May 10, 2024

Wow!  A lot can happen in a day!

We said good bye to the beautiful little town of Cesky Krumlov this morning at 9:45 when our taxi picked us up right at our door.  The train pulled out at 10:38 and 45 minutes later we were in another Cesky but this Cesky was where we’d buy another train ticket that would get us the rest of the way to Vienna, Austria.  In total we’d need three tickets to get there.  Where the first ticket on the regional train had cost us only about $3 each this next combo bus/train ticket would cost us closer to $67 each!  I guess Austrian trains are more expensive than the ones in Czechia.  We knew we’d have to change from bus to train and of course everyone assured us it was super easy…..right…..that’s because they all have done it many many times.  When it’s your first time and you don’t even realize that Vienna is actually Wien Hbd on all the signs….it gets a little more complicated.  Thank heaven for kind people who are willing to go out of their way to help you get to where you need to be!

I’m getting ahead of myself though….our bus (and all traffic) had to be diverted for some kind of major construction right from departure and so we found ourselves in a bus where the driver was actually reading a map while driving and having to turn around on tiny little village roads next to fields of some kind of grain/crop.  The roads we were travelling on were lanes more than they were roads and so when we met oncoming traffic both vehicles had two of their wheels pretty much in the ditch!  It was all pretty fun and kind of an adventure (although I should add that everyone here drives about a million miles/hr and so you had to hang on for dear life in that bus as it careened around the winding roads through the countryside of Czechia).  At one point two of the young men that were on the bus asked the driver to let them off on the side of the road.  The driver was very puzzled by the request but eventually complied and left them right where they’d asked.  A few minutes later, an elderly man came to the front of the bus and started yelling at the driver.  It was clear that he was very very mad about something!  The driver handled it pretty well till he could take it no more and pulled off to the side of the road, stood up and yelled back at the angry passenger.  Of course neither of us had any idea what was being said but we could sure guess!  Eventually the passenger sat down and the driver continued to the exit with the name of our transfer town (yes, by this time we were on a major freeway where there is really nowhere to stop!). To our dismay, he went all the way around the roundabout and headed back out the highway in the direction we’d just come from!  A few minutes later we pulled off the road where there was another bus and the angry man got off to be dealt with by some bus officials.  We returned to the transfer city exit and finally made it to the train station.  In the end we learned from Johann (the man who’d offered to get us to our train gate at the transfer station in Linz) that the passenger was speaking Croatian and the driver was speaking Czech and neither could really understand the other well.  Johann could understand much of what was being yelled by both and in his words…..most of what they were saying was swear words starting with the letter “F”.  LOL.  What had happened was that the stop the passenger wanted (and had a ticket for) had been cancelled from the drivers itinerary due to the construction.  Both were right in their positions which didn’t lend any support to a solution.  Lynda and I couldn’t get over our good fortune…we thought we were in for a simple bus ride to Linz but what we got was a complete tour of the gorgeous Czech countryside and farmlands as well as on board entertainment.  Lucky again! :-)

It turns out that Johan works for the train system and so once he got us to the elevator to our platform he handed us off to a woman who was also on the elevator as she was going to the same place as us.  She got us onto the right train and wahoo…..next stop Vienna or Wien Hbd if you’re in the know.  :-)

Taxi driver we got at train station in Vienna took us to the address of our hotel and then directed us to walk back down the street for about 1 minute to the yellow building on the corner which we did only to discover that he had actually stopped right across from our hotel and then proceeded to direct us in the wrong direction!  Damn!  Should have paid attention and looked for ourselves before simply believing he knew what he was talking about.

Checked in to the Plaza Inn hotel at Gasometer and were thrilled to meet the two desk clerks, Christian from Bulgaria and Wini from Hungary.  Not only did they get us checked in but they also gave us great insight into where to go in both Bulgaria and Budapest.  Plans are coming together just as we’d hoped they would.  :-)  Oh ya…and we’re happy to report that the tap water here is also good to drink.  In fact it is touted as clear spring water from the Alps that is perfect to quench your thirst.  

Dropped our bags in our room and were out the door again before 6 pm.  It had already been a long day but heh….we’re in Vienna and there is shit to see and do!  (And we are pretending we are 18 and never tired)…..LOL

Purchased 24 hour passes for the metro lines (we are right around the corner from the Gasometer station on the Orange U3 line) which will hook us up with anywhere we want to go.  Passes were 8 euros each (about $12) but that’s better than if we had to pay for individual rides.  Lynda wanted to pretend we didn’t know we needed passes as we’d just come from Prague where seniors rode for free….but I couldn’t do it.  She is positive that all the people we saw using the metro could not have had tickets as we only saw one other couple validating their tickets at the entrance to the subway lines.  I’m pretty sure they do have passes though as the fines are pretty hefty if you get asked to produce your pass/ticket by an inspector and aren’t able to.  

We hadn’t eaten anything but junk/candy all day as we’d been in transit with minimal time at stops.  This morning all we had was some kind of baked thing from the corner store in C. Krumlov so by the time we made our way into the centre of Vienna (which is breathtaking btw) our stomachs were growling loud enough to be heard!  Made our way to Reinthaler’s Beisl just off the centre square and shared an order of Wiener schnitzel as well as an order of spinach dumpling.  OMG!  Both were delicious and exactly what we’d been looking for.  Oh ya….and the local beer we washed it all down with was pretty decent too.  LOL!

With full bellies and feet that were getting tired from walking all around the centre it was back to the metro and off on the U1 red line in the direction of the giant Ferris wheel (Riesenrad is the name of it) that has been here in Vienna since 1897!  There was a massive line up waiting to get tickets and so Lynda used the QR code to skip the ticket line (or at least a little of it) to get us into a second line up for boarding.  A LOT of people want to ride on that Ferris wheel!  The views were lovely and it is cool to know that we had an opportunity to ride in something that has been a major attraction here for more than a century!  It is located at the edge of a permanent carnival so the whole place is very festive and lively.

Next it was back on the metro for a return ride to Stephansplatz, the centre station where we enjoyed being able to sit in the square with a Viennese coffee and a still warm from the oven brownie that was smothered in vanilla sauce and topped off with a scoop of ice cream.  Yummy!

We stayed there long enough to get kicked out as they were closing for the night.  With the second wind that the coffee and the treat gave us we had to find something else to do and so we decided on hiring an electric tuk tuk type of cart.  Mahmoud from Egypt was our driver and what fun we had with him.  He laughed so much during our time together that at one point he almost went off the road!  Seriously though this tour was a “must do” from our perspective.  It’s a great way to see all the major sites without having to walk another step!  This not walking any more part was beginning to feel especially important to me!!!  LOL.  Mahmoud had the music blaring from our little cart as the three of us laughed and sang along.  Amazing just how many heads turned with a look of “I want to be in that cart!”  It totally reminded us both of our Jeep in Africa where on more than one occasion, groups would say they wished they were in our cool looking Jeep when we’d been out off-roading in it.  One time in particular the whole vehicle was covered in mud after we’d been slipping and sliding in some clay river flats post rainfall and a group of men actually asked if they could come in our vehicle instead as it looked like we were having way more fun!  LOL  Yes, tonight felt reminiscent of that coupled with memories of our time in Rome (off a Mediterranean cruise) when we were on a Rome On Your Own excursion and we secured a driver named Sylvano (who was gorgeous btw)  Thanks to Sylvano we were able to actually completely “do” Rome in a day and tonight thanks to Mahmoud we were actually able to “do” Vienna in an evening.  Tonight we visited: St Stephen’s Cathedral (built 800+ years ago), the Museum Quarter (3 museums in one area, 2 of which mirror one another), The Library, the Parliament buildings (built in 1874), the Lipizzaner stallion training facility, the Opera House, the Theatre, the Public gardens (home to more than 400 plants 200+ of which are different types of roses), the 3 most famous cafes, City Hall (built in 1872 and home to regular concerts that are offered free of charge), the University which is the 2nd oldest in the world (2nd only to one in Poland), just to name a few……

We are now back at the room….it is well past midnight and morning will be here before we know it.  Hard to believe we’ve only been gone a week!  We are already worried we will run out of time!

Till next time

L & L

PS

We know we are not 18!  Our bodies are saying bring on the Advil…… LOL :-)