Spirit and Adventure: Vienna

Monday, 14 November 2016

Vienna

Beautiful fall colours in Vienna.

Vienna was our "basecamp" for this trip. With direct flights to and from Toronto, it was a great place to leave luggage and change over gear requirements from visiting my cousin in Prague; meeting up with our paragliding group in Salzburg; and then meeting up with Andrew's sisters and also doing a backpacking trip in Corsica. We stayed near the main train station which was very convenient for getting around Vienna, taking the train to other cities or to the airport.

During one of our first one-day layovers, we had time to head to central Vienna and wander around the Stephansplatz square and see the Stephansdom Cathedral, one of the tallest churches in the world. It really is overwhelming to look up at it from the street level. It can be clearly seen from various points around the city.

The very tall Stephansdom Cathedral

One of the unique things we've noticed about Vienna is that there are small grocery stores everywhere, including almost every mall-type building. Not surprising, I guess, since the transit system is amazing (maximum 5 minutes between subway trains) and it seems like almost everyone uses it.

We had three days at the end of the trip to see some of the sites of Vienna. The first day was quite cold with mixed rain and snow so we chose an indoor venture, the Natural History Museum. While it did have some good exhibits (extensive exhibits!) I was more enthralled with the architecture of the building. Simply stunning.

Outside the Natural History Museum

The paintings, facades and ceilings interested me more than the natural history exhibits.

Ceiling dome

Atrium area between the 2nd and 3rd floors.

The next day we went to the Aqua-Terra Zoo. It was very busy due to it being the weekend and a cool day with everyone seeking an inside activity. The zoo/aquarium part of it was very good. The building is small in circumference and several stories high and, again, the history behind the building caught my attention. It was originally the Esterhazypark Flak tower or control tower.

"Between 1940 and 1945, 16 Flak towers were built in Hamburg, Berlin and Vienna by forced labour and prisoners of war. The Viennese Flak towers are positioned in a triangle around the city centre. They were used for defence against Allied air raids . . . If an attack occurred, up to 40,000 people could find shelter in the towers. . . The 1st-3rd floors were used for air raid shelters. A maximum of 3,000 civilians could fit in them . . . The main staircase and lift lead to the 9th floor and outer terrace. . . After the war there were a lot of plans for the Flak tower. A blasting could not be done without damaging the nearly buildings. Some plans included turning the tower into flats, a student home, at hotel or offices. But in 1957 the "Haus des Meeres" moved in a nd thru the towner into an aquarium . . . welcomes over half a million visitors a year and needs to subsidies. At least one of the towers has a meaningful and peaceful use today." (Summarized from an information board in the building.)

A turtle peeking its head out of the water.

The city views from the rooftop cafeteria and viewing platform were fantastic.

Vienna is famous for its Christmas Markets and I was happy that at least one of them was starting just as we arrived back in the city and before we had to head home. The one in front of City Hall is supposed to be one of the best and had 100+ booths. Unfortunately, I was sadly disappointed in it. There was a lot of food and booths selling hot punch (expected) but the rest was basically junk. I was expecting more locally made and unique items but it was your typical mass produced, made-in-China (or glass jewelry made in Italy) "stuff." On the positive side, the winterberry punch was very good and warmed us up and we kept the Santa boot mugs it came in.

Hot winterberry punch - yummy!

Large present at the Christmas Market in front of City Hall.

It was slightly warmer on our final day so we headed to the Schonbrunn Zoo which was very good. Luckily there were quite a few indoor exhibits so we weren't outside the entire day. It would be great to see in the spring/summer time with the animals outdoors and the grounds in bloom. It would definitely be worth a repeat visit.