Part 2 of our trip to Vienna
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| Public park |
After our Fiaker ride early Saturday afternoon it was still sunny so we took this opportunity of the break in grey weather for a long stroll through the public park and to take some pictures of the local inhabitants.
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| male duck |
And then late in the afternoon it was time for a super special date:
my very first face to face encounter with a blogger and a friend, Paula
from
Paula's Diary! I've
been in contact with Paula about a month before our trip and she was most
gracious and offered to meet up and take us around Vienna. Saturday
afternoon we met for mulled wine in an old Viennese tavern. It's more
than 400 years old and part of an older region of Vienna. The tavern is
actually underground and has some incredibly steep staircase which is
only logical but also a bit adventurous. Well the place was very rustic
and charming and with such an inviting atmosphere more than made up for
the steep stairs.
Sunday was devoted entirely to
Schönbrunn Palace. We had cake in Dommayer Cafe in the vicinity of the
Palace as recommended by Paula. We were smitten immediately! Unlike the
more obvious place our tour guides recommended this is a place that's
not packed with tourists and retains its original Viennese charm and
atmosphere. Still the waiters wore tuxedos.
We entered the Palace through the side gate and took a loooong stroll
through the garden. The place was full of tourists as well as local
inhabitants: cute little critters. We decided to skip the Schönbrunn ZOO
and opted to visit it on our next trip to Vienna preferably in warmer
months.
When we reached the Palace we had the pleasure of seeing a traditional Viennese New Year's market. Unlike in Slovenia it is customary in Austria to close Christmas markets immediately after Christmas, with the Schönbrunn market being a rare exception.
It was lovely to see that all the vendors sold only handmade items made
by Austrian artisans such as gorgeous hand blown glass ornaments, wooden
toys, ceramic ornaments and household items. The food stands weren't
lagging behind either, they served sausages, baked potatoes with
rosemary, pancakes and other Austrian specialities as the sign on the board below says
wild boar and Mozart dumplings. We both had a light snack and were
pleasantly surprised by the quality of the so called fast food.
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| The "fast food" stand |
After the quick snack it was time for an invigorating walk up to the
Gloriette and down the other side. The place was packed with tourists
and Mr. C and I both felt oh so very smug for having had our cake in the
Cafe Dommayer beforehand.
Making the most out of our journey to Schönbrunn we reserved the
tickets to see the inside of the Palace till last after the sun went
down thus having cleverly used up our time. The interior of the castle
was most informative, I particularly enjoyed to see all of the
interesting contraptions and utensils the Habsburgs used in their daily
lives but quite frankly the park was much more interesting.
And
then it was time for another treat. The lovely Paula and her partner Mr.
Paula have invited us to their home for dinner. Mr. C and I felt so
incredibly privileged and honored by this. They went to great length
to prepare a lavish vegetarian dinner for us, that was based on Indian
cuisine. Since Mr. C and I don't get to travel that much, I was so happy
at the chance to meet both Paula and her beau to get a "feel" at how
real Viennese live and how they interact. They were both also so kind at
providing us with abundance of information about what to see and where
to go that our stay in Vienna was so enriched by it I can't even begin
to describe.
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| Giant Amethyst |
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Our last day in Vienna was a bit on the lazy side. We slept in and
decided to go into town for some last minute sightseeing before
everything closes down in preparation for New Year's Eve. As we were
standing in front of the
Museum of Natural History and its twin the
Art Museum
we realized in horror we only had the time and energy for one. So we
visited the Museum of Natural history and it was spectacular. Room after
room filled with extraordinary incredibly rare and superbly preserved
specimens of minerals, semi-precious and precious stones as well as
animal skeletons, fossils....
I was overjoyed to be able to visit
their meteorite collection which is one of the most comprehensive
collection in the world. We even found the Gibeon meteorite, the same
meteorite that's been inlaid into our wedding bands.
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| A beautiful topaz specimen |
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| the Gibeon meteorite |
Our New Year's Eve plans were very last minute, we got wait listed at the
Palmenhaus cafe
and our reservation came through at the last moment. We enjoyed a
lavish and decadent 8 course meal and toasted to New Year 2013 in a
leisurely manner while the sky above was illuminated by fireworks and
the stereo played the Blue Danube. This is Vienna after all!
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| basil sorbetto gin&tonic |
The next day the sky was grey again and Vienna was covered in thick
and damp fog. As much as we had hoped for a quick visit to the Prater we
were both unanimous to pack it up and go home because the weather
simply wasn't cooperating. Prate will have to wait.
All
in all it was a wonderful trip and we managed to see and experience so
much. Though we kept the focus on sightseeing we also had plenty of
downtime as well as a bit of shopping. As I've said in my previous post,
Vienna is very expensive and the focus of our trip wasn't on shopping
so we didn't really spend any time in the shops or the dreaded malls. I
got another bottle of my favourite and faithful scent, Black orchid by
Tom Ford. And we also stopped in an old traditional fabric store that
has the finest wools as well as men's accessories. They kindly allowed
us to snoop around and take photos but since the price of fabric was
upwards of 120 € and all the way to a cool 600 € for a meter of fabric
the only thing I could afford were a pair of cheerful striped stockings
made in Scotland.
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| heavenly display |
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| awesome umbrellas |
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| lovely woven cashmere |
