Our first day in Vienna and the weather is only slightly cooler than Budapest in the high twenties now! The apartment is really well placed and really is about one minute from the brilliantly named metro stop - Hütteldorfer Strasse! It took us exactly the twelve minutes advised on the property details to reach the centre of the old city at Stephenplatz right in front of the cathedral. Being a sunny there was a service in progress but we were allowed to creep in at the bak of the cathedral and see the impressive architecture.
Colin was following a trail from the Rough Guide and I was locating the streets using Google maps so it was good teamwork. The trails very good as it took us off the main busy streets into little courtyards and quiets back streets with amazing architecture.
We diverted briefly away from the trail route when I heard the familiar sound of a band and procession. We were just in time to see a long procession (never did find out what for) but there were church leaders, a lot of incense and a small Madonna being carefully carried around the streets surrounding the cathedral. As it is so quick to get back to our apartment, we walked a bit further before popping back on the Metro 3 line for lunch and a rest before heading out again… on the number 3 line back into the city.
When we got back for lunch we headed to the lift up (we’re ‘dab hands’ already on where to get the lift up to street level) but the lift broke and we were stuck for a short time with a woman and pram with a very little baby and an older woman. I do not speak German but the gist of the conversation was that it might take an hour to get us out. Luckily the woman with the pram made it very clear that her baby (and therefore all of us) would not be waiting for an hour and somehow she managed to get the doors open (may have been remote). The lift was lower than the floor level which always freaks me out but we all got out and I helped the pram out as well. We took the three flights of stairs up this time.
After a rest - we are both flagging now with all the walking and the high temperatures - we headed out in the direction of the Tourist Information for a paper map, a walk around the interesting modern ‘Monument against War and Fascism’ and then we took the tram to a housing project designed by the architect Hundertwasser. I had quite an interest as we had first seen his work in toilets in a remote town in the North Island of New Zealand! The houses were really impressive although they need a bit of a repaint.
We were both so tired now but it was a bit of a walk back to the Metro home. A brief break before I pull dinner together from yesterdays shop at Bilas and cracked open the 3.5 euro bottle of red wine - very drinkable! We finished the day by watching the next episode of Grace with the laptop rigged up to the television - a good first day in Vienna.
