Part 3 of 3 - Days 2 and 3 in Vienna

Day 3 in Vienna is a short one. Simply wanting some sleep added to the fact that it's raining outside keeps me in the hostel until just before 1:00pm. I walk out to the bus stop as the rains cease, and I know I want to actually do or see something today. I am a little angry because I wanted to see the Lipizzaner horses do their morning workout before I take a tour of the stables and performing grounds. I was afraid I wasn't going to get to see the horses at all and just see where they practice, eat and sleep. I get to the Spanish Stables which are housed in the Hofburg Palace around 2:00pm and I buy a ticket for the 3:00 tour. I walk around the Michaelerplatz for a bit doing some window shopping, finding by luck an Orthodox icon store with about a hundred or so extremely old icons, all hand-written. The average cost of one is around €15,000, which is approximately $20,000. Yeah. Pretty amazing stuff. From this store, in which I'm scared I'm going to break something, I walk down Kohlmarkt street which hold all the highest end stores in Vienna. Here is where Armani, Gucci, Prada and all their friends decided to set up shop and with them came some expensive restaurants. But before all of these most importantly, a little bakery/chocolatier called Demel . Demel is known for it's amazing selection of chocolate goodness in every shape and size as well as it's pride and joy: Sacher Torte. After walking among the most scrumptulescent array of chocolate, cookies, cakes, apfel-everything-you-can-imagine, and of course sacher torte, I decide to come back later and try one of these tasty treats. I head back to the stables where my tour begins.

We walk through the practice square and are told about the history of the Lipizzaners . From there we go to the stables where we actually see the horses, although of course are not allowed to touch. I make friends with one called Siglavy Priam, his name taken from his father (Siglavy) and his mother (Priam). I relish in the fact that he doesn't take his eyes off me the whole time I stand there and stare into his dark brown eyes. His white body and mane make me think of Shadowfax from the Lord of the Rings and immediately I want to jump the stable gate, jump on a ride through the streets of Vienna until we reach the mountains, then just head west to the English Channel, turn south, and ride from Bordeaux to South Africa. Now THAT would be an adventure. But I stay where I am and listen to the English feminist ask why there aren't any female riders in the school. I go back to dreaming with Priam.

After the stables we are taken to the performance hall which is quite impressive. Sand and dust and small pieces of wood cover the ground in a 8-inch thick mixture to soften the landings for the horses when they jump or run or trot or whatever trick they are doing. People take pictures although they are forbidden and they know it. The tour guide asks them to stop. Five minutes later you see a few more flashes and they innocently cry out "We couldn't hear you!" Yeah. Right. We are taken to one of the balconies from which show-goers would witness the performances put on by these horses. It's nice to feel like royalty from up here.

Tonight, since it's my last night in Vienna, I want to see an opera at the Staatsoper. So I set out with my map to find it. I was told that you could buy standing room tickets at the Volkstheater, which I thought odd because the Volkstheater is a completely different opera house. After being turned down by the guy in the lobby of the Volkstheater, I made my way to the Staatsoper to see if I could buy a ticket there. You can't walk in the front doors, and it doesn't look like there is a ticket office anywhere. So, defeated, I walk back towards the main center of town to figure something else out for the night. As I'm about the cross the road, I look back at the Staatsoper and on the side of the building there are a few people and it looks like a queue. I walk over and see the sign "Stehplatz," which means "Standing Room," and get in line. I'm scared that I'm getting in line to get into the actual opera, which doesn't start for another hour and a half, but also because I haven't bought a ticket! After a while, we curl around the corner and there is the box office. Whew! A couple minutes and €3.50 later, I've got a ticket for the opera "Norma" and I've got an hour to kill. I walk across the street to a little cafe called Aida and sit down. I have a coffee and a slice of sacher torte, and although I don't feel very Viennese, I know I'm doing what they do, so it feels to go be "in the culture." After my little snack I walk back across the road, check my coat and bag, and stand for an hour and a half listening to a concert performance of the opera, quite impressed at certain points, and a little bored at others.

With the night coming to a close, I walk out into the crisp night and the stars are barely showing past all the city lights. I make the trek up to the hostel for my last night of sleep in Austria and hit the hay. The next day, although I had plenty of time, I wanted to make sure that I was SURE to go home. I walk around a few different Christmas markets again, walk through the Hofburg and Michaelerplatz's a couple times, through the Stephansplatz a couple times, all just killing time before heading back to Bratislava. I go in Stephansdom hoping I can climb the tower to see over all of central Vienna, but a High Mass is being celebrated so we can't go in. I take a few pictures and keep walking. The last day, looking back now, I had plenty of time to see and do things, but really, I had seen and done all I had planned. I had eaten the foods I wanted to, I had a few mugs as souvenirs and was ready to get back to an English-speaking country. I get on the train for Bratislava, fall asleep and wake up just in time to get off the train, catch a bus to the airport (yeah I got a bus this time) and wait for my flight to take off. I get a hot chocolate at the airport and it was the BEST hot chocolate I've ever had. I don't know what was different about it, but it was AMAZING.

After a bumpy ride on the plane and some nice conversation with a Welsh couple, I finally come back to England in once piece and have to sleep the night in the airport. "Platoon" is showing on the TV next to the Subway that I park next to, and as my energy is draining, so is my American pride. Have you ever seen that movie? I don't like to comment much on Vietnam at all because I have NO CLUE what went on, but this movie really seemed like propaganda from any country but America giving cause to hate Americans. I wasn't too happy and was shrinking in my seat next to all these British people watching the movie. A couple hours later, though I'm on a bus to the train station. I get to the Bristol Temple Meads train station a half hour before it opens, go figure, so I wait and pace in the cold waiting for the doors to open. 40 minutes later I am waiting on the train, talking to a fellow who is going to Swindon to sell some die-cast collectible stock cars or tractors or something at a show he and his friends go to every weekend. We wish each other well as he gets off the train and I head back to Oxford. An hour later, I'm finally home, and although I have to wait another half hour before I can leave because of the rain and I don't have an umbrella, I can safely say I know where I'm going and how to get from point A to point B, which leaves me with the most comforting feeling ever, especially after living off a map and seven German words for three days. It was indeed a good trip.

Cheers!