We got in around 10:45 P.M. and had to take two different subways to get to our hostel which was only 10 minutes away from the train station. We learned quickly how easy and efficient the subway system in Vienna was and we utilized that on Saturday by buying a 24 hour pass. We learned quickly that we probably didn't have to pay for it though because the city just assumes and trusts that everyone will buy one.
We stayed in another Wombats Hostel like the previous weekend and once again it was really nice. It was centrally located as well. We had two roommates who were German and were actually from Augsburg Germany which is where our hostel for Oktoberfest is next week. They were great kids. It always makes me feel dumb traveling to Germany or German speaking areas though because they can all speak English and fairly well, and I can't speak any German.
We didn't have much time that night to do anything but we got up very early Saturday to see the city. Walking out of hostel was a fairly big market place that sold things from local produce and meet to pretty much a yard sale. It was the most disgusting markets I have seen yet and I wouldn't have bought anything from there, but it was still interesting to see.
We took a subway to see our first sight, which was slightly outside of the city. It was the Schonbrunn Palace. It was one of the most beautiful facilities I have ever seen. The palace itself was amazing but then there were so many other great things like fountains, gardens, statues, roman ruins, greenhouses, and the oldest zoo in the world they proclaim, but we didn't see. There was so many acres of land and it took us 3 hours to walk around the whole facility and I still don't think we saw everything. That is just the outside too, we didn't take a tour of the inside.
These two photos are of the Privy Garden. We actually to pay 2.50 Euros to get in here and see this.
This was my favorite site in Vienna, but there was so much else to see the rest of the day. We got on a subway again and headed straight into the main city. As soon as we got off the subway there was a church standing directly above us. This was Charles's Church.
The architecture on all of the buildings in Vienna was incredible. Even the normal everyday buildings that had no historical significance were very pretty. From this church we walked up one of the main streets directly in the center city leading to the Main Square.
When we entered the main square, one of the first things we saw other than the hundreds of high end stores was a magic act in the middle of the square. The guy drew in a large crowd. It appeared he was just floating in mid air. I had no idea how he was doing it but it looked sweet.
This took place next to the second church we saw that day, Stephen's Cathedral. This was a really neat structure, and I liked the colored tiles on the roof of the church. It was a shame though because they were doing so many renovations on the church. The inside was nice as well.
At this point we were just walking around because we knew we would eventually run into other cool things. We ran into some more statues and a couple of museums that we didn't go into, but the outsides were beautiful.
Riding around in horse and buggy was very popular for tourists. They were everywhere. It was really cool to see.
After these buildings John and I ran into a huge sports festival in one of the squares. It had everything. Floor hockey, pool tables, football, soccer, volleyball, dancing, karate, and lots more. It was a company putting it on and anyone could participate in some of the games. The Austrians thought john and I were great athletes.
Once we spent some good time there we continued on our site seeing tour. We ran into some more museums and statues on the way. Then we found the Parliament building which was beautiful and had the cancer awareness symbol on the front of the building.
The church in the middle was the next thing to see.
This particular church was my favorite so far out of any of the churches I have seen so far, on the exterior anyway. It was a beautiful church and had some great color. What I probably liked most about it didn't have anything to do with the church but the flowers on every window which just added so much.
We still wern't done with churches yet. We had one more to see yet and it was another very nice church. It had the colorful tile on the roof again and it had the most colorful stain glass windows I have seen yet. The light must have been hitting it perfectly but it was so bright.
This was our last tourist site to see for the day. On our way back to the city square though we ran into a sturm festival. Strum is fermented grape juice harvested from the first pickings of the season and meant to symbolize the start of Autumn. There isn't a high alcohol content in sturm, but the taste is amazing. It almost had a carbonated taste to it, with a mix of grape juice and wine.
We went back to the hostel and rested our legs from walking many miles that day before dinner. We looked up places to eat and we found a good restaurant that had their own microbrewery. It was on of the top rated restaurants in Vienna and we were not disappointed. They were known for their meat, especially their spare ribs. We split 3 racks of ribs between us that came with 3 different kinds of sauces and potato wedges plus their house beer brewed right there. I highly recommend that place. They were the best ribs I have ever had, and even though I have had some great meals since I have been here, That was probably my favorite meal so far. It was fantastic.
After dinner I wanted to check out this Ferris Wheel called the Prater, just to see what it was. It was basically a gondola on a ferris wheel over looking the city. What I didn't know was that the Prater was actually in an amusement park. We occupied ourselves there for awhile and even rode the go karts, which I haven't done in years. We had a blast.
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