veal stew, more like goulash as paprika was the predominant, but not overwhelming, spice) was delicious! The best restaurant dinner I've had since we started our trip. The stew was meat in thick sauce (no veggies) and it was served with spaetzle and a dollop of sour cream (full-fat, not the light stuff that I buy at home).

Sunday: UNESCO World Heritage site, the Hapsburg's Schonbrunn Palace