We went elegant and rural…

   

We went elegant and rural… and we were equally amazed with what we saw and the people we met. 
It wasn’t a long journey this time… no long waits at airport… we heard announcements in Maltese… so must have been the Malta International Airport… and then people talking in what sounded like a twisted dialect of German. It was a comfortable journey… this time we travelled in a smaller but more spacious bag… we guessed right eventually that this won’t be a long journey… but we had more time to take pictures… more time to explore the cities, meet people, travel by train… it was really nice. 

  

On our first night... we met some locals... went around...  went down to an Irish Pub (Charlie P’s)... but unfortunately in Austria it’s still allowed to smoke in clubs... so it was a big mess of smoke engulfing our lungs... then we went to the University... there was some protest... so many students, drunk, stoned, smoking in lecture rooms, protesting against whatever... something they think it’s a reason good enough to voice their opinions against...

The next morning we started off in the centre of... ah yes... forgot to tell you... Vienna … stylish, elegant, neat… the streets, the buildings… big palaces, decorated facades, simply nice. We took a walk by Stephansplatz, but although the scaffolding ruined the scene it didn’t take anything away from the majesty of this very building. The roof of this place of worship, we went in… and the place is huge… slightly dark… but huge. We had a short walk into Kaerntner Strasse… chique (had it not been for a construction site in the middle of it)… and in to the Malteserkirche… not the most special church we saw… in fact it’s very small… but might be special for some… dunno!
Then we walked a bit more… through Graben… a wide pedestrian street… with a big gold-coloured, net covered monument... we heard some 75,000 people died a long time ago because of something called Black Plague... and so they put up a monument here... interesting. What else did we see... ah yes... then we walked more... a very lush street with even more lush shops... Gucci, Luis Vuitton, BVLGARI, Armani... all guarded by big chunky men in black suits... this was Koehlmarkt... hard to believe that once charcoal used to be sold here!

A couple of minutes later... we were enchanted by this building behind some Roman ruins... THAT was the Hofburg... wonderful... then Heldenplatz... it was pretty busy there... with military personnel showing off their weapons, tanks and helicopters... it was like a soldier party... but apparently it was in preparation of a national day or something.
Then we walked further up... crossed the road... and there we were in between two identical buildings... Natural History Museum... and Museum of Art... nice... and walked further then... stopped to buy a very very tasty sausage called Kaesekrainer... with mustard and a piece of brown soft bread... that was really good.... and passed by the Parliament.

   

After a coffee and a toast near the Votivkirche we headed to Schloss Schoenbrunn... an amazing, massive area of land... once habited by one Kaiser after the other. We took things easy here... went for a walk in the gardens, imagined all was ours... it was a bit cloudy but still very impressive.

Later we went shopping at one of the nicest shopping streets we’ve seen... called... erm... Mariahilferstrasse... quite busy though!

  

The next day we headed to Linz... just one train... one and a half hour. Then we got picked up by a very friendly woman... took us to some place half an hour’s drive away... very quiet... very remote village called Kleinzell im Muehlkreis. Very friendly people lived here. We had lunch prepared... homemade Schnitzel... mhmm that was indeed tasty! We then went for a short walk... and the panorama was very nice... probably the most special thing in this village after its people!

Being close to Linz... the European Capital of Culture 2009... we couldn’t not stop by... and there we had a short walk from the centre which lies over the River Danube... to the very modern train station. On the way we thought we’re seeing double... as the figure of a dwarf from Snow White... was even bigger than the tallest and biggest human being we’ve ever seen... the God of Akwaaba must have had his hands in this!

      

Back to Vienna... we sat in a cabin neighbouring what sounded like a kindergarten cabin. But it was nice. We could talk, laugh, talk, laugh... talk a bit more all along the return journey. As this was meant to be our last night in Vienna... we went to eat in a very nice restaurant... and that was Boheme... in a side-street by the Burggasse and very close to the U2/U3 station ‘Volkstheater’... only the music was a bit weird at times... since they only play opera music inside... which sometimes the lady singing was screaming too much in our ears. But otherwise... the food was... yummie!

The next day we woke up very early... visited the oldest zoo in the world... Schoenbrunn Tiergarten... part of the palace we visited two days before... it was nice... but we don’t suggest you go earlier than 10am... all animals were well asleep... and the highlight of the zoo... the Giant Panda was apparently having a very giant sleep as we didn’t get to see much of it, if we did see it! Otherwise... we saw a black jaguar sharing the cage with a spotted jaguar... it was nice to see. We saw a koala... sleeping of course. An hour later... we went to check if Mr Koala was awake now... but he was sleeping... this time on another branch... we had serious doubts if it was the tree that turned around or the koala actually made a move. Well... all in all it wasn’t the luckiest day to go to the zoo... the elephants were being transported and they were renovating some other places. It was nice though to see the three polar bears in the zoo... two of which were playing... or at least so we hope, because they were really wild at playing!
Well... Kwame and I definitely recommend Vienna and other Austrian cities for sure. Take time to visit some locals. They are really friendly and can spend a great time with them. You need a good week though to enjoy Vienna and other places to the full... a weekend might be too short... unless of course you just want to sit down at cafes sipping on coffee and munching on the famous Sachertorte.