We are
now in Italy at our second Workaway of this trip. We will talk more about Pian Della Bandina next time but this post is about Vienna.
We went
to Vienna for two reasons, firstly to visit a friend (Uli) Anthony first met in
1996 on a Trek America holiday around the ‘cowboy country’ of the USA. The
other reason was because Jean often reminds Anthony that he has been to Vienna
and has continually failed to take her there.
Obviously, it was time to address this issue.
There is
always a risk with visiting a place you’ve always wanted to go that it doesn’t
live up to expectations. Fortunately, Jean loved her time in Vienna, mainly
because Uli & her husband (Walter) put so much effort into showing us all
the wonders of the city and surrounds.
Uli &
Walter put us up in their flat in an iconic Viennese building called Karl Marx-Hof
on the weekdays and at their main home in the country, on the weekend. Karl Marx-Hof is one of the best examples in the world of affordable
housing and stretches for over 1km with communal areas including a
children’s playground. It has tram stops, a major train station and bus hub on
the doorstep. Feel free to Google it but take it from us, if more affordable housing
was set up like this society in general would be better for it. Much of Vienna
has affordable housing blocks, all of which are apparently run well but Karl
Marx-Hof is by far the largest.
Unfortunately, our photo below doesn’t do it justice.
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| Karl Marx-Hof |
We
managed to do a perfect combination of the main touristy things and getting a
real insight into living in Vienna. Tourist highlights include:
·
Having a
Sacher Torte at the Sacher Hotel
·
Spending
half a day wondering around Schönbrunn (the palace is great and the gardens are
stunning!)
·
Watching
a classical music concert at the State Opera House
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| Sacher Hotel |
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| Schönbrunn Palace |
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| Inside Vienna Opera House |
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| Strauss & Mozart Concert At Vienna Opera House |
Other
highlights included:
·
Having
dinner in the small village of Falkenstein and afterwards walking through the
town’s Kellergasse “cellar lane” on a perfect summer evening
·
Meeting
Uli & Walters delightful daughter Marta. She has a kind & sweet heart,
a melt-your-heart smile and a very determined mind. We got a lot from spending
time with the family and seeing them all care for each other
·
Going to
the free film festival at the townhall (Rathaus) and watching “Mumford &
Sons” doing their Pretoria concert on a lovely starry night
·
The
Liliputbahn (small scale train ride) & giant Ferris wheel at Prater Park.
After all the walking and excitement, we stopped for a Pork Knuckle at Schweizerhaus
Beer Garden. After that we needed a lot more walking to walk off the amazing
crackling!
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| Falkenstein Dinner With Uli, Marta And Walter |
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| Free Film Festival At Rathaus |
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| Pork Knuckle (To Share!) |
We really
enjoyed our time in Vienna and think it’s one of the most liveable cities we’ve
been to. It also showed us that, even though it’s sometimes difficult to keep in
touch with people from years gone by, it’s worth it. You can never know enough
good people and even if it’s over 10 years between catch up’s, when you see
them again and catch up face to face it’s a real gift. Thanks again Uli &
Walter (and Marta of course) for making our time with you in Vienna so
special.
Time for
a homemade limoncino now to help prepare me for the ordeal of pool boy work
tomorrow - this Umbrian lifestyle is exhausting!
A great reminder about keeping in touch with people. Looks like I have to put Vienna on my list!
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