Ah Vienna! The name will always evoke the 80s Ultravox song to me.
In fact we’ve been to Austria before, just a flying visit during which a traffic policeman in short pants fined us for not having a toll sticker which we didn’t know we needed.
We sailed into Vienna early morning. Because we had to swap ships today, we had to be fully packed with our suitcases outside our staterooms before leaving on our excursions this morning. A mild annoyance. Today was the first of four cycle tours we’ve got booked so it was a taste of what is to come. Of course if we hated it we could swap to walking tours from now on.
It was cold and windy for our entire three hour cycle, I’d bought a jacket in the boat’s little shop but it was barely enough. My hands and feet were frozen by the time we returned.
We did a loop of 18 km around the city of Vienna, stopping a number of times for short talks on the sights and history. It was great. Apparently Vienna was voted the most liveable city ten years in a row. Considering it has Continental weather, with highs of 40s in Summer and snow in Winter, I find that a little surprising. Maybe it’s a plus for some people. I do like seasons but that’s a bit too extreme for me.
There were many fabulous old buildings as you can imagine, but the part of town I enjoyed the most was the old amusement park. It has the world’s oldest Ferris wheel, dating from the late 1800’s.
It was like a downmarket version of Disneyland, but you don’t have to pay an entrance fee, only for rides as you take them. It looked like great fun.
After lunch, there were shuttles available to go back into town, which we took advantage of. En route, Simon discovered a multimedia history exhibition. Considering how much we enjoyed the one in Lisbon, we decided to do this one too. I was also keeping my eyes out for warm gloves, socks, and a hat, because of how chilly it is here.
Time travel Vienna was quite odd and aimed at children but we enjoyed it and learnt something about the city’s history.
It was not for the faint of heart or stomach, though. There were quite a few nausea inducing 3D effects.
I really know very little of Austrian history. There was a Empress called Sisi who was famous and adored whom I’m ashamed to say I’d never heard of before. Perhaps not universally admired, you’d have to say, because she was stabbed with a hatpin in 1898. She was around in the time of the Austro Hungarian empire, and was married to one of the Hapsburg dynasty.
They didn’t shy away from the shameful parts of their history, either, one of their most infamous sons being Adolf Hitler himself. Disturbing to watch film clips of adoring crowds doing the Nazi salute when he was in town.
When the show finished we only had time to catch the last shuttle back to the ship, with me taking a couple of detours to buy the aforementioned gloves, hat, and socks, much to Simon’s dismay. On our return we only had time to catch our breath before getting on the coach for our new ship which was parked an hour away.