First Stop In Vienna

View from the room!

About 1 year ago our friends (Brad and Margaret) informed us they wanted to go to Europe for Brads 40th birthday.  I am pretty sure they invited us to tag along.  Well, you have seen us crash vacations before, so we figured "why not"?  We hope to someday become professional vacation crashers.   So this time, not only did we crash the vacation, we decided to change (I prefer the term tweek) the itinerary a bit.  I am not even sure what the original plan was, but by Jan of 2015 we were all booked to go to Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, and London.  Sounds perfect right?  Great... so we were all set:  Trains, planes, tours, plans, hotels, etc.  NBD

Not so fast....


We had a few hiccups 

UH OH 


Here is everything that went down:

* Brad decided to suddenly get  a new job in North Carolina (how dare he?)  On top of that, he agreed to start the week before our big departure! 
* Margaret suddenly had to attend a weird meeting so she could move to be with her man in NC
*Ryan all the sudden needed to fly to Vienna for a deposition
*Also-  brads brother decided to come to Berlin and Amsterdam but we had no arrangements made for him
 *Not to mention Ryan and I were in the process of closing on house in Florida (which would happen 3 days into the trip- it got delayed cuz the seller lived in Vienna, ironic huh??)

So- we modified a few details and Ryan and I decided to head to Vienna and then meet the others in Berlin.  Brad and Mags decided to skip London and leave from Paris so they could continue life as real adults.  Life goes on and we all decided we will live  #Firstworldprobs 

And now fast forward to september... This is where the trip begins and where I can talk about Vienna!


Prior to visiting Vienna I knew nothing about it except Red Bull was born there.  
Dont judge, I am being honest.


 So I asked a few people for some crib notes about the city.

 You know whats weird?  

Every single person mentioned this thing called a "Sacher-Torte." Nobody really knew how to spell it or say it correctly but they were adamant that I try it.  I still had no clue what it was, so I bought a guidebook.  I read the dumb book and then we went there.  I will get back to the Torte thing in a moment.

If I had to describe Vienna in two words (after being there for 3 days I am certainly an expert) I would say it is "happy Gothic".  Does that make any sense?

Any street in Vienna

One of the main streets

Well it does to me.  The buildings have a Gothic feel but the city is mostly white- Unlike Prague in which everything is dark.   I am just trying to give you a visual.  

The Imperial Palace

Now lets talk about this darn Torte thing.

Okay- again.... EVERYONE  (all 5 people and including my guidebook) made a big deal about this Sacher-Torte thing.  So what the F is it?  Jesus I had to find out.  So we ventured out to the place where it all began.  Apparently there is a cake called Sacher Torte that claims to be the most famous cake in the world since like 1832 or something dumb.  So we tried it at the original Sacher torte place.  Yes there is an actual place.  And.....It tasted like a chocolate cake to me.. whatevs.  I can cross it off my list.  I even took a few pics of it to prove I was actually there.  I would not make a big deal out of it!

The famous Hotel

Ta-Da... The Torte

see how official it is!

Anyhow, other than the torte thing, we spent most of our time in Vienna simply walking around.  It is a small, condensed city that prides itself on its history.  You can see elements of its ties to Beethoven, Mozart, Sigmund Freud, as well as all the political dynasties that once lived there.  

St Stephen's Cathedral, the heart of the city

Just walking the streets you can feel the vibe of the history from all the details in the buildings and the streets.  You can admire its charm and beauty while nibbling some sort of hot dog thing (unofficial name) from an upscale street vendor that serves amazing beer.  I say upscale cuz they give you a cut up wiener thing on a real plate and awesome beer is poured in a real glass.  This is not a typical hot dog stand!!!  I kinda like that.  It makes me feel fancy. You can people-watch, stare at centuries of historic landmarks, while standing up eating hot dogs and drinking cold beer.  My kind of place.  I think I blended in.  

Yum

Just pick a Wiener

Wieners

Moving on- Now here are my generalizations of Vienna:
  -Most of the men wear extra tight suits and the women look somewhat posh
 - Everyone smokes.  I mean everyone really does smoke there!!!
 - They speak predominately German but most people working in the service industry had really good English
 - They had lots of varieties of hot dogs, wieners, frankfurters, etc... 
 - The subway is super easy to use and I especially LOVE the honor system (of course I paid- the fee is 70 Euro if you get caught!)
  -The center of the city is a huge church... the rest of the city is filled with beautiful monuments, buildings, palaces, and statues.  

Schonbrunn Palace

Inside of the church

  You can pretty much see most of the highlights there in about 3 days by walking and subway.  No need to take an expensive tour
If you are a wino like me... this region has wineries but they specialize more in "new" or young white wines.  The beer was dirt cheap and food was extremely affordable and surprisingly tasty!!  

typical snack

So that was it!  We were only there 3 days, and we were complete zombies from the flight for the first day!  

For the record, every bar and restaurant that we asked did indeed serve red bull... In a bottle!!  Just thought I would share that tid bit.

glass bottle red bull

After Vienna we flew to Berlin, in which we met the others at the airport to start the real trip.  stay tuned for those exciting stories!!

Peace out for now... I am sick of typing, still doing laundry, and it feels like 2 am!  

Next story is from Berlin