12-Hour Tourist

I walked in exactly 12 hours after I left home this morning – a few hours after I shoulda woulda coulda… It was a terrific day, and we’ll see if I can wake up early tomorrow to take advantage of my last half day on the Hop On Hop Off bus. What did I do? Let me tell ya…

9am – left home and was thrilled to find a dollar store on that big shopping street (actually, a Euro store, so that’s a $1.44 store Cdn) to buy batteries for my camera flash. Got confused about whether I wanted alkaline or non alkaline and so I ended up buying AAAs instead of AAs
arrived at the Opera House at 9:45 and got on the first Yellow Line bus to Shonbrunn Palace – arrived at 10:15. I was wearing my Kaliyana anti-suit and so I decided to make today a fashion-shoot-play-day project to submit shots for the designer’s weekly Travelogue. Thank goodness I bought a remote for my camera instead of a cable shutter release. I could dance and pose to my heart’s content and keep on shooting – other tourists smiled, but they’re used to camera shenanigans … just not solo. Again, this is the back of the house – they have really nice backyards around here 🙂
took the 11:30 am bus to the Belvedere, where I’m hoping our class will go see Klimt’s work, including The Kiss (I’m a hopeless romantic). Today, however, I just went around the garden pool and took some pictures. I’ve never been much of a museum person – I’ll save a lot of time and money in Vienna. 🙂 I like the gardens and park lands.
took the 12:30 bus back to the Opera House and switched to the Red Line. I got off at the University stop to go to the Bank Austria branch I was told would accept cash to put on my QuickCard that I’ll be using for laundry – all other banks use the ATM and that wasn’t practical with my bank in Canada. To my horror, it didn’t open on Friday afternoons. To my delight, the central office across the street was open and it’s actually where I was supposed to go (not sure why there are 2 Bank of Austria across the street from each other, but I won’t complain). On my way back to the bus, I was intrigued by a restaurant called Yamm. Wow! It’s the same style as my favourite vegetarian restaurant in Ottawa, The Green Door (but much fancier) – buffet style, but pay by weight. Dangerous! My lunch was $26, but oh how healthy and I must have tasted small spoonfuls of about 15 different dishes and salads – many were similar to what many international vegetarian restaurants in Canada might offer, but there was also a stuffed dumpling with sauerkraut that was truly European. What a treat! I’m glad it’s not in my neighbourhood though – not at that price (or with my healthy appetite) … and I didn’t even have a drink or desert.
Got on the 2pm bus to continue the loop. I tried listening to the German, but only understood a few words and so I thought I’d learn more (especially about Vienna) if I stuck to English. Lots to see out the windows – today I sat on the left side for a different perspective. Did you know that traffic lights flash green before going to yellow and red here? As a pedestrian, our little guy flashes green to before going red too, but only for 1 second, so really, run!!!!
Back at the Opera House, I got on the 2:30pm Blue Line to go to Kunst Haus (where I had another photo shoot) and Hundertwasserhaus. The latter has been my favourite building in the world since I first went there in 1992. I even made a 3D maquette of it in art history class when I did my Certificate of Art & Design at the University of Saskatchewan. I’ve seen a lot of buildings all around the world – there’s just something about this one that draws me – and today’s visit confirms it – it’s the energy there. I just found out that the artist who created it said “This house is my soul”. Maybe I’m connecting to that. It’s actually a public housing complex, full of greenery, curves and undulating floors, colours, and yes, tourists. I sat on one of the cobble stone bumps in the sidewalk and just felt happy.
A few streets back, there was a store with long silk scarves that caught my eye – Huntertwasser and Klimt designs. At 29.99 Euros ($43), I thought I might do better for my chosen Vienna souvenir, but the stores across from the house had the same ones for 59 Euros and downtown they were 69 ($99). I’ll see if I still want one in a month or so.
I got on the 5pm bus and hopped off at the Prater Fairgrounds to see the Giant Ferris Wheel, one of Vienna’s landmarks. I imagined some fun anti-suit photo shoot there, but alas, I couldn’t make them happen on my own, not even with my trusted tripod (it’s people walking away with my gear while I use the remote from the swings that just didn’t make sense). The original that burnt down dated back to 1897 (it was originally meant to be there only for a few months, but was too expensive to dismantle). It was rebuilt in 1945. You may have seen it in the world’s best English movie in a hundred years (voted in 1999), The Third Man with Orson Welles. I’ll have to see it while I’m here.
Got on the 6:30pm bus to head back to the Opera House.
Got there at 7pm and the setting sun on St. Stephan’s Cathedral down the busiest pedestrian mall in Vienna called me. It looked like it was just a block away, but it wasn’t… still it was a great walk with lots to see.
Once there, I decided to trust my usually great sense of direction to head home through the tiny cobble stone alleys with palaces and shops. I had considered not paying into a cell phone plan while I was here since I’ve got Internet and a passive phone (I can receive calls, but will need to buy a phone card to call out) at home and those who are most likely to call me will be in class with me all day. But I may just get one to access Google Maps. My sense of direction doesn’t work in all the twists and turns here. Once again, I ended up way off track… by miles! I was back at the University, close to the Rathaus (city hall). I knew where to go from here, but it would be another hour’s walk at least, especially since there were more pictures along the way.
Each time I put my camera away saying to myself “I’m tired – go home”, I’d turn the corner or round the bend and see another spectacular sight, all lit up (this city is gorgeous at night too!). So I’d set up my tripod again and have fun shooting with cars and tramways running through my long exposures. I had thought about doing a night photo shoot of the anti-suit, but just didn’t have it in me anymore.
Burgtheater, Vienna

Rathaus (Vienna City Hall)

Austrian Parliament Building

Austrian Parliament Building

Austrian Parliament Building
By 8:30pm, I knew I was close to home, but the bustling life in all the cafes and restaurants made me hungry (not the clouds of smoke I walked through at every terrace though). Knowing I hadn’t really done groceries yet, I decided to stop for a snack/meal. I truly hadn’t thought I’d eat again after my big lunch at 1:30pm, but then again, it was now hours later and my body seems to be on a European schedule. I wonder when the next time will be that I’ll be in bed by 9pm and up at 5am… At one point during my meal, I looked up to see the waiter lighting a cigarette behind the bar and a young lady walk through the restaurant to the bar with her big dog to place a take-out order…. I’m not in Canada anymore! Being a very dog-friendly person, I certainly didn’t mind – it just surprised me.
Got home at 9pm.