Vienna (day 1)

On to Vienna
Budapest had been lovely but it was time to move on and so I did, to Vienna.

It was an early start as I thought it would be quite a simple, 4 hour, journey to Vienna and then I would arrive with plenty of time to spend. I did rush a little onto the train but the tiredness meant the train was very relaxing - as I usually find longer train rides - with rolling scenery and clear skies.

When there was another twenty minutes or so remaining, the train slowed down and there was a massive building site that seemed to stretch on for miles where the train stopped briefly, and then from that point travelled quite slowly to the destination of Vienna West (West Bahnhof) - I guess this was essentially a suburban route at this point. I am not sure what route it took but it did so slowly for a train that was on its way to Munich. That building site, I later found out, was the area where the newly refurbished (and much bigger) Hauptbahnhof (central) was being made from the Sudbahnhof (south). And actually very near to where I would be staying.

Arriving at WestBahnhof, I was hungry and very poor as I had not taken any Euros so I needed to find an cash machine and some food. Vienna is kind of famous for its coffee and cakes so I did not think this would be hard. It was. Well, it took me a while to find the bank anyway. A quick coffee and cronut.^[1] later, I was on my way to the U-Bahn. I always like to see what stations are like in different cities and I was impressed with the bold, almost modernist feel of the platforms and corridors. They looked quite new but I wonder about the maintenance.

To the sights
As is usual, I did not really know where to go but I did have a look at the Lonely Planet guide I had picked up the week before from the library and ended up going to Michaelerplatz to go to the Hofburg Palace which is fairly central and a very impressive area. It was quite busy with what appeared to be school trips and I was a little disheartened to see that much of it was set up as a car park. The nearby Volksgarten was also nice but was a lot quieter and this was then connected up to the Ring road and opposite the Parliament building. After my failed attempt to visit the parliament building in Budapest, I thought I should give it a go here. The building was fantastic with some great statues outside to represent justice and democracy. As the Hofburg Palace had been the seat of power for many years until 1918, the placement of the Parliament so close was mainly so the real rulers could keep an eye on the pretenders that had been elected. The Hofburg Palace area was also home to the Spanish Riding School which might explain the horrific smell of horse manure around Michaelplatz especially. Obviously, this does not come across in photos where horses look quite sweet and benign - the smell is neither sweet or benign. There were actually quite a lot of horses and carriages riding about giving tourists a ride and in this area, also quite a few people dressed up selling concert tickets as if they were dressed for the age. I am rarely a fan of such obvious tourist baiting.

Vienna is not such a big city and most of the interesting sights are on the ring road, Ringstrasse, which were once city walls. My guidebook said one of the best things to do to orientate yourself is take the ring tram - both 1 and 2 around once to see the grandeur of Vienna. Unfortunately, my guidebook, at two years old, was a little out of date and it didn't do this any more.^[2]. There is a "Ring Tram", which is basically a tourist attraction running on the same tracks, that runs on the route but it is not part of the normal network and in a way that is irrelevant as I didn't know about it anyway. So my tram turned off at Karlsplatz (unbeknownst to me) and I finally decided I was going the wrong way at Kliebergasse - which was actually now underground. This was not as bad as it could have been as the station did have a lovely set of pixel art-esque tiling pattern murals along the walls which I always like. I had no idea where I was, or how to get anywhere so I just got the next tram to somewhere - and that somewhere happened to be called Hauptbahnhof - and that happened to be where my accomodation was (a hostel/hotel). It was a little hidden away due to the amount of building work being undertaken but the opportunity to leave my bag was one not to be missed. So I didn't.



Parliament

After a little wander around the city on foot and by tram, I made my way back to the Parliament building for a tour of about 60 minutes, which was conducted in both German and English. It is, surprisingly, the first parliamentary tour I have been on and I found it very interesting. There was a lot of information about the history of the place, how and why it was built and how it was used now. I found the interior to be tastefully done and was based, heavily, on famous democracies within history - mainly Greek but also some elements of British. The tour also showed the chambers and the working rooms which I found really interesting (and much more evocative than the palaces and museums of imperial grandeur that I have been to). The guide also explained the modernisation that took place over the years to make the building suitable for modern democracy and the refits of the chambers. It was brilliant and I will try to go to more of these Parliamentary tours in the future.

After that tour, and another very tasty coffee at a local cafe, it was still a little light so I made my way south slightly to a large area I later found out to be Maria-Theresien-Platz. I went there as it was open and the early evening light was quite addictive with the wispy cloud formations.

Museums Quartier

On the opposite side of the Ringstrasse was the frankly astonishing Museums Quartier. This is a cultural area that has been relatively recently developed as a cultural zone which is both historic and progressive. Home to "about 70 cultural facilities, the MuseumsQuartier Wien is one of the largest art and culture complexes in the world" and well worth visiting. The three main, blockbuster venues are The  Leopold Museum, The museum moderner kunst stiftung ludwig wien (mumok) and The Kunsthalle Wien but I did not have time for these this time - but I would be back. I walked around a bit as it got darker, and colder and ventured into an area with some closed shops and found a great shop. A great shop selling videogames and some videogame arty stuff called subotron. I could not go inside but I found it all very exciting and they even had an arcade cabinet for "Puck-Man" - the name PacMan before people realised that it could be a bit rude.

It was dark now and I was a little tired so I made my way back to the hostel (I wanted to go to Bratislava the next day - quite early) via a short break when I heard some good buskers playing some atmospheric music that reminded me a little of UNIKO. The effect of this little detour was that I missed the trams - and it was only about 7:30pm. Vienna is not a sleepy, small town but there were no trams on the Ringstrasse at all and the streets were eerily quiet.



Running
I waited for a bit for the tram but nothing came at all. The reason? "Nightrun". There were a few people now in high-vis jackets and I went over to ask what was happening. I was told there was a running event being held which was a run around the Ring - which at about 5km long, was an  ideal length for a mass participation run. It was based around Rathaus Park (where the town hall was - and explained the strange banners there earlier) so I made my way there for a mini festival of sorts with food and music. And lots of people.

And with that, I was ready to go back and decide whether to take the train or bus to Bratislava the next day. It was only a day trip but it could not fail to be a good trip, could it?

Vienna 2013 Day 1 - click here for album

<sup>1. This is a new combination of a croissant and doughnut that is supposedly taking New York by storm. I thought it was too sweet and exactly what you would imagine US desserts to be - like Krispy Kreme. I will not be joining in the craze.↩
2. Interestingly, and ironically, on the train to Vienna that morning, I had read an article about the circle line in London [link] and how London Transport's consultants always told new metro developers to never implement a circular system. It was an interesting article actually, read it if you get the chance.↩</sup>