Vienna, City of My Dreams

We had our final breakfast at the hotel and then Michael dragged me kicking and screaming to the station.  I really did not want to leave our luxurious surroundings and could have quite happily stayed however all good things must come to an end otherwise how else would we appreciate them?  We had a little bit of drama when we arrived at the station, as none of us could see designated seat numbers on our tickets.  We showed them to the train guard and he informed us that we did not have reserved seats and that we would just have to find unallocated seats somewhere.  We proceeded to drag our suitcases through the long carriages until we came to the last carriage where there was one, lonely vacant seat.  The prospect of standing for three hours loomed and Michael kept searching the tickets, certain that he had booked reserved seats.  Finally he located what appeared to be seat numbers on the tickets and so we set off to find our seats, luggage in tow, pushing through the crowded train.  We found our seats in the carriage furthest from the end and were pretty much exhausted by that stage.  At least the rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived in Vienna to find our hotel opposite the station. 

The rest of the day was spent walking around the city, enjoying the Christmas lights and markets.  Amber found a lovely, historic Viennese inn for our evening meal – Griechenbeisl.  This wonderful, old building has been an inn since 1447 and many famous people throughout history have dined there including Beethoven, Mozart, Mark Twain and many others.  Inside was a rabbit warren of rooms with a pianist playing on pianos in the different rooms throughout the evening.  The menu was full of traditional Viennese dishes and we all enjoyed our meals.

The next morning, we took a walk through the Belvedere gardens, which were looking a little bare as the grand fountains had all been drained and switched off for the winter.  We had breakfast at Café Mozart, a lovely coffee house, which opened in 1899 and where Graham Greene wrote The Third Man.  It was cakes all round, as what else would you have for breakfast in Vienna?  We did a little bit more walking after breakfast until we arrived at Michael’s favourite restaurant in Vienna, Café Diglas, where he ordered his Scheiterhaufen. 


We were seated at the window of the café, and children kept pressing their noses against the glass to look at Michael’s enormous cake.  I don’t think that they could quite believe their eyes!

A much longer walk was needed after our second café visit of the day, so James led us over to the Prater, a large public park.  In the middle of this huge park is the Wurstelprater amusement park, which is the oldest amusement park in the world.  One imagines that in the summertime, the whole park would be packed with people, young and old, enjoying all that the park has to offer.  There were no crowds when we were there though and we found a restaurant for a very light lunch before returning to the city centre and visiting some more Christmas markets.  Unfortunately Amber was unwell, so she had an early night while James, Michael and I dined at a nearby Czech restaurant.

Amber was still under the weather the next morning, so the remaining three of us took a walk around the museum district and markets once more.  We took a look at the Sigmund Freud Museum, which is housed in the building where Freud and his family lived.  The rooms, which include his former practice and private area, are full of displays about his life in Vienna and his works, featuring many photographs, paintings and sculptures.  It was all very interesting.

It was time to relax a little, so we found a nice Italian wine bar and asked the owner to recommend a wine for us to try.  She bought us three glasses of very nice red wine along with a platter of meat and cheeses.  We enjoyed our wine so much, that we didn’t hesitate when offered a second glass each and it wasn’t until Michael went to pay the bill that he discovered that the wine we had been drinking was ranked among the top 10% of the world.  No wonder we had enjoyed it so much!

Amber was feeling better, so she met us for dinner at Gasthaus Zu den 3 Hacken, a lovely traditional Viennese restaurant that Michael and I had visited on one of our previous stays.  It was a nice way to end our time in Vienna.

Once more it was time to say goodbye to James and Amber as they were flying home and we were returning to Munich.  They had given us a wonderful Christmas together and a memorable holiday full of fun.  It was a shame that we couldn’t give them a white Christmas however I hope that they enjoyed their time with us.  We will see them again at the end of January, so that is something to look forward to.  Michael and I had a peaceful train journey as far as Saltzburg, when 4 very loud Australians boarded our carriage.  I tried to bury my head in my crossword book but it was hard to ignore them as they sat themselves three rows apart and carried on their conversation by yelling across to each other.  I should point out at this stage that they were not young people – far from it – they were grey nomads older than Michael and I!  Despite Michael’s best efforts to look absorbed in his book, they engaged first him in their conversation and then it wasn’t long until I was dragged in as well.  They volunteered the information that they were from Western Australia and Michael pleasantly told them that his father was from Bunbury.  They then announced that Bunbury was the ice capital of Western Australia!  Michael’s face was priceless and I never did get to finish my crossword.

We alighted in Munich and discovered that it had been snowing.  Poor Amber, she had wanted to see the snow so much, and now here we were with snow and she was back in London.  We lost no time dropping our bags off and then headed out to dinner at Wirtshaus Zum Straubinger.  Michael had made a reservation when we were there with James and Amber, to ensure that he didn’t miss out on one final pork extravaganza.  We both ordered the schweinshaxe and it was absolutely delicious.  I have decided though that we will have a meat detox when we return to Dublin.

A Rainy Night In Paris

Our train was slightly late leaving Munich so we unfortunately missed our connection at Mannheim.  Not to worry, the ever efficient German station staff soon has us booked on a train to Paris, changing at Karlsruhe .  The result was that we arrived in Paris an hour later than we had originally intended however that didn’t worry us, as we had nothing planned.  We had our usual walk around and finished up with dinner at one of our favourite bistros along the canal.

The next day I saw a side of Paris that I normally don’t see, shops, or more accurately, the inside of shops!  Michael has always had an intense dislike of shopping however he seemed to undergo a transformation of sorts and actually ventured inside.  We spent a lovely morning visiting various stores and of course, Galeries Lafayette.  



 The Christmas tree under the magnificent lead light dome was made up of huge balloons and on the hour, music played, and other balloons danced up and down.  It was such a glorious sight and it was lovely to stand there just watching the colourful display. We also walked the streets and saw long queues at the various patisseries as people waited patiently in line for their pastries and cakes for their New Year celebrations.  The shops started to close up at around 2.00pm and gradually the streets became deserted as everyone headed home to get ready for the evening.  Michael and I celebrated the New Year with dinner at a traditional French restaurant, Le Plomb Du Cantal, accompanied by a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  We took a short walk after dinner and saw that the crowds had returned to the streets.  We were beyond staying up until midnight though, and so headed back to our hotel long before the clock struck midnight. 

2018 got off to a soggy start, with torrential rain.  We braved the downpour and walked around for a while before admitting defeat and heading back to our hotel to relax and read for the afternoon.  We really couldn’t complain, as this was the first time on our trip that the weather had interfered with our movements.  The rain stopped by the evening to allow us to find a nice bistro for our dinner.

Our remaining time in Paris was spent shopping (still a novel experience for me).  This presented me with a problem when I went to close my suitcase.  Did I really need to buy that enormous canister of Kusmi tea? Yes, yes I did!  After much grunting, sweating and cursing, I finally managed to close the case and we were on our way to the airport.  Time had gone so quickly but we had such a lovely time.  I wonder where we will be this time next year?