Vienna - A very punschy city

This weekend Daniel and I went to Vienna with a busload of teachers from the nearby high school and their families. We set off from Nyírbátor at 5am on Saturday morning and crossed into Austria at about 11:30am. I was quite impressed that the bus just rolled right across the border without even stopping - no passport checks, no quarantine inspections, nothing at all.

Shortly after we arrived in Austria, the bus made its first stop. Daniel and I shook ourselves from our slumber and prepared for the amazing cultural treat that we were sure we were about to experience. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that we were at a factory outlet mall. Oh well, at least there was a Burger King!

After the mall, we jumped back on the bus and made our way into Vienna's city centre. Vienna is an absolutely gorgeous city that straddles the Danube River and accommodates a large number of very impressive buildings and monuments. During our visit the city was covered in snow and everywhere we looked hundreds (if not thousands) of tiny Christmas lights twinkled back at us.

We accompanied our tour group on a walk around the city, starting at St. Stephen's Cathedral at Stephansplatz and then winding our way through a complex network of malls, alleyways and tunnels until we reached the Hofburg Palace, an imposing building which has a long history of housing Austria's rulers, including its current President.

After the walking tour, we had some free time to explore the city on our own. I quickly dragged Daniel off in the direction of Vienna's Rathaus (like a town hall) to check out the famous Christmas market (Christkindlmarkt). There were heaps of stalls selling everything from Christmas decorations and hats to massive pretzels and puppets. While the market was rather neat, the crowds got to us after a while and we decided to wander off in search of something to eat and drink. Luckily Vienna was full of little street stalls selling hot punsch (some kind of alcoholic fruit drink), wienerwurst, potato fritters and maroni (chestnuts). Yummo!

When our free time was up, we climbed back on the bus and drove to the Hungarian town of Sopron which lies just across the Austrian border. I was particularly looking forward to this part of the trip as Sopron is the town where my father was born and I was keen to check it out. Unfortunately it was already quite late when we checked in to our hotel and we also checked out rather early on Sunday morning, so I didn't get to see much of Sopron at all. What a shame :(

From Sopron we travelled back to Austria and visted the town of Eisenstadt. Despite being a relatively small town, it still boasted its own large palace as well as a number of churches. However, the town's major claim to fame is its tie to the famous Austrian composer Joseph Haydn who lived and worked there for a significant period of his life.

After our walking tour of Eisenstadt the bus returned us to Vienna and we cruised around the city taking in more of the sights and getting a better idea of its size and scope. In many ways Vienna reminded me of Melbourne, but when I told Daniel this he said I was crazy to even make the comparison and that Vienna was clearly more architecturally impressive. I'm still not entirely convinced that he's right.

Anyway, we eventually had to leave the comfort of the bus to check out the Schönbrunn Palace. This building was the home of the famous Habsburg dynasty - a family who ruled over a significant part of Europe for some 600 years and whose influence in Austria's government only ceased at the conclusion of WWI. We took a guided audio tour around the palace, checking out the emperor's quarters, the ballroom and other typically palacial rooms. It was really interesting and definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

After the visit to the palace the bus made one more stop to grab more punsch and wienerwurst in Vienna, and then it was time to start the long trip back to Nyírbátor. Happily we arrived safe and sound just after midnight last night.

- Amanda