THURSDAY 28th JUNE 2012

VIENNA

This morning we left Venice and headed northwards almost immediately coming into the Diorite Mountains and superb mountain scenery! Lots of rivers, lovely valleys and soaring mountains! A few even had a little bit of snow on them, even at this stage of summer.
The autobahn we were on was three lanes each way and cut through many tunnels and crossed the valleys on high bridges! A remarkable engineering feat and so typical of all the roads we have travelled in Europe!
Once we left Italy, noticeably missing were toll gates - obviously we are in the old rich countries and the state pays for the roads!
After we crossed into Austria we had a coffee stop at a truck stop overlooking Lake Worthesee, a big lake with little towns along the banks and lots of boats out fishing. It was very picturesque and reminded us a lot of the scenery in New Zealand.
The remainder of the drive to Vienna was just as beautiful, the mountains giving way to rolling hills and lots of small farms. Little villages dotted the landscape too - just so pretty!
We got to our hotel about mid afternoon, a very nice spot about five kilometres from the city, and Mumsie immediately set about washing the pile of dirty clothes we have accumulated. Before long the room was strewn with clothes hanging on every available spot! At least with a two night stop we can get washing dry!
Later we went for a walk about the area, and when most of the group went to a concert in the evening we stayed at the hotel and had a delicious authentic wiener schnitzel and some apple strudel!!!
From what we saw coming in Vienna looks to be a nice spot, clean and tidy with none of the horrible graffiti we have seen so much in Italy! Looking forward to a city tour tomorrow!



FRIDAY 29th JUNE 2012

VIENNA 2

On the bus at seven forty five this morning to get to the Schoenberg Palace by eight and beat the hordes of tourists who visit each day!
The Palace tour was great, taking us through room by room and seeing all the ornate walls and ceilings decorated with gold leaf and the huge paintings and tapestries. The Happsbergs were one wealthy and powerful family. The Palace was huge with over fourteen hundred rooms, but the gardens were massive, covering many hectares with flower beds ablaze with colour and groves of trees alongside a central plaza overlooked by a towering fountain with a statue of Neptune! Huge gates sat on a hill above the gardens.
From the Palace we did a city tour, stopping a couple of times to look at beautiful old buildings, the city is well laid out and has many tree lined avenues and parks! Very impressive place it is - one of the prettiest place we have seen!
We had nearly three hours to spend in the city and after a walk around the main mall we found (very surprisingly) an Aussie Pub!!!! Hooray!!! Fosters and Friday night footy (albeit at midday)!! What more could we want???
So we sat with a beer and some lunch and watched Hawthorn give Carlton a smacking! Very relaxing and most enjoyable.
Later we went back to the hotel and had a nap before heading out to the Vienna woods (a massive green belt of forrest around the city) and along a beautiful drive to Baden and then on a little village where we had an Austrian dinner in the courtyard of a restaurant.
Local fare was sauerkraut, schnitzel, sausages and grilled chicken and pork! All this washed down by some beautiful white wine - by far the best wine we have had so far - and we have sampled a few!
A couple of musicians played non stop for us and once the wine started to have its effect, the fun started! A few of us started to dance and sing and before long the whole crew were having an absolute ball! We had a whip around for the musicians and that got them playing some requests - more drinking, dancing and singing - none of us wanted to go home!
The coach ride home was a ripper - total chaos and great fun - once there we all headed for the bar and continued on, many very shabby indeed!
We staggered up to our rooms totally stuffed and collapsed in bed