Thursday 12th involved a lot of walking, taking in the myriad of sights, enjoying the hustle and Busselton, admiring the many calm green spaces, and trying various tastes!

Thursday morning we set out for a walk around the vast park not fat from Hotel Magdas, which was extremely green with lots of walking, cycling, horse riding and car surfaces, with a generous canopy, good infrastructure including sporting clubs (tennis, soccer etc), toilets, fences in the right spot and a lovely amusement park with two sizes of Ferris wheels, dogem cars, Madame Tussaud’s, planetarium, roller coasters, restaurants etc. here we had a lovely breakfast before buying tickets for the hop-on, hop-off bus to find out more about Vienna.

The commentary was enlightening and the sights were of course incredible, given (like many similarly large European cities) Vienna’s rich history, development and expansion over many hundreds of years, in particular the building of vast palaces, stately homes, government buildings and commercial infrastructure such as hotels, shops etc.

Attached is the bus map and key which gives  some idea of the bus routes - red and blue. 

But first, let me say that one of the most impressive aspects of Vienna is the transport. The 2-6 story buildings certainly make it feel less congested than one with lots of high rise buildings, but it is well servers with clearly marked roads and footpaths that allow the space to be shared by buses, trams, cars, trucks, and thousands and thousands of cyclists, push and battery scooters little ones), roller bladers, motor cycles and motor scooters. The mixture, numbers, speed and how it all works is incredible - all supported by high levels of tolerance of one type for the other and apparent cheerfulness of people! 

The bus tour / ride was just what was needed to get our brains around this city. We stuck with the red route till we reached the old city and got off to wander around several museums, a ginormous palace, now partly the home of the Vienna Concert Hall (where we later returned for a concert of Motzart etc, presented buy an orchestra, singers and dancers, under the control of a conductor with a very good sense of humour). Lots of pics, enjoying the sights and crowds, but no time in museums today. 

Then onto the blue bus for a loop away from the city center where the commentary was very enlightening about many aspects if life, housing (lots and lots of government flats which keep prices low), management and travel in the city. Interesting that the water comes directly from the lower alps, totally gravity fed, generates electricity on the way, and is so pure it is used unfiltered! And tastes great!

We hoped off at the Schonbrunn palace (huge) (map and pic included) and spent time walking around the gardens but as the temp was around 34 we winded up eating ice creams, sitting under the shade and marvelling at the huge gravelled forecourt and tourists from all over and ages. 

Back on the bus to the city area, swapped back to the red line and finished off that loop which included features such as the city over Opera House which as well as many operas hosts (seats removed) an annual major ball attended by 5000 socialites, international leaders and guests, politicians, and others who can afford and secure a ticket!

Back to the hotel (a 4 minute walk from Prater, the theme park stop) for a drink in the hotel garden and the much needed shower! 

Next activity was off to the concert in the concert hall - taxis and Uber’s are surprisingly affordable  so that part was easy and we thought we had spotted some possible dinner options when in the area earlier. There were indeed some good dinner options and Trattoria la Scala (Italian) was our choice. I was thrilled to see the menu provide advice about many food allergies (not uncommon I have discovered) so choosing my meal was easy (if limited), accompanied by wine on the advice of the Italian waiter. My grilled calamari with potatoes and spinach was excellent - as was the wine.  

Then on to the concert - see pics from the brochure - we have seen a lot of this building (which also houses the Spanish Riding School) and while this concert hall was not one of the huge ones in the complex, it was packed. The music was many reasonably familiar classical compositions from the great Viennese composers, some just the orchestra, several with vocalist (male, female and several both) and several with dancers. The time sped by, especially as I kept nodding off only to be woken by the applause! 

Then it was back to the hotel after waiting for about 30sec for an Uber!

Despite a noisy party in the hotel courtyard and the hot evening at about 17 degrees (no aircon) , sleep came quickly!