European Adventure Day 6–Blitzing Vienna Before Cooling down in the Czech Republic

Apparently we (mainly Jeff) were tired, since without an alarm we overslept a bit.  An already short day planned in Vienna was shortened further by my 9+ hours of sleep.  Once going, we checked out of the hostel and made our way to the city center with a (supposedly) brief stop at the Westbonhoff train station to get a locker for our bags.  On the way, we got travel advice from local Austrians who took pity on us for our poor language skills.  Once at he station however, we realize our baggage plan seemed to be everyone travelling by train’s plan, so the lockers were none to be found.  We eventually checked them with station agents (like a coat) before finishing the trip into town.

Emerging from the subway (which is very nice and modern in Vienna, although a touch expensive at 2 Euro a single trip), we met daylight and the domineering façade of the St. Stephen’s Cathedral directly above us.  Susan snapped some photos and we dodged the tour-guides and followed the crowd inside the church.  Surprisingly, mass was underway.  This is not surprising given it’s a Sunday, but I was somewhat offended that they let us just wander in and take photos (only in the very back of the nave) during the services.  I won’t complain about being welcomed in the front door by the voices of the choir though. 

St. Stephen’s from outside and inside

Since mass was going on, we felt too disrespectful to spend much time in the church so we wandered back out and down the main shopping (pedestrian) street to the Opera house.  We circled the Opera and could hear voices practicing from inside, snapping pictures from several angles. Once completing the full loop it was onto the Hofburg, the HUGE palace complex of the Habsburgs that dominates much of the “tourist ring”.  From outside we covered much of the palace grounds and checked out the various internal exhibits available.  We wanted to catch some action of the Viennese dancing horses, but alas there was only a tour available on Sundays and it was already sold out. 

The opera house and some (non-dancing) horses

Instead, we settled on the Imperial Quarters and silver collection.  This museum included one floor of what was mostly kitchenware and decorative table settings for various occasions.  All the pieces were exceptionally elaborate and according to the audio guide one of the royals seemed to order a new set almost yearly.  Some of the massive collection of gold, silver, and porcelain place settings are still used today for important events.  The second floor of this museum was the royal chambers of Emperor Franz Josef I and his wife Elizabeth (aka “Sisi”).  Sisi was the focus of much of the narrative since she lived a tragic, increasingly reclusive life before being assassinated by an anarchist who was only in the same town as she because he was originally intending to murder someone else.

In front of the Hofburg grounds

Pieces from the collection in the museum

Our legs were feeling a bit flat after all the walking of the previous days (averaging about 7 miles a day so far) and we were on empty upon leaving the museum, so we stopped at a café in the Volksgarten.  I’m almost certain it’s the same place my family stopped upon our initial arrival in Vienna to caffeinate our jetlagged selves a few years ago.  Regardless, it provided good shade and some light food (and Weisbier for Jeff) for a reasonable price. 

Post lunch, we picked up with our trekking and checked out a few more squares (Rooseveltplatz being one to see if they, like Budapest, had a random statue of Teddy Roosevelt…we thought it might be the thing to do in Europe), passed the University, Parliament, the Boys Theatre, and the Museum district before saying “Enough with you Vienna!”  We had conquered what we had wanted to see in a mere 4.5 hours, including lunch.  Obviously, Vienna has tons more to offer but I had seen some of the other attractions before and most of the others didn’t appeal to Susan and I, or were not appealing to people on a backpacker’s budget (i.e. the Opera or theatre performances).

Hofburg Palace Plaza (top left), Gardens in front of Natural History Museum (top right), Maria Teresia Square (bottom left), Parliament (bottom right)

With that, it was back to the train station and on toward Prague.  However, to make the evening a little more leisurely we are only railing about half way before stopping in Brno.  This is a Czech town known for nothing in particular that we can find in a travel book.  On the upside, it looks like accommodations are cheap, we are arriving before dinner time, it should be easy to navigate for the night, and we can find a pub and watch the England quarterfinal Eurocup match.

This random pit stop had us second guessing ourselves, especially since the train station is less than pristine and there are no signs written in English nor a map to be found anywhere.  Undaunted, we left the station anyways armed with only a Google Map snapshot of the nearby streets and some vague directions to the Mitte Hostel (our goal).  Luckily, there was a church marked on the map so we decided to follow a pair of tall spires and made our way into the old town, which is mostly pedestrian and a shopping district now.  We stopped at a square confused and still encountering no English, but finally chose a road that looked promising branching out from the square.  As luck would have it, that was the road we needed and it took us straight to the road the hostel was on.

This hostel, also very unique from the others, is in an old 5 story building built on the foundations of the original renaissance structure.  It has a coffee shop on the ground level that opens straight to the sidewalk.  Then the next 4 floors have a variety of rooms and common areas.  We chose a private room since it was available, but we share a bath.  Breakfast is offered here as well, but 3 floors above us.  Each room is named for a famous regional historical figure or site (we are in the Mucha room named for a Czech artist, which is just off the Austerlitz room named for a Napoleanic battlefield).  So far we are 3 for 3 in successful hostel stays, but then again we aren’t picky.

Our hostel (and associated coffee shop), Mittel

Checked in, we wandered the commercial district before finding a restaurant with the game on inside and watched most of the England v Italy game before calling it a night before the shootout (we are amateurs).  Since we saw no goals we were satisfied by getting to drink cheap Czech beer, including the true Budweiser.

Beers and football     &     Americky salad dressing?

Real Budweiser

Early tomorrow morning, we continue on to Prague where we settle again for a couple days.