Today was a partial travel day. We got up, grabbed breakfast from a small little bakery across the street from our hotel then packed up and headed to the train station. Last night we looked up trains to Vienna and found several options but one of them was without any transfers for only 36 euros so we decided to give that one a go. When we got to the train station to buy tickets the lady in the box office was super nice and told us it was actually cheaper to buy round trip tickets (only 25 euros) vs one way. So strange but we definitely appreciated the advice! After we got our tickets we bought some drinks at the station then got on the train. It was about a 2 1/2 hour train ride during which Dina and I started to go through some of the pictures we had taken during the tournament and delete all of the crappy ones. That is the beauty of digital cameras, you can share all of your good shots easily and delete the ones that don't turn out!
We arrived in Vienna at about 1:45. Our railway station had a metro connection so we bought 48 hour passes, hopped on one line and transferred to another that dropped us off right outside of our hotel. We had figured all this out before we left Budapest using google transit - what did we do prior to computers?!? After we checked in to our Courtyard Marriott (again, it had American style beds and pillows), we relaxed for a little bit and got ready to head out for the evening. Our plan was to head over to the Opera and try to get tickets for a show tonight - we were told that you can get very cheap standing room only tickets the night of the show and it is worth going in to see, even if you aren't a fan of opera. We took the metro to the "city center" of Vienna and got off at the stop around the corner from the Opera. When we came up above ground from the metro we were in the middle of a little park surrounded by huge, beautiful buildings. After getting our bearings, we walked a few blocks and found the Opera house. It was massive and absolutely gorgeous. After taking a lap around it we found the ticket office to see if there was a show tonight. There was, but it was only a pianist and singer. Tomorrow night was there was an actual opera, complete with full orchestra. We decided we'd rather see the full show so we left and went to go grab dinner. We found a cute little cafe around the corner from the opera and grabbed a quick bite to eat. The lady at the hotel, along with one of our Vienna in a day guides both suggested we take the Tram around the inner ring of the city so we decided to do that to get the lay of the land. It seemed like every stop we were pointing out the window at another huge, beautiful building. We decided to get off and walk back so we could take pictures and look at everything closer. We passed by City Hall, Museum Square, Parliament, a theater, the Hofburg Imperial Palace, and Vienna State Opera. We plan on visiting and taking tours of most of these places tomorrow during the day but it was really cool to see them all lit up at night. We finally got back to where we started then hopped back on the metro to go back to the hotel. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day but we are looking forward to it!
No comments:
Post a Comment