Boogie nights in Austria

Von nzvr4poker, 01.06.2009, 3795 Aufrufe, 56 Kommentare | Kommentar hinzufügen

Hello again from Europe as I travel on the train to the Czech Republic – more specifically Prague, reflecting on my time in Austria. The trip from Ljubljana to Vienna was a long one; Just over six hours. I made the short trip from the Sudbahnhof (Vienna south) train station to my hotel in the west part of the city and settled in for the night. Wednesday was my touristy day in Vienna as I planned to get everything done before today’s trip to Prague.

As I took the U3 line subway train from Zieglergasse station into Stephansplatz station city stop, I admired the excellent public transport system that Austria has. The buses and subway trains are apparently all free, or at least were in my experience, which provided relief for my wallet as I have not experienced this in any country before.

The first tourist attraction I saw was St. Stephen’s Cathedral as it was right outside the Stephansplatz subway stop. This majestic Vienna icon is steeped in history and even contains skeletons of plague victims downstairs. I then took a walk up to the iconic Danube Canal where after walking around aimlessly for about an hour I stumbled on a theme park with a giant ferris wheel. Following on from that I ventured down to the pretty Stadtpark (city park) which is one of a number of park areas in the inner city green belt. After taking a few photos in the Stadtpark I located the Kursalon (house of music) and also saw the great Johann Strauss’s monument.

My three hour independent tour of the city ended with a look at the heroes square in Heldenplatz with some breathtaking architecture on display. During my tour I noticed Austrians love ice cream and also share their love of bicycles just like Slovenians. It will be interesting to see if the Czechs also enjoy this method of getting around.

Once I had recuperated from my trip around the city by foot, I returned to the Stephansplatz city station for the beginning of what I hoped would be some great Viennese nightlife. I headed straight for the famous Bermuda triangle area of pubs and bars. In one of the bars there I met a girl and a guy from the production crew of the band Metallica. They were both from the USA and had been in Europe for a while and so I had some drinks with them before hopping to another bar.

I found a good house music bar and met another American girl who was very chatty and she introduced me to her brother and his friend from Austria. The three of them said that they were heading to Flex, which is a well-known bar in Vienna where you can have a drink right next to the Danube River. After paying the 5 Euro door fee we indulged in some Austrian beer and wine, until I returned to my accommodation in the wee hours of the morning.

I thoroughly enjoyed Austria and look forward to bringing you more debauchery and adventures from perhaps the European capital of nightlife – Prague.

Here are the pictures from Austria:

The Danube Canal.

Vienna’s fun park bumper cars.

Vienna’s fun park ferris wheel.

Vienna’s fun park rollercoaster.

A monument in Heroes’ Square (Heldenplatz).

Another monument situated in Vienna’s Heroes’ Square (Heldenplatz).

The grand Hofburg Palace.

Here you see a monument featuring the famous composer Johann Strauss.

The Johann von Liebenberg lion monument.

The front and back of Vienna’s Music House (Kursalon).

St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom).

The front entrance into St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom).

The spire of St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom).

A couple of views of the State Opera (Staatsoper). Viennese people have a love for their music.

Vienna University.

Vienna’s old fashioned mode of transport.

Well that’s all for the Austrian leg of my trip. I look forward to bringing you the Czech Republic portion of my tour in the next edition of my blog.