Vienna, Austria – Nov 1-4, 2024

   November 1-2, 2024

Yesterday was a travel day with an uneventful train trip from Prague to Vienna. The scenery varied and in some places there were hills in the distance with windmills. We still don’t see too much solar except for the “solar flowers” we saw along the river in Prague.

I downloaded the transit app before arriving in Vienna and found it really useful when we got to the train station. I purchased 2 tickets, and we found the U1 immediately and jumped aboard. We got off at Stephansplatz and came to the surface where it was incredibly crowded. So many tours! We can’t imagine how it could get any more crowded but in the warmer months I’m sure it is.

A hawker of concert tickets tried to sell me some for the evening, but I said we had traveled all day and weren’t up for it. He kindly did offer a directional hand as to which way to go to get out of the square towards our flat. We are right in the heart of the old city. Many church bells ring!!!

Turns out, once again, we traveled on a holiday and several of the nearby grocery stores were closed. It’s All Saints Day and we had to walk 15 minutes to a Spar. It too was incredibly crowded and there was a long queue at the checkout. We found enough provisions, and half a chicken, to get us through a day or 2.

Our Airbnb flat is quite comfortable. I thought it would be smaller. It, as in Prague, has a nespresso pod coffee maker. Not our preferred. I however, found 2 old drip coffee makers in the kitchen closet!!! The first one turned out to be a bit flimsy and I was afraid it would open and spill while the dripping was going on. The other, containing a thermal carafe, needed serious cleaning but turns out it works perfectly. Finally, some good home brewed coffee in the morning.

November 2, 2024
We headed out to what was reported to be an expansive market area that has a flea market component on Saturdays. It was very crowded and the first section of permanent structures went on for several blocks, with two aisles and restaurants in the middle and along the outside. Slow going and lots of food stores, spice shops, pastry including baklava shops, and much more.

We moved farther along to the flea market component and there was everything you could imagine from rugs to art to china etc. Not quite as upscale as we saw in Berlin but fun wandering along nevertheless.

It was grey and chilly and after a while we thought a bowl of pho would be good. We found a place back near the beginning  and it was perfect. A bit of sake also warmed us!

We didn’t feel much like visiting tourist sites so headed for the river which required the metro and a transfer along the way. We found a local entrance and walked for a few minutes to the train platform. Along the way there was a long stretch of mirrored wall surface with numbers along the center of it. I wondered if it was pi? We rounded the corner and it continued along our pathway. Finally, we got to start of the number sequence, and it was pi. It was really fun! I googled it to find out that it was an art project by Vancouver CA artist Ken Lum. It covers 130 meters and carries pi out to 478 places.  

We continued our journey to the river and got off at what was called the Vienna Marina. It ran along the river for some distance with many mostly empty docks. We walked for an hour or so and came upon the area where the river cruise ships were docked. There were several cruise lines visiting.

I was thrilled to see AmaWaterways’ AmaSonata!! I cruised on her with friend Anne in 2016 from Budapest to Vilshoven. We went on board to say hello and learned she was on the same itinerary.  It was really fun to see the ship floating in the Danube. I realized that we were staying in the downtown old city, about 2 miles from the docking area. It’s no surprise that I remember little of my visit to Vienna then as we bussed into and back out of town.

Once again we dove into the metro to get back to the flat and ended up at the crowded/bustling Stephansplatz. I want to stop and get some pictures, but the crowds are very intimidating. We’ll see.

At the end of the street very near our flat there was a loud protest march headed to the nearby square. We asked someone on the street after it had passed by and he thought it may have had something to do with Kurdistan but we couldn’t find out much information.

http://www.nnonthewind.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Samsung-SM-S901U1-20241103-102754.mp4

   November 3, 2024

It’s getting chillier each day but this morning I woke up a bit early and asked if Thom wanted to go to church. It’s one of the few ways to see, or more realistically hear, the Vienna Boys’ Choir. We ordered the tickets and headed out for the 5-minute walk to the chapel at the big palace, the Hoffburg. It was nearly full and it was a full-on Catholic mass with the incense and chants.

The congregation was greeted in both German and English. The readings were in German with translations provided in the program booklet. The homily was also in German and a somewhat condensed version provided in English. 

The mass was composed and directed by a regular conductor at the service, Johanna Doderer. In addition to the boys’ choir, there were members of the Vienna Symphony and the Vienna Symphony’s Men’s Choir. It was a great way to start the day.

Several months ago I ordered tickets to see the Lippizanner Stallions in a training session at 1100. The full on performance is harder to get tickets to and much more expensive. This turned out to be enough of an example.

The horse and rider form a team from the start of a training program. It takes 5-8 years for a horse to fully learn the tricks. There are 2 avenues of learning and the “temperament and character” of the horse are the determining factors in the path the rider chooses to follow. There is the “on the ground” path and the “in the air” path. We saw examples of both with the long rein, the short rein with rider, and a team of horse and rider that were developing the “on air” skills. There were various gaits shown, tight circles, dancing in place, standing up on the back legs and a jump with the horse in the air and the back legs kicking backwards.

There were 4 horse/riders in the last example of showmanship and two of the riders were women. Though in full riding regalia it was still fairly clear it was a training program and it was fun to watch a few missteps and a great deal of “atta boys” after performing something.

There’s a family story that I was told many years ago about how General George Patton saved the Lipizzaner horses. General Patton’s daughter, Ruth Ellen, married my grandfather’s first cousin. She was a dear family fried for years, even hosting my parents wedding reception in 1953.

From https://patton-watch.com/pages/the-legacy-of-patton

During World War II, the world famous Spanish Riding School of Vienna, home to the finest and rarest breeds of horses, the Lipizzan, was captured by the Germans and sent to then Czechoslovakia. But according to the Yalta Conference agreement Czechoslovakia was going to fall under the Soviet zone of occupation, forever dooming the Lipizzan!

By the end of the war fearing that the Red Army would kill the rare horses for meat, Patton sent the 3rd Army in a rescue mission (code name “Operation Cowboy”) to save the Lipizzan horse breed, along with many prisoners of war, and bring them back from Czechoslovakia in a last minute effort before the massive advance of the Red Army. Patton rushed his troops in the knick of time and proclaimed that the Spanish Riding School of Vienna is under the special protection of the US Army!

This rare breed still exists to this day, thanks to Patton’s commitment and his love of horses of which about 250 Lipizzan and around 100 of the best Arab horses that Germany had looted in Europe were saved. Disney even created a film titled “Miracle of the White Stallions” in his honor in 1963.

When we came out of the riding school arena the sun was shining and we started on a nice long walk. I hoped to end up at Stephansplatz to see the cathedral. Perhaps being Sunday it wouldn’t be too crowded.

We saw the beginning signs of the construction for the upcoming Christmas Markets. There were decorations and small cabins going up in a number of places.

When it was time to find a place to eat we picked a restaurant that offered a good menu as well as apfel strudel and sacher torte. The strudel was more appley than doughey and I missed the crumbed topping I recall from previous strudels. It was very good though – loaded with apples, spices, raisins and some nuts.

Tomorrow, we travel again. We’ll stay abit longer, 5 days in Naples.