More postcard scenery - and Vienna

Monday, June 22, 2015
Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Had a sleep in - but couldn't catch up much on the blog as their internet was so SLOW. Left at about 8 and went via the Spar supermarket nearby for breakfast supplies. Were still early at the station as the train left at 9.37 - and it started at Villach, so wasn't in the station waiting.

It was a decent train, a RailJet - good seats and the electonic screen which showed the stations, the time, the speed of the train, and 3 different scale maps . The screens keep changing of course. Our breakfast - ham, cheese, rolls, orange juice & cherries - was really tasty.

There was more of the great scenery. Travelled along another valley.

Arrived at Wien Meidling station on time at 13.27. I think the station is being redone - we just walked out into a street. Even reasonably small stations (say 8 platforms) have big stations with the usual railway information services, and places to eat etc etc. We got nothing - lucky Bryan had "Here" on his tablet, or we wouldn't have had a clue. We had to stop and check where we were fairly often - but got to the hotel in the end. I think it took about 45/60 minutes - maybe we should have found the train after all! It seemed silly to hang around waiting for a train. lol. And it was hot! Yes - no jumpers.

The hotel was very nice. I think it was so cheap because it was a Monday night and "Mamma Mia" had Mondays off at the theatre over the other side of the street. We only had to pay €44.10 plus the 3 tax!! Very cheap for such a nice hotel (I just checked booking.com for next Tuesday and it was €116+ with my discount and the free cancellation option - so I guess sometimes you really do get a bargain.)

It was a long way to the old 'city heart' of Vienna, so we caught the U bahn (underground train). Arrived at the centre and just wandered around for about 90 minutes, and then caught the U back.

Had dinner just down the road from our hotel - a mixture of tourists and locals. It started raining just as we were about to leave. So much for the weather staying fine.
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Comments

Greg Hills
2015-06-23

Their VAT is cheaper than our GST! I suppose they've got the population to area ratio to support a lower rate though. All relative

anne.nathan
2015-06-24

Their VAT is 20% Greg - double our GST! It's included in stated prices. This is an extra tax. http://www.kpmg.com/global/en/issuesandinsights/articlespublications/vat-gst-essentials/pages/austria.aspx
The standard rate of VAT is 20 percent (Sec 10 para 1 Austrian VAT Code).

2025-03-22

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