Old Father Tyme

Vienna
We arrived in Vienna mid-morning on the Nightjet sleeper train from Bologna. The modern central station in Vienna is very impressive and provides a clean and clear welcome to the city. I don't often recommend hotels, but the Novotel Wien Hauptbahnhof is only a few hundred yards away from the station and perfectly located for making the most of all the available modes of transport (and there are a lot!) as well as being close enough to the city centre for a pleasant amble.

The Belvedere Palace and gardens

As a transport overview the S-Bahn runs suburban commuter trains which extend beyond the city. The U-Bahn is the underground, useful for longer city journeys and of course there is an extensive tram network, very handy for short, hop on, hop off journeys. And you can always get on a bus. The most difficult part of navigating the multitude of transport options is working out what station you are at and whether you need to be underground, overground or simply at a tram stop. Once the penny drops it's easy and you have lots of options to navigate the city to make the most of your time here. It's also very useful when you have inclement, changeable weather which we experienced in September.

St. Charles's Church, Vienna

When paying for transport the Vienna City Card provides lots of excellent travel options across all forms of transport, so take a look here and decide what combination is the best fit for your trip.

Colourful Vienna

Further navigational tips: Vienna Ringstrasse is the three-mile grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic Innere Stadt (Inner Town) district of Vienna and according to Wikipedia is known as 'The Lord of the Ring Roads' because of its architectural beauty and history. Whether you decide to circumnavigate Ringstrasse or not, Vienna, like Rome is one of those cities when an architectural mind-blowing masterpiece is just around the next corner. And it's small enough to manage on foot, so at some point you will come across most of the big hitters.

 Hofburg Palace Complex, Vienna

As we were on a short timescale, we opted onto an organised walking tour of the historical centre which covered the extensive Hofburg Palace Complex, the home of the Austrian monarchy the Hasburg family until a century ago. This imperious site includes the royal apartments, the famous Lipizzan horse stables and a plethora of museums including one dedicated to Empress Elisabeth of Austria whose story is unbelievable. It just made us want to return and delve deeper in to the fantastical tales. 

The Power on Land statue, Vienna

Continuing the excellent walking tour, we cruise past the iconic Café Central where Freud and Trotsky debated their theories over a costa, around the corner is the apartment Mozart stayed in and then we finished up at the wonderful St. Stephen's Cathedral. The cathedral dominates the Vienna skyline and boasts an amazing, coloured tile roof. Buy a ticket to go up the elevator to the smaller north tower you'll get a stella panorama of Vienna and close-up views of the incredible cathedral roof. The braver of you (not us) may decide to ascend the taller south tower which does not have an elevator and the guidebooks suggests is not for the faint-hearted. The north tower was high enough, thank you very much.

 The wonderful St. Stephen's Cathedral

 St. Stephen's Cathedral tiled roof

For some reason I had always had the preconception that Vienna would be an expensive city to visit but I was pleasantly surprised at the very reasonable prices of food and drink. Some of the more upmarket authentic and traditional restaurants such as Gasthaus Pfudl were a little dearer (certainly not extortionate) but there were plenty of excellent eateries available to grab a decent chicken schnitzel and a frothy Austrian beer. A few honorary food and beer mentions to 1516 Brewing Company, Englander Café, Der Bettelstudent restaurant bar, Kaffee Alt Wien and the excellent Das Käuzchen. We drank a fair amount of lager!

The Viennese Giant Ferris Wheel at Prater

Amusement Park, Vienna

A little off the main tourist attractions is the Danube Tower, easily accessible via the Ubhan. En route we jumped off at Prater and took a look at the large Amusement Park, parts of which were open, but it was relatively empty which made for lots of fun to explore. The ginormous Viennese Ferris Wheel was open but deemed (by me) an experience too high to partake in.

The Danube Tower, Vienna

Thankfully I conquered my fear of heights by the time we made it to the Danube Tower. To reach the tower you walk through the vast expanse of Donaupark which is a gloriously green space. The tower has several levels of open and enclosed viewing platforms providing 360 views of Vienna. There is also a café where you can enjoy a famous Viennese Sacher torte cake with whipped cream. A small part of the tower was closed as they are in the process of building a chute slide(!) on the side of the viewing platforms. Back on the ground also saw the soon to be assembled chute in pieces. It may be ready by the time we return! OMG!

Hundertwaaer village, Vienna

Returning back to the centre of the city we walked along the Danube River and stumbled across the area of permitted graffiti which was a nice surprise. We were headed to the Hundertwaaer village and Kundst House, a small area of the city that features colourful, eccentric buildings and street art designed by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasse. The buildings are certainly a sight, but the village felt a a little underwhelming with a claustrophobic gaggle of tourist shops, not selling anything beyond typical souvenirs.

Danube street art, Vienna

Our next stop was much more exciting. I've bought several pairs of handmade bowling shoes online from Wunderteam Shoes Shop over the last few years but now I finally got to visit the fantastic shop in Vienna.  It was great to meet and chat with the owner Phillip. Our joint interest was Paul Weller who was playing in the city that evening and Mr Weller also shares a love of Philips's bowling shoes. I couldn't resist buying a new pair of Racer Bowling shoes in green. Phillip was worried I'd bought the last one in Paul Weller's size as he was expected in the shop later. 

Wunderteam Shoes Shop, Vienna

And onto the final gig of our European tour which was at the grandiose Volkstheater in the Museum district and was quite spectacular. We had a pre-show beer in the theatre bar which boasted a chandelier! We had front row seats and it's safe to say this gig was the highlight of all the European shows this year. I did notice guitarist Steve Craddock sporting the same racing green bowling shoes that I'd bought earlier in the day!

Paul Weller at the Volkstheatre, Vienna

There was so much more we saw on our ambles through this beautiful city. Such at the Saint Charles Church and The Belvedere Palace Gardens but we were quite pleased to have resisted a whirlwind tour to try and cram everything in. We were enamoured with Vienna. It's beauty, the food, the beer, the architecture, and the ease of which we could either stroll to all the big sites or hop on the super convenient public transport.

The Donner Brunner statue and fountain

This extended to our final morning in Vienna when the sun finally decided to shine. We walked the two minutes to the Central Station from our hotel and caught a punctual, empty train to Vienna International Airport. The journey took twenty minutes and as we sat in the airport, we were already planning our return to this wonderful city. Cheers!

Volkstheater bar, Vienna