Part 2 of 3 - Day One of Vienna

After staring at the city for about 10 minutes, I decide to go to bed so I can have a full day the next day (Thursday). After about nine hours or so of sleep, I get up, shower and head to the bus stop, which is just outside the entrance to the giant hotel next to my hostel. A ride on the bus to Ottakring, I decide to walk to the Schönbrunn palace where, supposedly, one of the three best Wienachstmarkt's (that's Christmas Market for the non-Deutsch speakers) in Vienna is going on. I have a nice stroll on a lovely day next to the Westbahnof train station for about a mile or so, until I reach the Schloss Schönbrunn and the Wienachstmarkt. I take a few pictures and have a walk around the courtyard looking at the building itself, then enter the market and buy an apfel-zimt (apple cinnamon) crepe and a Baileyspunsch. The punsch comes in a commemorative mug that each different market produces each year and the first one you buy, you also pay a deposit of €2, so if you keep the cup, you've paid for it. Anyhow, I buy the food and walk around the circle of booths, munching and enjoying my taste of Ireland with a Viennese touch. I tire of the booths quickly, not finding anything too interesting besides some rather spot on Nutcracker dolls. I decide to head to a different Christmas market, but remember that there was something behind the palace that I wanted to see.

So I walk around the palace to the back gardens and I am utterly amazed to find a veritable Mount Olympus on a hill overlooking the back garden and the palace. Extensive vineyards and the world's first zoo (the Tiergardens) surround the vast courtyard and gardens. I pass a large fountain and sculpture of men and horses as I make my way up the hill to what is called the Gloriette. From the Gloriette, you can see all of Vienna, like from my hostel, and with the sun shining through the pillars of the Gloriette I felt like I was in a great epic, just having finished a long battle that has now been won. A spectacular view.

After some sitting on the Gloriette debating whether or not to go into the cafe they have there, I decide against the expensive cake and coffee and head back to the streets. I hop on the tube and head for Rathausplatz where the next great market is supposed to be, and I am not disappointed this time. In Vienna there is about a square mile that is packed full of buildings that take Oxford's to the mat. The Rathaus is huge, with it's giant clock watching over Vienna by day and night. It tells the time to the Museumquartier and the Parliament building down the street, and shows off it's garb of the Advent calendar to the Burgtheatre across the park. The Museumsquartier relays the time to it's friends, the National History Museum and the Leopold Museum, who all cradle the Maria Theresienplatz. A five minute walk from the Rathaus across the park and past the Burgtheatre you will find the Hofburg, which houses everything from the Hapsberg Dynasty, and through the Hofburg you find Michalplatz, which past that is Stephansplatz and Stephansdom. So really, a half an hour's walk will take you past some of the most beautiful, articulate and downright fabulous architecture you are ever liable to see. Anyway, back to my day.

I walked through the Rathausplatz Christmas Market admiring the absolute perfection to which everything was run. These aren't tents with dodgy middle-aged men selling toys and trinkets and ornaments that they obviously bought at the local store. "These are primo gifts!" (Bonus points to somebody who tells me what movie that's from) Seriously. The booths are handfashioned to house exactly what they are selling. For example: A lady was selling crystal. Her booth had a mural painted on the back wall and the tables were lined with blue felt. On the blue felt were mirrors that tabled the crystal dishes, vases, cups, saucers, shot glasses, and pretty much anything you can make with crystal. The booth itself shone like crystal from afar as the halogen lights came down through the crystal, off the mirrors and bounced back through the crystal at you, beckoning you to come and admire the goods. It was visual onomatopoeia. The thing was, every booth was like this, housing whatever goods they sold: stuffed animals, ornaments, tons and tons of schokolade (chocolate) goods and gingerbread cookies, wienachtspunsch stands galore, and so much more than I can describe to you. We don't have anything like it in America, I'll just say that.

I decide to come back later for some apfelpunsch and truffels (yeah that's how they spell it there), so I go find Stadtpark, which is where the statues of the great composers are. The first one I find is Strauss: the great golden composer is now forever holding a note on his golden violin with his golden bow and you can almost hear the note itself being played into the now pinking sky. Or maybe it's just some Vivaldi playing on my iPod. A walk around the park brings statues of Breckner, Makart, Schindler into view, and I realize that Mozart and Beethoven have their own parks for their statues. I love the statue of Strauss though, so I sit and we have a little chat. A man just a few steps away sits at a small table selling tickets to the konzertes of Mozart and Strauss selections that will be played in a nearby house that night. I want to make the Staatsoper, so I don't buy a ticket.

Instead, I'm thinking I want some actual food, because by now I haven't had more than the crepe and some kasernockrl (cheesey noodles, fantastic) at the palace, and it is starting to get dark, so I head to find the Bier Tesle. This is a restaurant now housed in the same house where Beethoven finished his 9th symphony, so I definitely wanted to get there. I find my way from Stadtpark there, which isn't too far, and sit down for a look at the menu. Beef goulash and spetzle are the decision and I pick a nice dunkel to enjoy with it. I don't know what spetzle is, so I look it up in my phrasebook and it's "homemade noodles." Doesn't look like any noodle I've had, but it has the same texture, and tastes awesome, so I'm not complaining. The dunkel isn't up to the par that I thought it would be, but it's still good, so I'm happy. I finish the dinner and head back to the Rathausplatz for some truffels and another walk around.

An apfelpunsch (which was the best drink I had the whole time there) in my hand, I walk around the market again trying to pick out the best truffels for my date with the Viennese skyline. I find the perfect ones, and yeah, they were the perfect ones. Simply dark chocolate truffels and I also indulge on a stick of Bailey's cream covered in chocolate and head for the hostel. Once I get back up, I buy a coffee from the machine and head to the back of the hostel for my date. I sit with my back against the wall as Frank, Sammy and Deano play me some Christmas music. And the truffels and coffee and the Viennese skyline - lights twinkling, the Gloriette shining, all the platz's Christmas lights shining brightly - and I have moments of joy that I won't forget. Sammy is roasting his chestnuts, Deano is trying to get his girl to stay because "It's Cold Outside," Frank believes in Santa Claus, and with a view like this, I am reaffirmed in my belief in God. Sure, humans made the lights and the chocolate and the hostel at my back, but God made the hill where the hostel is, He made the cocoa beans for my chocolate and of course, He made those that made this fantastic city so beautiful. So with the day at and end, I go to sleep, trying to think of what I'm going to do tomorrow. Yeah, and this is only Day One.

Cheers!