Schnitzel Me!

We are officially half way through our trip and the last couple months is now a blur to me! It was a good thing I kept this blog going to remind me of the places and things that we did along the way. I am however a bit disappointed with myself for not being quick with my posts. We have one laptop between us, and because its Matt's laptop, I have to wait my turn. At first it was a couple days behind, but that quickly became a couple of cities behind!

Anywho, our half way point city is Vienna! I have always loved the movie The Sound of Music (of course.. ) and have always wanted to visit this country! I was however, a bit disappointed that we will not be stopping in Salzburg, well at least not yet, because I really wanted to do the tour they have of the places that movie was filmed! Can you imagine, me, dancing on the mountain top like Maria did?! THE HILLS ARE ALIVE...... ahem.

We have officially used up our Eurail Pass with this leg of the trip from Budapest to Vienna, and what a train to end it on. It was modern, and clean. The only downside was the crying toddler but thank god for the amazing headphones I had. You could see the people on the train were not impressed by the mother's ability to control this kid. I don't think I have ever done that in public as a kid, but mostly because my mom probably would have smacked me before I could even reach half the volume this child did.

Our hotel sat just outside the city centre of Vienna, a close 15 minute walk to the main square of Stephensplatz. I was impressed by the deal we were able to find for a hotel since we were under the impression that Vienna was going to be somewhat like Zurich, super expensive. I think our room cost us only $90 CAD which was great!

On our first night, we went walking around the Vienna City Hall, which was nicely lit at night. It was incredible to see the size of the city hall, it sort of reminded me of our Parliament building in Ottawa! The city was quiet, strangely quiet especially given that we were there on a weekend. We walked around the streets near city hall and eventually got to Stephensplatz and found where everyone was. This square was packed with locals and tourists, everyone sitting around in the shadow of the grand St. Stephens Church. At night, it looked like this was the place evil lived, the dark exterior sandstone walls and the gothic architecture can be quite the eerie combination.

City Hall of Vienna

St. Stephens Church at night

As usual I was busy taking pictures of everything and anything in sight when a young girl approached me. This was how the conversation went.

Girl "Hi" 

Me "Hi"

"Are you a tourist?"

"Yes I'm visiting" (my guards were up, having heard stories about elaborate scams that people run here to steal your wallet and con you)

"Where are you from?"

"Canada"

"Oh I love Canada, I have been there twice"

"Oh cool" (awkward pause, she stares at me, which I continue to pretend to be taking pictures of the same statue....)

"Are you from Toronto?"

"No my partner and I are visiting from Vancouver"

"Oh, Canada is nice"

"Yes it is, but we are enjoying what we have seen so far in Vienna too"

"Yah my friends and I are here"

"Umm ok..." Matt comes by and asks what's going on...

"ok bye" the girl goes away and back to her group of friends.

The strangest conversation and most awkward. I wanted to turn to her when she was just standing there  starring at me and ask, "what do you want?!" But that would have been rude... Don't think she realized she was talking to a homo since I'm so butch and all. LOL

Another thing I was very excited about before coming on this trip was having the opportunity to try the Austrian Schnitzel! Oh boy, was it ever delicious!

For lunch the next day in the city square, I was craving, oddly, a club sandwich. However, along with the sandwich that I ordered, I added a side chicken schnitzel. The server was a bit confused and surprised at the order but put it through anyway. I can tell you, it was lightly breaded, juicy, and heavenly. I don't think you can go wrong with a piece of boneless breaded chicken. This totally reminded me of the episode of The Amazing Race where they were in Austria somewhere and were on a ferris wheel and had to finish eating a large schnitzel before the ferris wheel went around once. No one could do it on the show, I bet you I could have eaten for two!

We then traveled across town to visit the Hapsburg Winter Palace.

Today, it was converted to a couple of museums, a national library, and gardens transformed into public squares and parks. We visited the museum where they had all the silverware, glasses, table settings, and centre pieces of the Habsburg palace. Matt was NOT at all interested, whereas I was fascinated by it all.

What we both did find interesting was the museum in the palace that is now dedicated to the Empress Elizabeth, or Sisi as  she's nicknamed.

Her story is very sad. Born to a nobility couple, a girl who had freedom and riches was married to the Emperor of the Austrian Empire. A young woman, jailed up behind palace doors and restricted by royalty responsibilities and duties. Her life was filled with misfortune and eventually was murdered. She was deemed the most beautiful woman in the world during her time. The story reminded me very much of that of Diana, Princess of Wales. This reminded me that being a regular Joe is not too shabby, sure I have to work for money but I have the freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want.

Interesting fact, a lot of world famous composers lived in Vienna during their time. The likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Brahms and Schonberg all lived and wrote their music in Vienna. This city is the capital of Classical Music but we did not get the chance to go to a concert of any sort here, given that we did not bring any proper attire to attend a classical music concert.

One of the sights in Vienna that is a must see is the Summer Palace Schonbrunn, and I was very excited about this trip, but after the Winter Palace of the Habsburg, Matt was done with seeing palaces.