Saturday we arranged to meet Sophie at Stephansplatz, the main touristy area, and centre of Vienna. Walking out of the tube station, your immediately met with the Cathedral (Stephansdom). It was being renovated, but was still an impressive building. We had a quick look inside before heading off to the Hofburg.
This is the old house and offices of the Emperor and his wife. Most of central Vienna is fairly pedestrianised, but there were a lot of horse-drawn carriages. I owed this partly to the fact that the Hofburg also homed the Spanish Riding School, which I'll talk about in a later post.
We wondered under the arc of the Hofburg and through to the courtyard and beyond, where they were setting up screens in preparation for Euro 2008. From here we could see the buildings for the natural history museum. Walking past these we continued to the parliment buildings and old Rathaus.
After this we sat in a nice cafe (Fratellis) where we had lunch and some gorgeous ice-cream (very welcome on such a hot day). We carried on from there to look at the buildings of the Opera house. Which we had trouble getting to due to the change of Tram routes to accomodate Euro 2008 (poor Sophie was not looking forward to the chaos that it would bring).
After this we sat in a main Park that I forget the name of, but was very nice. Finally we headed back toward the main metro station where we started - passing a fountain on the way where people were paddling, so naturally we joined them, hehe.
Finally we headed back to the hotel, where we decided where to go for dinner. Sophie had heard good things about the schnitzel resturant on the street of our hotel, so we decided to give it a go. It was superb. Each portion of schnitzel came with two, so we ordered two between the three of us. We also ordered chips, potatoes, and two salads. We were absolutely stuffed as the portions were huge, and it was less than €10 each! I'd highly recommend the place, cant remember the exact name, but its the only Schnitzel place on Neubaugasse. To explain what Schnitzel is, its pork that has been beaten flat and then covered in breadcrumbs and lightly fried. Simple but tasty.
Finally we headed to Sophie's halls where they were having drinks in the courtyard. Had a nice chat with an Irish girl about eurovision. Some Americans brought their guitars out and started jamming, and then a girl brought her chello out and joined in. Was bizzare but very good actually. Sophie's friend went on to the Museumsquatier to drink and find a club, but me and Michael headed back to the hotel to rest our weary feet.
We wondered under the arc of the Hofburg and through to the courtyard and beyond, where they were setting up screens in preparation for Euro 2008. From here we could see the buildings for the natural history museum. Walking past these we continued to the parliment buildings and old Rathaus.
After this we sat in a nice cafe (Fratellis) where we had lunch and some gorgeous ice-cream (very welcome on such a hot day). We carried on from there to look at the buildings of the Opera house. Which we had trouble getting to due to the change of Tram routes to accomodate Euro 2008 (poor Sophie was not looking forward to the chaos that it would bring).
After this we sat in a main Park that I forget the name of, but was very nice. Finally we headed back toward the main metro station where we started - passing a fountain on the way where people were paddling, so naturally we joined them, hehe.
Finally we headed back to the hotel, where we decided where to go for dinner. Sophie had heard good things about the schnitzel resturant on the street of our hotel, so we decided to give it a go. It was superb. Each portion of schnitzel came with two, so we ordered two between the three of us. We also ordered chips, potatoes, and two salads. We were absolutely stuffed as the portions were huge, and it was less than €10 each! I'd highly recommend the place, cant remember the exact name, but its the only Schnitzel place on Neubaugasse. To explain what Schnitzel is, its pork that has been beaten flat and then covered in breadcrumbs and lightly fried. Simple but tasty.
Finally we headed to Sophie's halls where they were having drinks in the courtyard. Had a nice chat with an Irish girl about eurovision. Some Americans brought their guitars out and started jamming, and then a girl brought her chello out and joined in. Was bizzare but very good actually. Sophie's friend went on to the Museumsquatier to drink and find a club, but me and Michael headed back to the hotel to rest our weary feet.
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