What to do in Vienna for two days?

[Dodsdomd]

Go to Bratislava?

[DuffMan]

I actually have a friend who lives there, and he lives close to a brothel. They give you Viagra as part of your cover charge. They want you to enjoy yourself, while visiting the establishment.
Do you want for me to ask him the name of the place.

[Frequitude]

1. Posted for no other reason than its where I lived.

2. The Votivkirche - my personal favorite church in the city.
http://www.leader.gen.nz/medieval/cu...che_wien01.jpg

3. The Rathaus (town hall). Beautiful at night.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_2006_165.jpg

4. Naturhistorisches Museum (natural history museum)
http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/Content.No...01nhm-wien.jpg

5. Kunsthistorisches Museum (art history museum)
http://www.icom-oesterreich.at/2007/...presse_khm.jpg

6. Hofburg Palace - it's a big cool palace.
http://www.terjenet.com/2004%20-%20G...20Burg%203.jpg
Hitler gave this famous speech from its balcony:
http://www.wien.gv.at/kultur/chronik...ages/masse.jpg

7. Vienna Opera House
http://intelligenttravel.typepad.com...pera_house.jpg

8. Kärtnerstrasse
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/158/4...e8c3fa49a7.jpg

9. Stephansdom
http://www.fulviatour.it/userfiles/i...tephansdom.jpg

10. The ring road I was talking about. The best part is hilighted in red.

[DFO]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Vienna is kind of built like a dartboard. There's the very centre district (District 1) which is the oldest. It is surrounded by a ring road. 95% of the sites you'll want to see in two days are on or near this ring road, namely the Northwest to South portion (counterclockwise).

1. Stick to that arc of the ring road. It has all the cool museums, the townhall, the opera house, etc.
2. Walk the Kärtnerstrasse, from the south part of the ring road to the centre of the city. Its a huge walking street with tons of shops and stuff. At the very middle of the city is a massive church called Stefansdom. It's the most famous church in Vienna and its massive.
3. The one "off-ring" thing you should do is go to Shönbrunn Palace. It's just that, an old massive palace that used to be the winter residence (might have been summer) of the old monarchy. It has a huge gardens, a zoo and a big tour of the palace. It's the most touristy thing to do in Vienna, but probably shouldn't be missed.
4. Go to at least one museum. I recommend one of the museum of natural history (Naturhistorisches museum) or its twin building right across the park, the art history museum (Kunsthistorisches museum). Pick one depending on your fancy (I'm a natural history guy), or maybe both!

In general, my favorite part of the city is the Northwest-South portion of the ring road at night. Simply beautifull. Every building is an architectural wonder and they are all lit up beautifully.

I'll make up a map to summarize the sites in the next post.

+1 for the natural history museum if you like that kind of stuff. The mineral & rock collection is outstanding as well as stuffed versions of pretty much every mammal on the planet (or close to it!)

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Dodsdomd

Go to Bratislava?

I really liked Bratislava actually. Very interesting city. Alot of people like Vienna, it was nice but I enjoyed Bratislava a little more.

[Frequitude]

Shönbrunn


http://image64.webshots.com/164/9/64...5FlhqFW_fs.jpg

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

1. Posted for no other reason than its where I lived.

2. The Votivkirche - my personal favorite church in the city.
http://www.leader.gen.nz/medieval/cu...che_wien01.jpg

3. The Rathaus (town hall). Beautiful at night.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_2006_165.jpg

4. Naturhistorisches Museum (natural history museum)
http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/Content.No...01nhm-wien.jpg

5. Kunsthistorisches Museum (art history museum)
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_X2F-xWgcWCw/SG...HistMuseum.JPG

6. Hofburg Palace - it's a big cool palace.
http://www.terjenet.com/2004%20-%20G...20Burg%203.jpg
Hitler gave this famous speech from its balcony:
http://www.wien.gv.at/kultur/chronik...ages/masse.jpg

7. Vienna Opera House
http://image64.webshots.com/164/5/87...7TbFFbP_fs.jpg

8. Kärtnerstrasse
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_254Ctu_tf-U/Ra...U/DSC01720.JPG

9. Stephansdom
http://www.fulviatour.it/userfiles/i...tephansdom.jpg

10. The ring road I was talking about. The best part is hilighted in red.

Wow, thanks buddy, I will be printing this off before I go. If I go to your old house and say Frequitude sent me, will I get anything special?

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Wow, thanks buddy, I will be printing this off before I go. If I go to your old house and say Frequitude sent me, will I get anything special?

I'll send you a picture of my mug and you can let me know if there's any little frequitudes running around the place.

[nickk382]

Get drunk with some Austrian folks. Its the best when two foreign people are drunk and try to talk to each other when they have absolutely no idea what they are saying.

Have fun!

[Nancy]

Was, keine KunstHaus?

[jolinar of malkshor]

Well I am back from Vienna. The city was beautiful. I would go back any day. I stayed in a hotel on Mariahifer Street. The hotel was pretty bad for 100 Euros a night. It was called NH hotels. I guess there are quite a few in Europe.

I pretty much walked the entire area that you posted Frequitude. The buildings, streets and churches are just wonderful. The food was great. I wish I had more time to spend in the area because there is just so much to do.

This was the first time I had been in Europe and there are a few things that I would like to note.

1.) A lot of people smoke. Probably the majority of people smoke. And they smoke everywhere. They also throw their butts everywhere. Why do so many people in Europe smoke? Aren't they suppose to be more mature and advanced than North America? Aren't they suppose to be more environmentally friendly? Why do they throw their butts all over the ground?

2.) The subway system is much more advanced than anything I have used in Canada. More complicated but it covers a lot more area and the train comes every 4 mins.

3.) People in Vienna have a lot of dogs and they let them take dumps anywhere. I am not talking about just on green spaces, but on the roads and sidewalks. I saw piles of dog poop all over the place. I even witnessed this one lady walking her dog. The dog took this big dump right in the middle of the side walk and she just kept walking. Didn't even blink at thinking of cleaning it up.

4.) This one waiter I had when I was eating lunch must have thought english people where ######s. When he brought me the bill he said "this is the price sir and it doesn't include a tip". Fine, fair enough. But then when I left my credit card he brought it back with the slip and said "here is the total sir and you put the tip right here on the line". That kind of pissed me off.

5.) Prices in Vienna where fairly comparable to Canada. It was the exchange that really nailed ya. Take Canadian prices and then multiple them by about 1.70 making it much more expensive.

6.) Almost all the locals that I had contact with spoke some english.

7.) I really didn't like the way the airport was set up in Vienna. It is not like here in Canada where when you arrive at the airport there is a area before security where you can shop and eat and then once you get into the secure area there is again palces to shop and eat. At the airport in Vienna, there is a area before passport control where you can shop and eat. Once you go through passport control there is a much limited area where you can shop and eat. Then, when you want to go wait at your gate, you go through the security. Once through you wait in this really small waiting lounge at your gate and there is nothing to do. No shopping or eating, just seats cramped together. Each gate had its own segregated waiting area. Each gate had its own security screening area. Doesn't seem like a good setup for making money. Once people are through the screening process they can't do anything but wait.

A few notes on Syria.

1.) Airport is a dump. It was run down and reminded me of something out of a movie. It was dirty and run down. I really didn't expect much from it though.

2.) When flying in you can see all the tank installments and military dug outs and compounds. You can tell that they are prepared for an invasion.

Other than that I wasn't there long enough to report much else. I definiately plan on returning to Vienna one day with my wife.

I will post some pictures.

[jolinar of malkshor]

[jolinar of malkshor]

[jolinar of malkshor]

[jolinar of malkshor]

[jolinar of malkshor]

[Bill Bumface]

Nice pictures! It is a pretty nice city, but they completely wasted their riverfront which keeps it from being a 'great' city in my books. Syria sounds like quite the place! Any pictures from there?

[Phanuthier]

Yeah I'm more interested in seeing Syria

[I-Hate-Hulse]

I was in Syria last March - fantastic place! Can't recommend it enough! It's almost 8,000 years old, it was rather comical to go the UK and ohh and ah over stuff built in the 1400's.

Safe, cheap, and an eye opening experience - what more do you want in your travels?

[jolinar of malkshor]

Sorry no pictures from Syria. I was only in the airport and I was only there for 50 mins.