2010. július 29., csütörtök
Vienna, Austria...Caught in the Rain...
We spent the day in Vienna, Austria. This morning we knew we wanted to venture somewhere but were not exactly sure where we would end up. We agreed to just get in the car and go…once we were in the drive way we entered Vienna into the GPS…and we were off!
The drive there was very nice and took about an hour and a half. When we crossed the border into Austria, we pulled off to purchase a vignette and did so without the confusion of last time! The lady behind the counter had the vignette out before I even asked for it! She was straight to business, and we appreciated it!
Once in Vienna, or Wien as it is called in Europe, we took the first exit. Unfortunately this was not the exit we should have taken, but we enjoyed the extra sight-seeing of Vienna’s industrial area lol! We followed the signs leading us to the “Zentrum” or center of town. It took us one hour to get to a parking lot once we were “downtown!” There was a lot of construction, which lead to a lot of stop and go traffic…and we had to use the restroom! We made a lot of jokes and laughed for the entire hour, it helped to pass the time.
The first parking lot we saw, we pulled into! There were no signs indicating price, but our bladders would not allow us to worry…we parked and headed straight to a bathroom (or at least tried to). There were no signs for restrooms anywhere, so we stopped at a restaurant and ordered two cups of coffee so we could use their “toilet”. After our lattes which we enjoyed on the outside patio, we took off to enjoy Vienna.
Just like we had done in Bratislava, we randomly chose which way to go. Along the way we made sure to find our “North Stars”, so we could find our way back. From what we saw of Vienna, it felt much different than Bratislava. Vienna had the feeling of a very large city, unlike Bratislava which felt more like a large old town. But the portion of Bratislava that we traveled through was much of the historic center, other parts of Bratislava may in fact have the same feel as Vienna.
The downtown centrum of Vienna is full of hotels, shops, restaurants, old churches and both old and new architecture. The old architecture that we saw was amazing! St. Stephens Cathedral was breathtaking in its size and design. To add to the magic, as we were admiring it, the sky opened up and did not stop! We stood in Vienna, with no umbrellas or coats, in awe of the beautiful building but getting soaked! We ran through cobble stone streets hiding under one awning and then another, trying to escape the consistent down pour. Our mission now was to begin heading back to the car, but to first find a restaurant so warm up, dry off, and eat!
We came across an authentic looking Austrian close to our parking garage. We sat ourselves, as everyone does in Papa, and the waitress said something as she passed by us. With empty stares on our faces, she then looked irritated as she asked, “English?” Another waitress, who spoke English, brought us menus. One menu was in German, English and something else (??), the second menu was in German and Spanish! LOL!! We guessed that the waitress took a look at us and couldn’t decide what we were or where we were from! To add to the confusion, the menus seemed to contain different items haha!! We ended up ordering two Austrian potato dishes, served in skillets. They were fantastic! One was made of potato, sausage, ham, onions and egg. The other was potato, pork, mushroom and minced ham. For desert, we forced ourselves to order a traditional Austrian desert…strudel (to be exact, a “Curdled strudel with vanilla crème”)! Since we ordered it we knew we had to FINISH it….lol…it was amazing! We asked for the bill but it never came. We finally went up to the bar to pay. The waitress met us there and should us our total, we attempted to pay with two bills in order to get change for a tip. She had a total attitude and wanted us to pay in the exact change…we did, but this left us with no money for a tip! This may not have mattered, because we believe the tip was included, we just don’t know how to be entirely sure! Once we paid in the exact change, she was happy with a smile on her face, so we guess it worked out! Odd!
We found our way back to the parking garage and to the car. We drove towards the exit and used the same type of automated parking machine as we had in Bratislava. For three hours, it cost 9.60 Euro. That is about $3.50 an hour…pretty steep but what are you going to do?
The drive home was through a thunder and lightning storm, with rain so hard cars were stopped on the highway! We took our time and cruised in the slow lane all through Austria. Once we hit Hungary the storm lightened up. It took us two hours to get home.
The storm is supposed to continue here tomorrow, in Pápa. Saturday is predicted to be 80 degrees and thunder/lightning storms! HUMID!!
We had a great day full of adventure and surprises!!
The drive there was very nice and took about an hour and a half. When we crossed the border into Austria, we pulled off to purchase a vignette and did so without the confusion of last time! The lady behind the counter had the vignette out before I even asked for it! She was straight to business, and we appreciated it!
Once in Vienna, or Wien as it is called in Europe, we took the first exit. Unfortunately this was not the exit we should have taken, but we enjoyed the extra sight-seeing of Vienna’s industrial area lol! We followed the signs leading us to the “Zentrum” or center of town. It took us one hour to get to a parking lot once we were “downtown!” There was a lot of construction, which lead to a lot of stop and go traffic…and we had to use the restroom! We made a lot of jokes and laughed for the entire hour, it helped to pass the time.
The first parking lot we saw, we pulled into! There were no signs indicating price, but our bladders would not allow us to worry…we parked and headed straight to a bathroom (or at least tried to). There were no signs for restrooms anywhere, so we stopped at a restaurant and ordered two cups of coffee so we could use their “toilet”. After our lattes which we enjoyed on the outside patio, we took off to enjoy Vienna.
Just like we had done in Bratislava, we randomly chose which way to go. Along the way we made sure to find our “North Stars”, so we could find our way back. From what we saw of Vienna, it felt much different than Bratislava. Vienna had the feeling of a very large city, unlike Bratislava which felt more like a large old town. But the portion of Bratislava that we traveled through was much of the historic center, other parts of Bratislava may in fact have the same feel as Vienna.
The downtown centrum of Vienna is full of hotels, shops, restaurants, old churches and both old and new architecture. The old architecture that we saw was amazing! St. Stephens Cathedral was breathtaking in its size and design. To add to the magic, as we were admiring it, the sky opened up and did not stop! We stood in Vienna, with no umbrellas or coats, in awe of the beautiful building but getting soaked! We ran through cobble stone streets hiding under one awning and then another, trying to escape the consistent down pour. Our mission now was to begin heading back to the car, but to first find a restaurant so warm up, dry off, and eat!
We came across an authentic looking Austrian close to our parking garage. We sat ourselves, as everyone does in Papa, and the waitress said something as she passed by us. With empty stares on our faces, she then looked irritated as she asked, “English?” Another waitress, who spoke English, brought us menus. One menu was in German, English and something else (??), the second menu was in German and Spanish! LOL!! We guessed that the waitress took a look at us and couldn’t decide what we were or where we were from! To add to the confusion, the menus seemed to contain different items haha!! We ended up ordering two Austrian potato dishes, served in skillets. They were fantastic! One was made of potato, sausage, ham, onions and egg. The other was potato, pork, mushroom and minced ham. For desert, we forced ourselves to order a traditional Austrian desert…strudel (to be exact, a “Curdled strudel with vanilla crème”)! Since we ordered it we knew we had to FINISH it….lol…it was amazing! We asked for the bill but it never came. We finally went up to the bar to pay. The waitress met us there and should us our total, we attempted to pay with two bills in order to get change for a tip. She had a total attitude and wanted us to pay in the exact change…we did, but this left us with no money for a tip! This may not have mattered, because we believe the tip was included, we just don’t know how to be entirely sure! Once we paid in the exact change, she was happy with a smile on her face, so we guess it worked out! Odd!
We found our way back to the parking garage and to the car. We drove towards the exit and used the same type of automated parking machine as we had in Bratislava. For three hours, it cost 9.60 Euro. That is about $3.50 an hour…pretty steep but what are you going to do?
The drive home was through a thunder and lightning storm, with rain so hard cars were stopped on the highway! We took our time and cruised in the slow lane all through Austria. Once we hit Hungary the storm lightened up. It took us two hours to get home.
The storm is supposed to continue here tomorrow, in Pápa. Saturday is predicted to be 80 degrees and thunder/lightning storms! HUMID!!
We had a great day full of adventure and surprises!!
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