After Michael’s obligatory morning run, we feasted on one of the most delicious breakfasts — amazingly, not only did they have muesli, sultanas and walnuts (my usual fare), but soy milk was also on offer, along with fresh strawberries and a variety of other fruits. The smoked salmon was the best I’ve ever tasted — or was I just really hungry?!

At 9:45am, we set off for our day using the Vienna Passes we had pre-purchased before leaving home. These gave us free entry to a range of museums and activities, as well as use of the  ‘Hop On Hop Off’ bus. Michael had developed a sore ankle (perhaps problems with his Achilles’ tendon) during his morning jog, and so, for a change, I was the one who had to slow down my pace a little so that he could keep up. As luck would have it, we must have missed the bus we were aiming to catch by a couple of minutes. About 15 minutes later, the next bus came along, and we were on our way to our first destination — Schönbrunn Palace. We sat on the top deck, and plugged in the earphones that were provided. The running commentary provided some interesting historical information about Vienna as we wound our way through the streets to the palace. As wifi was available on the bus, we chatted with family back at home — instant video communication, so amazing compared to my first trip to Vienna when I was 19 — postcards would take about 6 weeks to reach their destination, and they were the only way my parents could ascertain where I was...or had been!

After procuring our tickets for the Grand Tour of the palace, having over an hour to fill in before our designated entry time, we wandered to the orangery, the building where plants are housed during the cold winter months. The old underfloor heating system, which uses log fires under the floor, is still in use today. Metal plates in the floor transfer the heat into the long room. The temperature in winter is a constant 10C. In the warmer months, the orangery is used for exhibitions and concerts. Female composers over the century were being honoured in the current exhibition.

We then wandered along the broad gravelled pathways through the gardens, popping in to the maze and labyrinth garden area, but deciding not to risk getting lost in the labyrinth of hedges, as we didn’t want to miss our designated entry time for our tour of the palace.

Unfortunately, no photographs were permitted inside the 40 rooms of the palace that we visited. The audioguide provided us with an interesting commentary of the ornately decorated rooms, and described the various members of the Habsberg family who ruled Austria until 1918. The most interesting seems to have been Queen Elisabeth (Sisi) (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Elisabeth_of_Austria) who seems to have been similar to Princess Diana in many ways - she spent considerable time exercising and dieting, was not particularly fond of her husband (who adored her), and did her best to avoid her critical mother-in-law Archduchess Sophie.

It was then back on the bus to find our way to the Prater amusement park and the big Ferris wheel that I had first read about in a children’s story when I was about 10 years old. We had ridden the wheel when we visited Vienna with our girls in 1994. It took 2 different buses to get there, with a walk in between. (We stopped at a pharmacy to buy a bandage for Michael’s ankle, just in case it might help.)

The Riesenrad (ferris wheel) originally had 30 cars, but after it was partially destroyed by fire in 1945), only 15 were replaced. The attendant was allowing 10 - 12 people on board each car, although the bus commentary informed us that up to 20 were permitted. Luckily, it wasn’t very busy, and so we didn’t have to wait very long. The ride took about 10 minutes and gave us great views over the city and the amusement park. Unfortunately, just at that point in time, the clouds started to build up, and so the views weren’t as great as they would have been had the landscape been illuminated in full sunshine.

Within the amusement park grounds is Madame Tussaud’s, the next destination on our itinerary. Here we spent a lot of time having fun taking photos of each other in various poses with wax models of well-known people, including Barack Obama, Julie Andrews, the Queen, Ghandi, Hitchcock and Marilyn Monroe. (Check out all the fun photos we took of each other!)

We ate our lunch (a peach each) whilst waiting for the next bus that took us across the mighty Danube (which isn’t at all blue, but rather a greeny-brown colour) to the Danube Tower. The elevator swiftly took us up to the viewing deck, 150 metres above ground level. When we stepped outside, we were shocked to feel a rush of cold wind and light rain and to see the mist rolling in over us! Only minutes earlier, we would have enjoyed some excellent views of the city bathed in sunshine. I waited inside for the shower to pass before going outside to take photos. 

After a short wait for the bus (which we didn’t notice arrive, even though it must have driven past us — it reaches a dead end and has to do a U-turn at this point — we moved on to our next destination, the Kunsthaus (art house) designed by the Austrian architect/artist Hundertwasser. Here were displayed many of his artworks, including huge models of towns with houses built into the hillsides. He designed buildings that were very organic — surfaces slope and bend. And bright colours are typical of his work. The top 2 levels of the building housed an exhibition by Finnish photographer, Elina Brutherus. Her works were really way out, but interesting. We only had half an hour at the Kunsthaus, as it closed at 6pm.

A few streets away is located Hundertwasser’s House — a conglomeration of apartments with shops on the lower level. Whilst we were taking photos of the exterior, it began to rain. Mmm — a reminder that we should check the forecast before setting out for the day and that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to carry an umbrella or rain jackets with us, just in case! We sheltered until the rain eased, and then started our walk back towards the city centre, hugging the sides of the buildings until the rain had completely stopped. It would have taken way too long to reach our next destination by bus (the buses only travelled in one direction), and so we chose to walk. We arrived at the Time Travel attraction 35 minutes later, 10 minutes before the final tour of the day at 7pm. The experience included a ride in a simulator that took us back in time to the earliest Roman settlement in Vienna, and then forward from there, covering the building of Stefansdom and the rat plague that wiped out so many people. As our time machine followed the swarming rats, we felt something lash our lower legs — supposedly the rats’ tails! It was certainly a 3D experience! The attraction is located in underground cellars — we were guided into various rooms, including an area that was used to dump the bodies of those who had succumbed to the Great Plague. Story has it that one poor fellow who had over indulged the night before, was mistaken for dead and collected and dumped with the dead bodies that had been collected. When he came to and found himself entombed, he called out and sang loudly, finally being heard by people on their way to the nearby church. The fellow’s name was Augustin — many of us will be familiar with the old song, ‘Ach, du lieber Augustin’ — now we know its origin.

The tour also included a visit to a bunker which was used in World War 2 — actual recordings of sirens and bombs were played, and the room vibrated as if bombs were landing nearby. It would have been a terrifying experience.

The tour concluded at about 7:50pm by which time we were really fading. Jet lag, combined with a day of non stop activities, were catching up with us! Our stroll back towards our hotel didn’t take us past any supermarkets, and so I suggested we check out the night market we had seen from the bus earlier in the day. We chose one of the less expensive restaurants and ordered a Wiener Schnitzel each — Wien is the German name for Vienna. When in Wien...well, we shouldn’t have! Michael’s schnitzel arrived on its own. There appeared to be some confusion about the order (I’m not sure how the waiter could possibly have thought that “zwei Schnitzeln” meant only one schnitzel, especially when he managed to bring us two glasses of wine!) It turns out that I was the lucky one — in her haste to quickly cook a schnitzel for me, the young chef didn’t over-cook mine. It was quite tender in comparison to Michael’s leathery one. Served with tomato sauce, french fries and a small cabbage salad, it wasn’t quite the delicious dish of Vienna that we had expected. Still, the meals filled the empty spaces in our stomachs, and at least we knew we had a sumptuous breakfast to look forward to the next morning. 

By the time we arrived back at our hotel, which was a few blocks away from the night market, it was around 10pm — we had been on the go for just over 12 hours. No wonder we collapsed into bed and fell asleep in less than no time!