Attendez le Creme!

Damn, we've got a fair few posts going now don't we?

A few days ago I zoomed along to Vienna to discover another city I knew pretty much nothing about. The scenery in Austria is incredible. The roads going into Vienna were stunning, and I found out today that they are even more so on the way out. Trees and mountains. And trees! I saw deer frolicking through a field on the side of the road too.

On my first night I checked into the hostel, which for a big hostel was a good one. They had a kitchen and free pasta, rice, herbs, spices, tea and coffee. Very nice of them. I headed off on a tour to check out Vienna at night. I've found that, hit and miss as they are, if you don't have weeks to wander around a city like we did in London, the easiest way to get oriented is to take a tour. Alternatively, they can completely confuse you and turn you around.

This was a good one though. We had a guy who dressed like a classier Jeremy Clarkson, with more hair and an umbrella. His name was Walter and he had the exact same voice and accent as Arnold Scwarzenegger. Chances are he's subsequently an equally good actor as Arnold Scwarzenegger, if less ripped. He also managed to slip 'I'll be back' into the tour at least twice.
He took us around the centre of the city and showed us things such as the Spanish Stallions. These little horses are only about 155cm tall and are black when they are born. When they turn four they begin to train them to do all the dresage and tricks. Every horse gets taught the same routine and their very own signature move. Once they're eight or nine years old they turn white and are ready to strutt their stuff in the court.
Whilst talking about a certain kings wife the words Walter used were 'Little did he know what a militant lesbian she was.' Ha! Turns out she was and cheated on him with his sister...
We saw the Sacher Hotel, home of Sacher Torte, and discovered that in Vienna coffee houses are a place to sit and spend time rather than money. Get a coffee and sit and talk or read or write for hours and hours and no one kicks you out! They are also obliged to be extensively stocked with magazines and newspapers for the customers. Rad.
I then went and had schnitzel, beer, schnapps and apple strudel with cream. When in Vienna...
I returned to the hostel to find an odd band called Herr Pashulke (Mr Pashulke) playing in the bar. They were all students and played odd ska/oompa music. The lead singer worn a fuzzy hat on his head and was so tall he almost hit the ceiling when he jumped. The hostel also gave us free beer vouchers when we checked in, and the people I met that night didn't want theirs, so I was blessed with free beer. Are there any two better words? 'Free Beer.'

The next night I went to the opera. I went to the opera in Vienna. For four euro. The Opera was La Boheme and I dressed up as well as I could only to set off out the door... and walked in the complete opposite direction of the Opera House! I had a map in my hand and everything. I did get to see a bit of Vienna that way though. I think I almost walked to the Palace. After that I decided it was probably safest if I just catch the metro... For the standing tickets they ushered us into a kind of cattle stock set up that had bars to lean on and little rectangular screens with the subtitles on them. Vague outline of the story: Boy meets girl. Ten minutes later, in the same act they decide they love each other. Girl gets sick. Girl dies. Man gets all upset. It was great though. It was the first time I'd seen opera live. I'd been to many Dendy opera's, but it's not really the same. Of the Puccini I've seen it was better than Turandot but not quite up there with Madame Butterfly. And nobody has anything on Tosca. The lead soprano had a divine voice though and there were some goosebump inducing duets. Very nice. At one point there was a donkey on stage too. What a star. And to the customers who complain about the volume of the opera's; That's how loud opera is. Get better ears or pipe down!!

The next day I wandered back into the city to sample Vienesse coffee which I was told was pretty damn good. It was very nice. None, of this milky stuff you get in Australia. Though still not as good as coffee from Kingston Grind. Yes that is shameless advertising. Go there. It's amazing. I also got my very own little Sacher Torte that was about the size of a cup cake. Super yummy. (I seem to remember my mum making Sacher Torte at some point. Don't worry mum. You make them just as well as the Austrian's do.) St Stephen's cathedral was very near where I had my coffee and has the most gorgeous tiled roof. All blue and yellow.

I hopped back of the metro to check out Schöbrunn Palace and it's stunning gardens. I wandered around them for about an hour, but they looked like you could easily have got lost in them. As I sat eating my lunch little red squirrels scampered about everywhere. They're possibly even cuter than grey squirrels. They have funny pointy, tufty ears. There was a wooden wheel-y scaffolding thing near where I was sitting that it looks like they use to trim the trees and one cheeky little guy was climbing around on it like it was a jungle gym. After that I zoomed over to the other side of town to a little carnival that's a permanant fixture of Vienna. I didn't stay long, but most of the rides felt like they were about to fall apart.

Mozart was everywhere in Vienna. Shops selling crappy souvenirs and guys dressed up like him trying to promote concerts. I got so wrapped up in the whole thing that it was only about halfway through my time in Vienna that I remembered how much I hate Mozart. So fiddly and insipid. Gimmee a ballsy Russian over him any day.

Vienna was a pleasant surprise. At no point did I assume it was going to be disappointing, I just didn't know what to expect and didn't realise it was such a gorgeous city.

Love Bron xoxox