Vienna... So Much Sexier Than North America

After our adventures through the Czech Republic, we were given a ride to Vienna from Jakob, a recent Civil Engineering grad working for a hostel.  By paying a sizable amount we were given the scenic tour of Czech Republic heading to Vienna, full of small villages, back roads and a guide/engineer to answer our various questions.  Passing from one country to the other was unnoticeable as there was simply a stand and a sign on the side of the road; no guards, inspection or any other hassles.

When we arrived in Vienna, there were a few striking details.  1) Vienna is beautiful.  2) Vienna is expensive.  It didn't take us much longer to realize that 3) Vienna's layout is bloody confusing.  Even for us seasoned travelers, we got completely lost the first night, walked in circles until we approached a well-dressed couple walking out of a Doctor's office, when asked if they could help they responded 'Sorry, we don't speak any German, do you speak English?'  Shortly afterward we were on our way to the hostel, finally heading in the correct direction.

While we had had great success finding activities that were free or close to it in other locations, Vienna was quite the opposite.  No museums had free admission, and all prices were steep for us (10+ Euros).  After assessing our options, we did splurge and bought tickets to the Vienna Symphony.  The following night we went to the Vienna Konzert Haus and attended the best musical performance either of us have heard, simply put the musicians were perfect.

With our uncanny eye for  a deal, we sniffed out the fact that we could wander the grounds of the Schoburnn Schloss for free... and there was a hedge maze!  This was the summer cottage  for the Hapsburg's (ruling family until early 1900's)  a nice little summer home.  The palace was enormous, gardens were spectacular, and in the backyard beyond the fountain was a little breakfast nook.  But more importantly there was hedge maze, one tall enough even for Will.  Being the children that we are we decided this was worthy of our 6 Euro investment.  After Will victoriously beat Katy through the maze, we both made it out alive.

Breakfast Nook

Hedge Maze

We try to partake in the local gastronomic staples wherever we travel and as a result we were forced to look for the ever present Wiener schnitzel.  We had obtained a map/info guide from the hostel we were staying in, the map wasn't worth the paper it was printed on but the food section put together by the hostel staff was slightly more helpful.  After wandering outside of the tourist district we found ourselves at "Schnitzel World" or something to that effect. From the outside it didn't look open, but when we opened the door the place was filled to the brim with locals waiting for tables.  Now this is our kind of place!  In Europe if there are large tables with some seats available you will be sat there and served independently of the other group. Keeping in this tradition we were sat at the table with the family of three who were finishing up their lunch.  Will was able to roughly translate the menu-there was certainly no English menus here like in the tourist area. We ordered and then waited.  As we waited we did some people watching, lots of people in and out, lots of large plates of tasty looking things going by, the local cops in to pick up their lunch.  Our plates finally came and our plates included the following: a piece of pork schnitzel that when unfolded was larger than a dinner plate, fried potatoes, potato salad, red cabbage, cucumber salad, lettuce salad, and 1/2 of a canned peach.  We are probably missing something that was on our plate due to the schnitzel coma that was induced after eating.  (The locals were impressed that we cleared our plates.)  Seeing that we had accomplished what we wanted to do in Vienna- eat some schnitzel, go to the Konzert Haus we got on a bus to Budapest.

P.S. We might be leaving out a few details regarding another stellar set of roommates in the hostel which involved snoring, vomiting and loose women in an 8 bed dorm room but we will spare you the details.