Wien

The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna

Painting by Caravaggio of David with the head of Goliath

The area where we stayed in Vienna

We left Athens on Thursday morning soon after 10 am. Although we’d checked in online (a strangely complicated process) we didn’t want to take any risks especially since we’d not been to this airport before. It seemed a long way to the Airport. They don’t have different terminals but Austrian Airlines along with Aegean and Lufthansa check in are in Gate 4. It was easy to check in, but the boarding passes we were given were for gate 07. So we were securitized and went through to our gate. There was nowhere to sit, so we went to a nearby cafe to get something to eat. I checked it out and suggested JD get orange juice, fruit, a baguette to share and coffee and something sweet to share. There was cooked Greek food, but no Greek salad, and very few cakes. All help-yourself wooden cutlery, straws and napkins.

The food was all right; we didn’t have coffee thinking they’d serve some on the plane, and not wanting to create bathroom issues.

Then we each used the WC (there were queues, of course) and went to Gate 07. It was strangely empty, yet a man in uniform assumed JD that it was the right gate. Well, yes, our boarding passes (online and printed) said gate 07, but in fact it was Gate 09. I got an email from Austrian Airlines to say it was Gate 09, but of course I was confused since both boarding passes said gate 07.

We walked to gate 9, not too far away, and sure enough a screen said our flight to Vienna, and a woman assured us that the gate had changed. Meanwhile people were coming off the plane, which had just arrived. There were masses of people and they did not separate those arriving and departing as many airports do.  Confusing? Yes! We’re not used to travelling coach where you can’t hear the frequent announcements and furthermore they’re in a strange language. And there aren’t screens to tell you what’s happening. With Air NZ I expect to get a text message if something changes. With emails, my home groups them so it can be hard to read the latest one. Anyway, enough already! Stop sending me emails, Austrian Airlines!

We were in group 3, but I think with us being oldies and seated in row 11 they let us board sooner. They certainly cram people and their carry-on luggage into those planes! I think it was like the Airbus 320’s Air NZ uses for domestic flights, but this was very cramped. It was understood that we’d stow our carry-on luggage (max 8 kg, not 7), plus a personal item (my handbag) under the seat in front.

We were all seated and ready to take off for our 2 1/4 hour flight when it was announced that due to a wind change flights were being redirected and there would be a 50 minute delay on taking off. The hostesses brought water around.

I was very tired but I did have my Kindle with me. I had bad cramps getting on board, but thankfully this went away. I managed to cross my legs but then had great trouble uncrossing them.

There were scary coughs on the plane but I managed to find a mask and wear it.  That made me feel a little better.

The hostesses brought around food and drink but you had to pay for it. In the row behind us there was lots of paper crackling. We did not partake.

In Vienna it is at least 10°C cooler than Athens. I wear my cardigan under my lovely new jacket, to reduce baggage, and when we get to Vienna I certainly need them both.

When we got to Vienna, I needed to use the restroom, but the first one I encountered was closed – out of order. All the signs said Exit (Auskunft) to Vienna, but where was Baggage Claim?

We keep going and eventually we come to baggage claim, but I suspect many passengers don’t have any checked baggage. But a helpful sign directs us to Carousel 3, and our checked bags appear on this quickly moving carousel.

We decide to get a taxi into our hotel. It is Prize by Radisson, and although the photos look a bit weird, I decide that if it’s part of the Radisson chain it can’t be too bad – we stayed in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Durham about 18 months ago. Although it was a 4*, and everything was very expensive, we managed to eat there twice by sharing food we’d ordered, for example, soup and a delicious cheese platter, or starters and dessert. So I thought if this was part of the Radisson chain, it couldn’t be too bad.

Well, silly me. Our taxi can’t find the hotel, then it seems to be Prizeotel and he stops around the back of the building. The taxi was very expensive and then of course he wanted a tip.

We checked in to this strange place, and that was complicated too. A nice young man helped but they wanted a lot of details and both our passports. Although this hotel has a young vibe, and very strange decor indeed, there were evidently several older guests, and I explained to JD that this was the best of the rest. 

We met an Australian couple from Canberra as we went up in the lift – I wasn’t the only older person who’d made this strange choice.

And it was very strange too: we got to our minimalist room, which had 2 single beds pushed together with a generous duvet folded on each one; 2 square pillows, another European specialty; and no spare pillows or blankets; no fridge or mini-bar or tea making facilities; minimal and strange lights and a sort of desk-ledge and chair. The bathroom has toilet, hand basin and shower and heated floor, but no shower cap and only squeezy liquid soap which you use for everything. The lighting is particularly frustrating for me, as there is no lamp over the tiny desk area, and if I’m sitting on the bed the lighting is particularly poor. Our hotel in Paris keeps sending messages, to which I feel I must reply, since I’ve booked and not paid for it, and I don’t want them to sell the room to somebody else! But all these emails make me so nervous!

They only clean your room on day 3, if you’re staying that long, but you can get tea, coffee and toothbrush holders downstairs . You can ask for replacement towels at Reception too. Buffet breakfast at the hotel costs €18 per person. There isn’t even a water bottle on our room! But I didn’t realize at first that we could get water downstairs.

It’s evidently a hotel/industrial area with brutalist tower blocks although there’s a very small park with grass and flowers outside our room on the fourth floor.  There seem to be few eating places nearby, and they are focused on vegetarian/vegan options with hummus ever present. Everywhere we go there are lots of truffles and Caesar salad. 

Eventually we go to a small Italian restaurant nearby, feeling a huge sense of cold and dislocation after beautiful Athens and Italy, where you’re always welcomed in.  We both have risotto and it’s very good. We also buy some water. Then we go back to our hotel, and thankfully I get some sleep. I will say it’s quiet here in our room, and warm, in spite of the creamy light rail nearby, and the bed is very comfortable with big duvets, one each.

I was so tired that I went to bed at 7 :30 pm, waking at 2:20 am, but I went back to sleep after this. What a difference a few hours’ sleep makes!

In the morning I check on my phone for cafes that open early.  JD decides that we will eat breakfast here in our hotel, at €18 each.

There are lot of people at the breakfast buffet, of all ages.  It’s health focussed but not too bad. There is fruit salad and various cereals and milk varieties; they also have Bircher muesli which really appeals to JD, and apple puree. There are three types of fruit juice, orange, apple, and mixed, and water; there is the usual array of sliced cold meats and cheese, and Danish pastries. They haven’t been so great on this trip, and the croissants have been mostly overcooked . But there is a 4 slice toaster and I make myself 2 slices of toast. That’s tricky: you push a lever up, not down, to toast the bread, and then when you go to check it jumps right out. There are several types of jam (konfiture) which like in our hotel in Rome you dispense into containers, in this case, like tiny ice cream cones, which are very breakable. It’s easy to make a mess. They have a butter dispenser: you place your plate and press the button and whoopee a perfect round pat of butter appears.  JD gets coffee from a machine with queuing and then an alarming array of choices. He gets me a double espresso with extra hot water, and it tastes just fine. Later I come down and fill my Oceania flask with water from the juice dispenser. It’s really interesting how food is labelled!

Then we shower and lock everything up and set out for the Kunsthistorisches Museum.  The weather is just like Wellington really: light rain, coldish, overcast and a bit windy. By some magic JD has figured how to get there on the light rail right next to our hotel. It’s magic really. You get on and use the ticket machine to buy the tickets. So we get there, and cross the road and find the ticket office to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. No queuing, and we’re served with a smile, and a comment about swimming to get here. We’re the second couple from NZ he’s had this morning. We came to Vienna because I wanted to see this museum.

It’s a truly wonderful museum, set in an old palace? I must look it up. Wonderful Italian paintings by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, but we can only find one by Caravaggio – there were supposed to be two. It is very similar to one we’d seen in the Borghese Gallery, of the boy David holding Goliath’s head. I think I like this one better. Then it’s time for a lunch break, but there is a queue at the coffee shop and JD isn’t prepared to wait.

So we walk to something called Salt and Honey. It’s strange not to be beckoned in by someone standing at the entrance, as you would be in Italy or Athens. The heavy door is closed, and we have to pull it open. There are at least 2 free tables, but the poor single waitress is very busy and takes a while to come to us. What a relief to sit down, though! There’s no rush. I order bacon and eggs which come with a croissant, and coffee and sparkling water. JD orders iced tea, a glass of prosecco, and pancakes. It’s all good, and quite different from ones we’ve encountered in New Zealand. 

The delicious pancakes have a little chocolate sauce smeared over them; they’re not drowned in maple syrup as they often are in new Zealand; and they come with big blueberries and strawberries.  I entertain thoughts of seeing St Stephen’s Cathedral (no, it costs!), having Sacher torte at a cafe (not after my beautiful lunch), or catching the hop on/hop off bus (€37 pp !). I can see why it was cheaper to come back to Paris through Italy, although Germany would have been more straightforward, perhaps. But we would have had to get a train to Munich, stay overnight there, and then travel by train to Cologne, from where we could catch the Eurostar back to Paris. We could have seen a friend’s son and his family in Cologne, but I really didn’t want to go to Munich again.

Then we made our way back to our hotel.

We got a tramcar, type D, but it was very crowded indeed and people kept getting on! There was no way you could get near the ticket machine, and no one seemed to be checking.  The driver drove jerkily with no respect for the passengers, whom he could not see. After a couple of stops we got off, and walked some more to another stop. There were a few others waiting too. After a while another tram car came, which was much less crowded . We caught that back to our hotel and had a rest. I was able to get clean towels from Reception. But there was only one guy there, and queues, of course!

Later we went to dinner somewhere near – part of the Urban chain. I would like to have had Wiener schnitzel, but it was over €30! So we shared a pizza with corn! That’s a first, and some kind of pepper (jalapeno, perhaps), but not really hot. JD has a glass of Chardonnay and I have a mojito, since it’s our last night in Vienna. That was probably a mistake, since I did not sleep well.

We had breakfast here again; and JD has gone to do some washing. It’s probably far more expensive here than in Italy, but there’s more to see and do there so you don’t want to waste time washing. There is actually quite a bit of washing, and he gets nervous about it. He’s very good at working out how to manage it all!

We are due to catch a train to Udine and the Trieste at 12:53 pm. It is raining quite heavily outside and I’ve dug out my poncho, hoping I won’t get too cold and wet outside on our walk, with luggage, to Wien Haupt Bahnhof.

JD arrived back from the laundrette and we finished packing and delivered our room entry cards to the checkout box and walked to the station . I am super nervous and of course this large busy station is different from Italian or British railway stations, and confusing. But by some fortunate impulse we get an escalator up to platform 7, and it seems our train will go from here. Then we walk through and take an escalator down to the shops and buy some food and drink to take with us. There seem to be no ticket checks before traveling as in Italy.

Wien is very different. Most people speak English but notices are in German and it’s very confusing.  Apparently our train goes through to Venezia Santa Lucia! I did not realize that. But I really wanted to go to Trieste, which is almost on the way. so that’s that. We have a change at Udine. On the train our tickets are checked, and there is a destination board, which is helpful.

Nga mihi nui