Vienna, Austria...Just the name is enough to bring to mind everything that is stately, refined and culturally rich.
Viennese coffee houses (cafes), a tradition which has resulted into coffee shops all over the world... Vienna remains the absolute heart of Western Classic music (with many music festivals all round the year in celebration of all the famous artists who made Vienna their home.. The likes of Mozart...)
Vienna still retains it's imperial character and prides itself in displaying the its glorious architectural forms.
Horse drawn carriages carry you for visits of the Hofburg palace. The town hill is architecturally rich and so are the parliamentary houses
We had 2 doctors with us who wanted to visit the famous Sigmund Freud museum and they did.
The character of Vienna is very German. We had an Austrian guide who had a very German character, always precise about historical facts and not allowing even a second to get lost anywhere.
Hard for Indians who are not always a disciplined lot. He behaved like our master and we listened to him. In a way I felt that it was too much of discipline because we were tourists and tourists are bound to feel a need to take pictures, gaze at the lovely streets etc.
But his point was well taken. 5 mins extra at one place can start getting accumulated and at the end of the day, we would end up missing many good sights
Personally I like to spend time just walking on the streets instead of ensuring every moument, every cathedral needs to be covered...And so I did. I told the guide that I am around taking pictures of people, streets, trams and he was happy to allow me, provided I was clock precise when rejoining the group (which I am normally)
We stopped at an Indian restaurant for lunch and he even scolded the owners of the restaurant for bringing nans late!
But then he sat down to enjoy the Indian meal and described how much he loves India and how many times he has been too India...and all of us were stunned. He loved especially the Southern part of India.
Walking on the streets of Vienna was a lovely experience. Beautiful red and off white trams passed through the streets. The frequency of trams was high and talked a lot of about a very high quality public transportation system in Vienna.
We visited the Hofburg palace in the afternoon which is very massive. I ofcourse did souvenier shopping.
Vienna is famous for it's very very heavy and creamy desserts served with Veinnesse coffee. For viennese schnitzer (Wiener Schnitzel)
The trip from Hungary to Austria was filled with stunningly beautiful countryside
Vienna was beautiful even on a rainy day...
We had stayed overnight at the city of 'Linz'. Linz is a beautiful town.
Next day after doing the day tour of Vienna we had returned back to Linz
In the evening, we sat at a table in the middle of the street drinking beer and observing the snow capped mountains, the young and trendy people of Linz enjoying themselves the summer time in Europe. The waterfront was so pretty. Bright flowers kept at every corner, the snow capped mountains, the sun doing down amongst this beautiful evening weather... As evening faded into night, the lights came up and everything looked magical.
Next day we bid goodbye to Austria to go to Czech Republic. We were about to witness Europe's medieval treasure...The fairy tale city of Prague.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment