Vienna

Posted by John on June 15, 2019

Tuesday 4th June. We were picked up on time by a shuttle bus for the 21/2 hour drive to Vienna arriving around midday. The trip took us through beautiful country side and pastures.  Paul dropped us at the Apartment at 1,30pm however there was no-one there! The building had secure locking. No answer from the ‘phone number on our booking sheet. After some time john stayed in the street with our bags while  I went up to the visitor centre, which was nearby, and asked them to phone –  again no answer. The Visitors Centre managed to get in contact at about 2.30pm. The man basically said there was no booking, but I insisted there was and gave him ref numbers. He said someone would contact me by email. At 6.45pm and after numerous phone calls with him still saying someone will email we decided to ask the VC to find us accommodation for the night. They were closing at 7pm. They found Pension Suzanne which was in the same street. We settled in, small room but very comfortable. The owner was very polite and friendly. We had dinner at a small Italian Rest -Angelos a family rest, which was very good. Being the middle of the night in Canberra we emailed Trish, our travel agent in Canberra explaining the situation.


Wednesday 5th June. My birthday. Breakfast was a treat – white table cloths, buffet, the owner walking around greeting you. He told us we could leave our bags for the day to continue site seeing and until our accommodation was confirmed. Trish got back to us quite concerned and said her supplier was trying to find us something else. We left Suzanne’s about 10 for a walk to St Stephen’s Cathedral, then to the Spanish Riding school to find out where to go for the practice session tomorrow. We continued walking around the Museum Quarter and the city area.  The horses were going to be today but we decided to leave it so we could keep checking emails from Trish – nothing from the original accommodation! We had a message to say that Hotel Adagio was booked about 25mi walk from where we wanted to be but it turned out to be very modern, comfortable and close to train station. When the staff found out it was my birthday they gave me chocolates and champagne, which was very thoughtful. Dinner was at a typical Austrian pub recommended by a staff member. It was outdoors, lots of people coming and going.

Thursday 6th June. This morning we set off to see the Lippizan horses at the Riding school at their practice/exercise session. Unfortunately the performance was the day we were leaving. We spent 2 hours watching them go through their individual routines. Each horse has one routine that only it masters. Lunch at nearby Starbucks!!  At least they sold sandwiches. A walk back to the Museum Quarter to the Modern Art Gallery for an exhibition entitled ‘Vertigo’ which included paintings and light displays.

Friday 7th June. We had a late start taking the train to Schromburg Castle. We walked the gardens until our tour started at 3pm. We had an excellent one hour tour with a very good guide who explained the history of Austria and the region which is intertwined with Czech Rep and Hungary. Dinner was back at Angelo’s.

The Schromberg  Palace original home of the Hapsburgs

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