So I knew my dad was excited to visit Vienna. He loves music, plays in a brass band and used to be an architect, so with the limited knowledge and impression I had, I felt sure he would love it.
His feet had survived Bratislava and he’d enjoyed the Secret City Trail, so we opted to do another one. The clues took us to some of the key tourist sights as well as a little off the beaten track. All around you the architecture is hugely impressive and on such a large scale.
We stopped for lunch and went off route to a great vegan burger house called Swing Kitchen…though we could easily have been distracted by the many food stalls on the Naschmarkt. Dad’s burger was overdone and they were so apologetic they gave him another burger and free tiramisu! (He doesn’t like tiramisu so I got it 😋).
One lovely thing to mention are the new traffic lights that celebrate diversity. We saw two men, two women, a cyclist and pedestrian…it was such a nice surprise. Good to keep your eyes peeled 😊
Vienna is very neat, almost sterile, but there was a small patch of graffiti on the trail and some lovely street art in the museum passages which linked to their exhibitions. After successfully completing the trail dad and I went back to see the pups while Mark joined the Friday for Future and Climate Strike marches which were very well supported with tens of thousands of people in attendance.
We later met up with Mark at Kurpark Oberlaa for a nice walk around the park (there are thermal spas there but the men weren’t up for it) and an ice cream at the restaurant. Note to others…it’s actually quite posh so they expect you to eat a minimum 3 scoops from a glass bowl not a cone…I obviously looked confused as hadn’t read the small print. But fair play he served me 1 scoop in a glass dish with a free cone on the top 😂 Dad was ‘forced’ to try the apple strudel…when in Vienna it would be rude not to. The only catastrophe of the day being our cafeteria smashing while driving – no coffee making facilities! 😱☕❤️
With a need for vegetables and less sugar we ate dinner at home then headed out in the evening. I had us listed for standby tickets for the evenings opera but sadly no tickets came free so instead we went to Prater to see the Viennese Grand Ferris Wheel and the Independent Republic of Kuglemugel. The wheel was impressive, the barbwire surrounded derelict sphere that constitutes Kuglemugel…less so.
Another huge surprise was the beer festival and concert that was going on there. It was heaving with people and I’d say 95%, both young and old, were in traditional dress of leidehosen and dirndl. It just seemed totally normal for their Friday night attire.
SofaWolves 