Vienna, Austria
"The hills are alive with the sound of music..", that is the first thing I thought of when I think of Austria. On my last weekend during my Sept 2010 trip to Hungary, I finally convinced to make myself travel to Vienna alone. I wished I had more time there but I'm glad that I went there nevertheless.
Vienna is a very touristy place with signs of Mozart at nearly every nook and corner of this beautiful city. I took a train from Debrecen to Budapest then to Vienna. The train ride was very pleasant and comfortable. I had the chance to look at the scenic outskirts of Hungary and Austria.
It was an unforgetable trip as for starters I nearly missed my connecting train to Vienna, in which I narrowly escaped with a heafty taxi bill. I had the feeling that the connecting train station was just around the corner and that the taxi driver was driving in circles. Oh well, that is what you have to pay literally to travel I think. And lucky me, there was some medical conference at Vienna during that time and all hotels were fully booked. Being the stingy traveller (excuse: earning RM, spending Euro... get the pic? :p) I stayed in 2 different hotels for the 2 nights I was there. To justify for this, the first hotel was VERY THE EXPENSIVE OK?! The 2nd one was really more like a hostel actually. I had problem finding for that one because I didn't realize that the reception closes at 5pm and I reached there with closed doors. Ok great. I thought "Now what?". I just got cheated paying for a bogus hostel, it was raining heavily and I was wet, my phone battery was flat, I wasn't familiar with the available hotels around there and if I did find any it is probably fully booked.
Thoughts of sleeping in the subway crossed my mind. I braced myself and did the best thing that anyone in my position would do.. go to McDonalds. Hey, there is free WiFi and I can charge my phone right? But lo and behold... who would have thought an angel awaits me at McD. So there I was feeling lousy and anxious, and a girl came to sit next to me. She was looking at some printed online paper that looked like some online hotel reservation. I thought maybe I could ask her which hotel she's staying and maybe I can try to look for a hotel there. Turned out she's a local. I related my story to her and she was so helpful. She helped me to call the number on my hotel reservation print-out and sorted everything for me. She said that the receptionist will be there in 30 mins! So good things do happen to good people after all!! :D.
Sharing some of the the sights of Vienna....
Vienna is a very touristy place with signs of Mozart at nearly every nook and corner of this beautiful city. I took a train from Debrecen to Budapest then to Vienna. The train ride was very pleasant and comfortable. I had the chance to look at the scenic outskirts of Hungary and Austria.
It was an unforgetable trip as for starters I nearly missed my connecting train to Vienna, in which I narrowly escaped with a heafty taxi bill. I had the feeling that the connecting train station was just around the corner and that the taxi driver was driving in circles. Oh well, that is what you have to pay literally to travel I think. And lucky me, there was some medical conference at Vienna during that time and all hotels were fully booked. Being the stingy traveller (excuse: earning RM, spending Euro... get the pic? :p) I stayed in 2 different hotels for the 2 nights I was there. To justify for this, the first hotel was VERY THE EXPENSIVE OK?! The 2nd one was really more like a hostel actually. I had problem finding for that one because I didn't realize that the reception closes at 5pm and I reached there with closed doors. Ok great. I thought "Now what?". I just got cheated paying for a bogus hostel, it was raining heavily and I was wet, my phone battery was flat, I wasn't familiar with the available hotels around there and if I did find any it is probably fully booked.
Thoughts of sleeping in the subway crossed my mind. I braced myself and did the best thing that anyone in my position would do.. go to McDonalds. Hey, there is free WiFi and I can charge my phone right? But lo and behold... who would have thought an angel awaits me at McD. So there I was feeling lousy and anxious, and a girl came to sit next to me. She was looking at some printed online paper that looked like some online hotel reservation. I thought maybe I could ask her which hotel she's staying and maybe I can try to look for a hotel there. Turned out she's a local. I related my story to her and she was so helpful. She helped me to call the number on my hotel reservation print-out and sorted everything for me. She said that the receptionist will be there in 30 mins! So good things do happen to good people after all!! :D.
Sharing some of the the sights of Vienna....
Hotel #1- Beautiful 40's look hotel with a nice price tag to go along with it.
A really cool elevator with those double door. It could only fit like 3 persons. I freaked out a little when I first took that elevetor. The jerking movement felt as though it's going to plummet down anytime.
Streets of Vienna
My first Vienna dinner venue.
My comfort food =P
Main landmark of Vienna
Beautiful art piece sold by street vendor. I the stilhoutte of the dancers!
The palace
Palace garden - a big and beautiful landscape of greenery and flowers
The King
The Blue Staircase. - that is the official name of this staircase.
Wax figures
Pictures of the palace interior - This is the few pictures I managed to take. We are so not supposed to take photos but if I didn't, you wouldn't get a glimps of it rite? So I'm doing this for the better of mandkind.
Pool table
The King and his (renowned) beautiful wife.
Poor guy. If only she loved him half as much as what he does.
This is the door to the LRT station, believe it or not!
Karlsplatz
Swimming duckies
Me and Beethovan. He's a nice guy, really.
Around the city
Landmarks around the city. Generalizing most of them because... I'm too lazy to lookup their names. :D
MuseumsQuartier
I met Mozart too!
Samsung event
Albertina
Random sculpture around the city
Souvenier shop
Streets of Vienna - daytime view
Temporary abode # 2 at Vienna. Simple and clean
Breakfast area
Train - on the way back
Windmills along the way
Overcast - just like any other day of my Europe trips! :(
There you go. Vienna done.Closing my chapter on my 1st trip to Hungary. I know I'm such a bum as I'll be going for my 3rd trip soon. =)
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