Travel Diary Part 3

Hello Lovelies,

26th, November, night, a Tuesday, 0300 hrs. sharp, arrived Vienna direct from Munich.

The last but one stop:  Vienna, blast of dark freeze air on the streets once out of train station.  We were hyped for the city.  Impressions swept us thick and fast.  Capital of Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Seat of power of Emperor Franz Josef all the way to World War One.  The monumental glory, the silent and efficient organisation of affairs, its rhythms, smells, its people still speaking a kind of German but different and they smile and try to speak English (rather well may I add) and are helpful.  A city amorphous and hard to find the place where to begin.

Day 1 - Morning, advisable to load up on the food before hitting the streets.  Food for strength, power walking, body heat in the staunch cold.  Cholesterol?  Sure, loads of it.  Most of it good solid HDL for vitamin D generation as sun was lacking.  This is one city that loves its banhof.  Locate the metro' and exploit it for all its worth.  As per aforementioned, organisation, Germanic, no hassle, no panic, gets you every time where you want perfectly on the dot:  Noiselessly.  Second nature this to the Viennese. Ringstrasse, Stephanzplatz - Unabating flourishes in stone, marble, yet pulsating with the throb of modern song.  Amazing, takes one's breath away, redolent of the essence of European-ness.  This is a city that definitely is a marker in understanding what it all means to be a Central European impacted as it is from days of yore as seat of the mighty as far back as the days of Marcus Aurelius, Emperor, Roman, warrior-philosopher and who knew this part of his terrain as well as the smell of his own steads, with layered strands of power:  Military, diplomatic, political.  And today the power of dreams as it wraps its charms, perceived and otherwise around one's soul.  What is left for us to do is gape, awed.  Calm however envelops us, almost shrouds us.  We're serene, at ease and at one with Vienna.  It does project that power to enrapture and to enable one to fall hopelessly in love with it.

Day 2- Schonbrunn Palace between Meidling and Heitzing . . Our jaws dropped and we pinched ourselves to ensure that we were not dreaming:  We were !!!!  For real !!!!  An indescribable joy, the kind when the heart jumps.  We scream inside this real dream.  The quintessential palace.  A trembling feeling.  An alive painting, absolutely delightful landscape gardening.  Augustan in actual physical reach and limitless in its evocative might.  It is impossible not to JUMP FOR JOY.  We JUMPED and JUMPED and JUMPED and YET and YET AGAIN we JUMPED.  Nature blending with paintings, structures, forms racing each other in an effort to outdo each other in a contest of contrast and compliment triggering bursts of mental and visual delights.  We look at each other, my friend April (Ate April - form of courtesy address in The Philippines is 'ate' denoting that she is older than me in age and therefore deserves added respect).  We look at each other and know what this city is doing to us, this place, this dream but it cannot be put in words.  Go there and if you can manage it, stay there !!!  And JUMP because the heart won't let you stand still on your feet.  God's window, blue with His favourite light, Sun, everything fresh, clean, smart, spanking, glistening below.  Spectacular.  Perfect.  It is seduction.  We submit.

Vienna.  Symphonic. Of course.

To the stalls to gorge on pretzels and hot chocolate.  Never did so much beauty make one so hungry :)

Day 3 - Museum of Fine Arts, Rathaus Park, City hall, the Figlmüller because it is no joy if the belly is not welly :)  Went like a daze the last day did for we tried to machine-gun it in the remaining hours.  The Sigmund Freud Park, souvenir photos, sad to leave our love which pulls at our heart-strings.  Which we want to love-bite.  So the renowned Wiener Schnitzel gets the bite and that makes one shout out of sheer great taste, which made both bartender and waiter smile :) Go for the traditional not the fancied touristy stuff and then come back to tell me I was right :)  The portions are generous and enough for two let alone one.  Then when done go for their special grapefruit and apple mix drink and you should feel at one with your Maker.  Unforgettable food combo which had the belly more than wellied with all that goodness dancing inside.

0700 sharp. Wien Meidling. Back to Malta via Venice.  Would have felt like a death sentence were it not for missing hubby so hard.

Tail had a very surprising twist though left as lounging deeply in my cabin seat I see him right in my sight standing inches away from me and practically smelling his breath.  In person !!!  Himself !!!  Her very own very Majesty of England's very special, very secret agent:  JAMES, JAMES BOND !!!  Mr. 007 !!! ;-) 

What a blast !!!!

But that is another story my lovelies :):):)

Vienna comes highly recommended, even to my husband, an aesthete with achingly high standards.

Thank you for the viewing and, the reading of course.

Courtesy photo by +April Joan 

Xoxo,

JhinkyG