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Vienna, the city of music

We took a direct train to Vienna (Wien), the capital of Austria and reached Vienna after a few hours of train ride from Prague. We checked in to Hotel Praterstern – the BEST hotel that we had stayed throughout the trip in Europe!! Anyway, it had to be the best, as it is literally the only HOTEL we had stayed; we stayed in cheap youth hostels previously.

The historic centre of Vienna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. St Stephen’s Cathedral (German: Stephansdom) at Stephansplatz is just a walking distance away from our hotel. It is a Romanesque and Gothic styles cathedral and is the most important religious building in Vienna.

The other side of St Stephen’s Cathedral.

Photos of St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, Austria.

Vienna is so different from the other states that we had visited in Austria earlier on. It is like the city of light- Paris; it has plenty of boutiques and shoppers. There are also more Asians. Many buskers could sing classical soprano very well too! The people could speak good English and more helpful and friendlier too.

The shopping lane in the city centre seemed to me like the one in Nanjing Street, Shanghai, China. And the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had an enjoyable time savouring delicious Austrian pastries, ice-creams and sausages. Of course, they were no longer as cheap as those food in Prague. Everything was back to double. Ouch! :(

And plenty of Mozart Chocolate Balls…

Exploring the city by foot…

There are lot of fascinating monuments and statues. It’s really very pleasant to travel around Vienna.

A typical lovely garden in Vienna.

Austrian trams.

I like golden statue.

A fuel station in Vienna.

Oops! But this poster of a nude European girl isn’t censored in Vienna. Anyway, I think it’s common to see such banners featuring nudity in many countries, but not in Singapore.

Viennese snack – Wiener sausages!

We were approached by a Mozart-look-alike promoting Mozart and Johann Strauss concert at Wiener Residenz Orchester that evening. A ticket cost €25 at student price, back row seat. Concert for the night. I managed to snap a photo of the interior of the Wiener Residenz before the usher told me no photo-taking inside. It was a small concert in a small hall; however, the concert was good.

We were heading to Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna!

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Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna

We visited Schönbrunn Palace, the best palace we had seen in Austria so far. Its surrounding buildings and the huge park is one of the most significant cultural monuments in Austria. The palace served as summer residence to various Habsburg rulers.

Schönbrunn Palace is so big that part of it is a hunting and recreation ground. It was a tiring walk up the hill to take this photo. The view is great.

Having fun at the recreation ground. It was the first time I tried a maze; initially I was doubtful if I could get out fast or got stuck inside!

Funny mirrors creating fantasies.

We left the palace and adjourned to the nearby marketplace. Visiting the local market gave us a better understanding on the local food culture. Well, I could only try to figure out what kind of meat they were selling. I can’t read German!

Opera House of Vienna to watch TOSCA!

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Going Opera in Vienna… TOSCA!

At the Opera House (Wiener Staatsoper) ticket counter, we checked out the schedule for the opera of the day. Everyone has been saying we must visit the Opera House for an opera in Vienna, it’s world famous for operas. The ticket officer was very helpful. He recommended us some of the performances and from him, we knew that students can watch certain performances for free! How fortunate! No wonder they are cultivated since young to appreciate classical music and arts.

We couldn’t watch for free since we were no longer young school kids. The ticket officer highly recommended an opera called “TOSCA” to us. It was a Category A (Best) Opera and all tickets were already sold out. But we could queue up for the standing gallery tickets, on a first-come-first-served basis. The ticket officer suggested that we could queue up one and a half hour earlier before the opera started.

The queue had already started by the time we joined in. A Japanese man in his fifties was queuing behind us. We lined up for about one and a half hour and luckily, there were still tickets left and we finally bought our tickets. The ticket was cheap – €3.50 only for a world class performance in a world class opera house! But it came with no seat.

There are a few entrance doors to the standing gallery. We had to think and act fast as people who got the tickets were rushing into the standing gallery. The Japanese man who was behind us was already running ahead of us at the entrance to grab the best view of the stage! We were not bad either; we had a good standing view.

The interior of the Opera House is so elegant like a palace.

The Orchestral Conductor of Tosca was a Japanese. I believed those beautifully dressed Japanese women wearing Kimono must be his fans. Only tourists like us were dressed down. That’s why we only deserved the standing gallery! Argh!

At the standing gallery, each standing area has a screen that translates the Italian opera to English. We had to watch and read the translation at the same time. During the break, people at the standing gallery would tie their sweaters to the bar in front of them, to indicate that the standing area was taken. I could see that most of them were tourists too, who could be like us who tried to catch a last minute show.

I may look bored here, but not exactly! it was break-time. The guy beside me went there alone.

The opera was fantastic!

Vienna sightseeing!

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Vienna sightseeing

During our final stay in Vienna, we visited The Prater, Vienna’s most popular fun fair with a giant Ferris wheel and many rides.

First time to see such a slow-moving “merry-go-round” with real ponies. Cute.

The Prater is small and old, yet colourful.

The Hundertwasser House is a funny looking apartment with large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. The house was designed by an Austrian artist at no charge.

Jacky joined in the Jesus March!

We took a train to Danube island, a recreational mecca with bars, restaurants and nightclubs, and sports like rollerblading and canoeing.

Many sexy people were laying on the patch of grass overlooking the mighty Danube river, and some censored photos.

Obviously, we were in the wrong attire!

Photos taken on youngsters showing off their dancing skills.

At night, it was time to leave Vienna and we took a night train to Venice. The people we met in Vienna were friendlier, more helpful to tourists like us and spoke English reasonably well as compared to other parts of Austria that we had traveled.

Next: Journey on the Night train to Venice!

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