After arriving Friday night and checking in at the Steinberger hotel in the center of the city we took a walk to get the lay of the land (which is completely flat by the way).
Just up the road we found this amazing building - which amongst other things houses the Spanish Riding School where you'll find the famous Lipizzaner stallions.
Ice skating seems to be pretty big in Vienna and they have several, big, courses around town. This one on a beautiful location with music and lights as well.
First thing Saturday morning we visited Schmetterling Haus which is THE place to go if you like butterflies in Vienna - which my GF does :)
First thing we noticed when we got inside was that the "climate" was indeed tropical - and next all the butterflies flittering around us. It is forbidden to touch them, but we couldn't stop them from occasionally landing on us though ;)
Since it was extremely humid my camera fogged up, since I had been using it outside in the cold. Therefore I had to wait a while before I could get any decent pictures. By then all of the beautiful, blue butterflies, and most of the others, had retired to the glass ceiling to soak up the sun. Big tip if you are going there; try to be there when they open at 10 in the morning.
We also visited Schönbrunn palace just outside of Vienna. Outside it's really not that much to brag about - other than being huuuge, but inside it's quite impressive! Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside so we'll have to settle for a picker of a pidgeon house from the garden instead. I like the design!
We didn't have time to walk around the estate this time. The guided tour, with bus, takes a couple of hours so doing it on foot would take a while... Something to do during the summer - when it's lush and green :) There were a lot of joggers out there though.
In the evening we went to a Mozart & Strauss concert. It was not just a traditional concert, but had a couple of opera singers and ballet dancers as well. Kind of a Kinder Egg thing that way. Neither of us are particularly into either of these, but being in Vienna you kind of have to experience something like this! All in all a great experience! The artists were top class, as well as we could tell at least ;)
On Sunday we had planned, amongst other things, to go see the Lipizzaner show and go ice skating, but unfortunately both me and Kristine fell ill so we spent the most of the day in bed. We felt a bit better in the evening so at least we managed to get outside for a small walk and dinner (classic Wiener Schnitzel of course) at a local restaurant.
Travelled back to Oslo again on Monday. All in all it's been a great weekend - in spite of a laid-back Sunday. Vienna is a wonderful city, with great architecture, that we both liked very much. Wouldn't mind going back some day! :)
Location:Vienna
No comments:
Post a Comment