Oh, Vienna

A short train journey on a fabulous German train took us to Vienna.  We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed straight to the old town to Café Diglas where Michael was once again able to have his Scheiterhaufen (a magnificent bread pudding topped with six inches of meringue).  He has talked about that cake for nearly 3 years. 

 

 We then spent the rest of the day wandering around the city and enjoying the sunshine.  It was very different from our last visit when all of the streets and parks were covered with snow.  This time, there were many outdoor seating areas at the restaurants and all of the city fountains were running. 

 

We found a lovely wine bar and tried some different Austrian wines followed by dinner at a restaurant recommended by the proprietor – Drei Hacken.  I naturally ordered the schnitzel, which actually turned out to be 2 of the most enormous schnitzels you have ever seen. We struck up a conversation with an American couple seated next to us and they told us about their travel plans.  Michael told them about our travels and how we sold our house and initially left Australia for 6 months and how, nearly 3 years later, we are still travelling.  They declared that we were the first homeless people they had ever met that they didn’t feel sorry for!

The next morning we headed to the Naschmarkt for breakfast.  The market has existed since the 16^th century and is approximately 1.5 km long and filled with fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, bakeries and restaurants.  It is probably one of the best markets we have been to – up there with Viktualienmarkt in Munich and the Borough Market in London.

It was then time to resume being culture vultures, so we set of for the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, as I wanted to revisit the Last Judgement triptych by Hieronymus Bosch. We arrived as the gallery opened, as I wanted to beat the hordes of people I expected would be there.  Michael and I had the gallery to ourselves and we were able to spend ages examining the triptych up close.  It is a fascinating piece of work.  We also took our time looking at the other artworks on display including several by Rubens.

Michael wanted to see the Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt again, so we walked over to the Secession Building.  Renovations were taking place however we were still able to view the frieze.  I must admit that I am slowly warming to Klimt’s works.

Next stop was the Albertina to revisit Albrecht Durer’s Hare.  The detail on this piece of artwork is extraordinary and it was lovely to once again see it up close.  Naturally we wandered around the rest of the gallery admiring the other artworks as well as the beautifully decorated rooms.

We spent the afternoon wandering the city and admiring the architecture.  Then it was time for another Scheiterhaufen followed by a beer in a leafy beer garden in Karlsplatz.  Vienna is such a beautiful and relaxing city.

The Belvedere was next on our list of museums so that Michael could revisit the artworks of Klimt.  We were especially lucky as there was a special exhibition of more of his works in addition to the ones that are on permanent display.  They are beautiful buildings to walk around and it was especially nice to walk in the gardens as the fountains put on a spectacular display.

One of the quirky things that we noticed when walking around Vienna are the traffic lights.  Some of the standard red and green men at the pedestrian crossings have been replaced to show support for same sex relationships.  Now there are two women holding hands, two men holding hands and just so that the heterosexuals don’t get upset, there are a man and a woman holding hands.  I wonder what Tony Abbott would think?

It was sad to say goodbye to Vienna as we had enjoyed our visit so much.  It really is a city that one should visit in both the winter and the summer, as there is a definite change in the city in the two seasons.  I really hope that we can return to Vienna and I would love to see more of Austria as well.

Michael and I took the fabulous airport train from the heart of Vienna to the airport.  The train takes just 16 minutes and the it looks brand new and is spotlessly clean.  I think it is even better that the Heathrow Express.  We boarded our Aer Lingus flight and touched down in Dublin, our home for the next two years.

Dream in Sighisoara

A quick and comfortable train journey took us back to Bucharest where we had a 2 and a half hour wait for our connecting train.  When we boarded our train at Bucharest, who should we see but our bogus charity collector from our previous journey.  He obviously didn’t recognise Michael and when he approached, Michael looked him right in the eye and said “hello again”.  Recognition dawned on his face and he abruptly turned and walked briskly in the opposite direction.  No help with our luggage this time.

We arrived late at night in the lovely mediaeval city of Sighisoara.  Our hotel was situated opposite the station so we didn’t have far to drag our bags.  Our room was in the attic and I managed to crack my head 3 times during our stay whilst Michael, remarkably, didn’t hit his head once.

The Lonely Planet describes Sighisoara as being so pretty it should be arrested and for once, this city lived up to its hype.  The city sits atop a hillock and is fortified with a 14^th century wall with 9 of its original towers intact.  It is like stepping into a fairy tale with narrow cobblestone roads wending their way through beautifully preserved 16^th century houses.  The Gothic Church on the Hill sits on the town’s highest point and dates back to 1345.  The church itself is magnificent and is surrounded by a fabulous old German cemetery, which was lovely walking around and watching the squirrels scampering from branch to branch.  An amazing covered stairway with 172 steps takes you up the hill to the church.

We explored the massive clock tower and Michael climbed to the top to admire the view.  The clock dates back to 1648 with wooden figurines representing characters from Greek and Roman times.  The roof is covered with multi coloured tiles and it looks very impressive when the sun is reflected. 

We dined at Casa Dracula, which is situated in the house that Vlad the Impaler was born.  We paid our 5 lei each or 10 lei for 2 people as our dead-pan waiter informed us so that we could see the actual room where he was born.  We climbed the narrow staircase, which led to a darkened room lit only by a single candelabrum.  Dramatic, atmospheric music played and there, behold, was an open satin lined coffin! It was pretty hard to keep a straight face nevertheless we enjoyed wandering around the room and the adjoining dining room as well.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, served by our humourless waiter and we were delighted to find papanasi on the menu for dessert.  The papanasi arrived and Michael had just commented that they were very hard, when I heard a loud snapping sound and looked up to discover Michael sitting there covered in jam and cream and holding half a knife.  We sat there, roaring with laughter until Michael signalled to our waiter and requested another knife.  The waiter, upon seeing Michael’s knife snapped in two, cracked his first smile of the evening and declared that Michael was too strong.

Go Back to Where You Came From

It was time to start wending our way back again and unfortunately we needed to retrace our journey to allow ourselves enough time.   A 7hour train trip took us back to Cluj Napoca.  Michael had booked us into a different hotel this time so that we wouldn’t have to drag our bags through the road-works.  How thoughtful, I thought to myself.  What he neglected to tell me was, that this time our hotel was halfway up a near vertical hill.  Not happy.  My good humour returned though when I discovered how nice our room was as also how friendly the owners were.  They recommended a lovely Romanian restaurant for our dinner and a few extra sights that we had missed on our first visit.  One of these sights was the mirror street of Iuliu Maniu Street.  The buildings in this street are the exact mirror image of each other.

I am very glad that we were able to see more of Romania than just the capital of Bucharest.  It is a beautiful country and the people we met were very welcoming.  We would definitely like to return, as there is still much more to see including Sibiu and the wine region.  

Another long train ride of 7 and half hours took us back to Budapest.  At last we could do our washing as we found out the hard way that Romania does not have laundrettes.  We dropped our washing off and were then able to enjoy our dinner followed by a drink in a ruin bar.  Early to bed for us, as you would be surprised at how tired you get sitting and doing nothing all day.