Sunday 8th August

 



08/08/04 - Day 36


Day 2 of Vienna started with a (pointless) trip to the information space, to (not) book our ferry, then we opted for the spontaneous method of wandering the streets and admiring the buildings as we pleased. In the course of the day I spot a small fortune on 3 postcards we failed to find the chocolate shop, got pestered by multiple Mozarts and had the nicest ice cream ever from a huge and packed "Eis salon" near the centre. Now even I thought that 1 icecream shared was quite enough, but there were people there eating even bigger ones!


The day was broken up by some hard core spe tea training in the flashy outer-city trams across the mighty Danube to a huge, long, thin island full of skate parks, volley ball courts, football pitches, cyclists,roller-bladers and naked Austrians. This was a defining moment in my realisation of Vienna's perfect city status - all the people were sunbathing, roller blading etc in a very relaxed and classy way. Relaxed and classy.


So we sunbathed for a bit, ate (of course), slept, read and juggled, before heading back to the city to complete our number 1 tram circuit and grill the already described ice cream.


I was loathed to leave the centre, seeing that I was only just beginning to settle in to the Viennese spirit - and it is the first capital which I've left feeling more relaxed than I did on arrival (which is saying something after Cesky!).


We packed a good day to do the wander mind-sunday - and it was even quieter but still with that vibrant buzz. We had a snack infront of my favourite fountain. Saw the statues of Strauss (all in gold) and Mozart. I think we took advantage of Vienna's tram and metro system a little too much. The island Park is such a good idea and fm and they left it as a kind of retreat for the city workers. It also confirmed my ultimate 'Anneals Germans (Austrians, in that they like being healthy, riding a bike and they need their bit of green to keep them sane. I'd like to reiterate the amazing vanilla, lemon, raspberry ice cream with raspberry sauce, cream and raspberries. The best I've ever tasted.


I've enjoyed Vienna so much - the grand buildings, city parks, squares, fountains, host, cafes, lack of tourists... The only complaint is the price of everything. Had we been staying longer I would have gone into the parliament, to Schloss Schonbrunn, to the Haus der Musik, to an Art Nouveau gallery and then a museum another art gallery, another palace. There's definitely enough to do - the cost just needs to be spread over a longer time. A city to live in... A city to shop inand definitely a city to revisit. And to 'just unwind Budapest off the top spot, I think.

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