What a glorious morning we woke too here in Vienna, it was sunny but cool, so the perfect combination for taking in the sights.
We ate breakfast at our apartment, we'd bought supplies at the groceries the night before. After breakfast it was time for coffee, so we stared our day at Cafe Sperl, a lovely typical Viennese style cafe which is right near our apartment. The coffee was great and the interior of Cafe Sperl was so old world, just divine.
From there it was a short walk to the outer ring road of Vienna, like many European cities, Vienna has roads built in a series of rings, this is good for sight seeing as you sort of make your way around the rings and finish in the centre.
Firstly we visited the museum quarter, such opulent buildings, lots of photos to take here. No visit to the museums though, as we have too much to see without being inside on a lovely day. From there we went by the Rathaus, or the town hall, it's a gothic style building, certainly one of my favourite styles. Our photo opportunities were a little bit spoilt here though, as there is a gay pride festival on and out the front of the Rathaus, there is a fair ground set up with food stalls and dodgem cars etc, not to mention the rainbow flag draped all over the building! Now you clearly know I have nothing against gay people (for those of you who don't, my brother is gay), but seriously, have your bloody festival somewhere that doesn't ruin our photos! Like in a park, there's plenty of parks in Vienna. Anyway, rant over, we still took some photos and of course welcomed the fact that here in Austria they are very open about the fact that they support the gay and lesbian cause.
From the Rathaus it's a short walk to Parliament, a unique looking building, to me it looks more like a theatre, but none the less very impressive and ornate. Then we walked to heroes square, we saw the army band on parade which was quite cool. Then we walked by the Spanish riding school, which is getting all set up for its 450 year celebration, so more scaffolding and stages were abound in this area.
Then we wandered through into the centre of Vienna, we'd thoroughly enjoyed our walk so far, but then came the crush of tourists. Like we been washed to the bottom of a funnel, Central Vienna is flooded with tour groups and touts trying to see opera tickets to tour groups. This certainly was not the way I remember Vienna from my visit here 18 years ago (mind you, I don't remember a lot because I think I spent most of that visit drunk from drinking vodka red bull), it's clearly got very popular!
It was a little off putting, so after taking some photos of St Stephens church, which is also covered in scafolding (it's being cleaned with a high pressure washer), we decided to look for somewhere to go for a beer. We found a bar called the Bermuda bar, very Viennese! We enjoyed a couple of beers and then made our way back past the opera house and then back to the apartment. It was late afternoon by this stage and we'd walked a lot and had not had lunch. So we headed to the Naschmarket for a leberkasse semel (sandwich) and then, a few more late arvo bevvies.
We had such a lovely time sitting in the sun, watching the world go by, we did not want to leave. It was just glorious. The bars in the Naschmarket are quite trendy, there is a bit of a south wharf feeling here for those of you in Melbourne. It was simply wonderful.
But alas, all good things must end and our stomachs were telling us to eat some dinner, as we already had some food at the apartment, we only had to grab a couple of extras so we could make dinner. We made our way back to the apartment, had a cup of tea. And then decided to cook.
Well, that was not going to be happening, as somehow, despite working last night, our stove was not working! It seemed there was a blown fuse and even the fridge was off and a couple of other power points not working either! What does one do when they are in an apartment like this and there is no power? I contacted our host on Airbnb and waited for response, by 8:30 we were starving, no response, so we decided we better go grab something to eat! So annoying (that's putting it mildly)
We headed out and grabbed some noodles from a local restaurant, they were quite yummy really, and also had a glass of wine to calm the nerves!
We got back to the room just before 10, double checked the stove, no miracle had occurred. No reply from our Airbnb host, so went to bed.
I'm writing this on Friday morning and still have not had a response. We head to Bratislava for a day trip today. Luckily our food in the fridge is not really too much that will go to waste, but if we don't here from our host, I guess we will contact Airbnb direct to see what can be done, although as its past the first 24 hours, I don't think we get compensated! Pretty pissed off as we bought food to cook and now can't cook it, and we now have to eat out in one of the last expensive cities I know. No sure what's the point of staying in an apartment when you can't use the kitchen, may as well have stayed at a hotel!
I am hoping this gets fixed today so we can cook at home tonight. I will keep you all updated as to what develops! Fingers crossed it gets resolved.
Looking forward to an exciting fun day in Bratislava :-)
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