Where were we (several weeks ago, you know, the last time I actually posted something)?

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah! Vienna!

So, the morning of October 31^st we hopped on our train from Bratislava bound for Vienna. It was hard to leave our friends Saskia and Matje, as they had been such wonderful hosts and we’d had such a great time, but other cities called. After a short trip across the border (I think it was only about an hour to an hour-and-a-half), we arrived in Vienna’s “Train Station South,” or “Hauptbahnhof Süd.” I must say, however, that it was a bit of a let-down. When one walks through the doors of the train station, that particular part of Vienna is rather dingy and dirty. It was not at all like the Old World European Capital City that I was expecting. Then again, considering that it is a modern European capital with a lot of tourists, residents, etc., it really should be no surprise that the area near the train station was chock-full o’ cars and the resulting smog.

Just in case anyone was confused about where we were, they do make t-shirts to help clarify.

In any case, we quickly made our way to our hotel, Hotel Kolbeck, and checked in. Like the first impression of Vienna, the hotel was not really anything to write home about, but since that defeats the purpose of the blog, here goes. The reception area of Hotel Kolbeck was nice, with a quaint exhibition that showed what the menu at the turn of the century looked like, fashions of days past at Hotel Kolbeck, etc. The stairs up to our room were a bit steep, but finely tiled and everything seemed nice and well appointed. Then we got into our room. That was a definite minus point.

Now, I’m not terribly picky about my hotel rooms, despite having worked in hotels for a number of years. Even though, I do know what things can be easily cleaned up/taken care of, and that means that having big streaks of something on the walls of our cupboard size hotel room was less than impressive. However, we got a single room that was relatively inexpensive and, given the brief nature of our stay in Vienna, we didn’t really intend on spending that much time there. Which worked out, as luck would have it!

Not long after we checked in, we headed off into the old part of town to find one of my former professors. I really liked old Vienna, since the streets were narrow and cobble-stoned but there were a lot of high-end shops. I am not really into shopping (gasp! Surprise!), but the atmosphere there was really what I think of when I consider Old World cities. We got to see the Church where the Hapsburgs were crowned from the 1830s onwards, one of Mozart’s houses, a sculpture that thanks the Lord for not killing the entire population back during a Black Plague outbreak in the 17th century, and a few other historically significant places as we were trying to find the café where we were to meet Dr. Jordan. Eventually, we rounded a corner and I saw my professor walking towards us. Even though we had never met (she had been on my master’s thesis committee and wrote a very important book that I used in my thesis, but she’d been in Austria the entire time), we somehow recognized each other and headed in.

A model of the Stephansdom, the church where the Hapsburgs were crowned.

The Stephansdom's front.

The beautifully tiled roof of the Stephansdom.

Detail of the Stephansdom. Note the Austrian eagle atop the tower!

A plaque adorning Mozart's house.

Mozart playing host.

Ruins that were recently unearthed in Vienna with the darker stones dating all the way back to the Romans.

We spent several hours in a small but crowded coffee house (where I had the best bread pudding I have had in my entire life… Mmmm…), discussing individual histories, academic goals, and really just getting to know one another. After that, we walked Dr. Jordan through much of the city as she headed home, then Nadine and I wandered about looking for a place to have dinner. Unlike most places here in Germany and also in the States, Austria does not have a smoking ban in restaurants, so most of them were simply too smoky for us to eat at. As luck would have it, though, that meant that we got to save a few Euros and pick up something extra special from an Imbiss: Horse-liver on a bun! Yummy! Now, I will admit that I was a little skeptical at first and that Nadine would have absolutely none of it, but it was really good! The horse liver was processed into a loaf, sliced into a thick slab, and put on a bun with some mustard. I know that it doesn’t sound that appetizing, but it was really not bad at all. The meat was moist, the spicy mustard complimented it really well, and the bun was warm and soft. Arguably one of the best things I ate the entire trip. At least, I remember it that way…

Downtown Vienna.

The (blurry) Lipizzaner Horses.

After finding a bit of dinner, we headed to a gelato place that the entire city was abuzz about. Let me say that it lived up to its hype! I know that I have mentioned gelato in previous posts, but this was easily the best frozen dessert that I have ever had! Finally we headed back to the hotel. It was still a bit early, and the town was getting a little bit loud because it was Halloween. Not that Europeans really celebrate Halloween, but it is getting more popular (thanks, globalization!) and we saw a bunch of people wandering around in costumes. So, we headed around the corner from our hotel and had a few beers and onion rings at a local pub before returning for the night. It turned out to be a really enjoyable date and was the best part of the day.

Vienna at Sunset.

We had a bit of breakfast the next morning, courtesy of Hotel Kolbeck, and then it was off to the train for our trip home. The train trip was essentially us sitting in a sardine can, and the guy across from me accidentally spilled a beer on me (he had set it on the tray belonging to a Mongolian woman sitting next to him, and when the train took a corner a little bit too fast, the can went flying), but other than that it was uneventful.

So, we’ve got one more trip to describe (Bruges, Belgium) and then we’re all caught up! Yay!