Finally ready to go!
According to signs this was to be a 6 hour day hike (up to Tappenkarsee) and back. It amazed us that hiking signs show time rather than distance. Does everyone hike the same speed here??? Hmmm... They've not had the pleasure of G & M on their trails!
Keeping the group hiking at a quick pace, even with short breaks, we made good time to the lake, just under 2 hours!
A longer break was taken in the "hut" where we indulged in rum infused hot cocoa, sporty non-alcoholic beer (for the younger, body conscious cousins) and an Austrian pancake dessert - Kaiserschmarrn - which was first served to Emperor Franz Joseph I around the turn of the century. It is enriched with raisins and sugar, making it a "Süβspeise" (sweet meal) fit for a king.
A bit over 600 meters later and only 2 hours before free cake at the hotel, meant a race for the end.
We had to run past a few Mountain piggies as we made our way through their pig pen.
Mmmmm... piggy!!
Almost to the car and ready to pig out on cake!!
The hike took us just over 4 hours. Time to change that sign!
We enjoyed our cake, trying a bit of everything including Berliners, tiramisu, apple strudel and chocolate cake. Hiking the alpine mountains is worthy of the best treats! We need a nap!
Following dinner we had our goodbye toasts with everyone. Tomorrow, G and I would drive to Vienna and tour the city before a flight back to Düsseldorf.
Packed up and road ready, our roles of transporter and navigatrix resumed, we drove 3 1/2 hours to Vienna. Arriving after 1, we were able to check in and park the car at our hotel just outside the city center. Navigating our way to the U-Bahn with G's superpowers we exited the underground directly in St. Stephan's square. St. Stephan is a cathederal from the 13th century, it's spires dominate the Vienna sky.
We had a few destinations in mind and went in search of them. Wandering the extremely crowded innenstadt we saw the sophistication of "old world" Austria, built mostly during the Hapsburg reign in the 18th century.
After a lunch picnic in a nearby park, we ventured through one of the main city parks in what we thought was the direction of the Imperial Palace.
Happy to wander the statue-filled park, we were not as impressed as we expected. The Vienna we were wandering seemed dirty and riddled with graffiti. Where as Prague and Budapest city centers are "divided" by beautiful rivers, Vienna's city center, points of interest and main tourist areas are located quite a distance from the Danube. Here in the park we found a rather pathetic waterway, the Danubecanal, which seemed to have seen better days.
We encountered a rather unusual, but beautiful, memorial to Russian soldiers...
The monument from 1945 was erected in a record time – three months by German & Austrian POWs – it is still standing though it reminds of a not so wonderful moment in history. "Heldendenkmal der Roten Armee" commemorates the 18,000 Soviet soldiers who died fighting the Germans in and around Vienna and it was meant to praise the victory of Russian Red Army. In the treaty of 1955 it is specified that Austria is responsible for taking care of this monument, it has had to repair numerous acts of vandalism both large and small.
Also on our route, the Belvedere Palace, originally a princely residence from early 1700's, now art museums, including a Klimt museum. In honor of "The Kiss" we kissed and continued our search of the Imperial Palace (number 10 on our tourist map ;).
Continuing our palace search and following the map, we entered more industrial looking neighborhoods. Standing in the middle of a busy intersection, the main train station on the left and abandoned looking buildings to our right, we finally realized the number 10 we were heading to was a neighborhood and NOT an imperial palace site. Oops... Back to the underground and to St. Stephan's, we began again. The "true" city center was much more pleasant than the area we had wandered, but the crowds of tourists were overwhelming. Resuming our wandering with a renewed geographic awareness, we made our way toward the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, Austrians don't like to work late and the ticket office for sightseeing closed at 4:30. We did, however, see the architectural beauty of Vienna from street views.
We were greeted by cruise boats, tour bus stations and a huge river promenade dedicated solely to the docking of the ships and void of restaurants or other riverfront improvements. Disappointed by the lack of cafe and restaurant options, we returned to the innenstadt. We encountered the beautiful church of St. Francis of Assisi on the way in the Mexikoplatz, so named to thank Mexico for their support against the annexation of Vienna to Nazi Germany.
We enquired at the Tourist Information about the wine houses in town and received a good tip for a typical neighborhood place tucked in a little side alley. As we enjoyed our wines, we decided on a few restaurants to search out. The Twelve Apostles was our first choice and G's superpowers once again brought us to the door and into the old cellar of the authentic Austrian restaurant.
The Zwolf Apostelkeller (Twelve Apostles’ Cellar) takes up three vaulted Romanesque basements on upper and lower levels which go back as far as the 1100s, underneath a baroque building on Sonnenfelsgasse two blocks north from St. Stephens Cathedral called the Hildebrandthaus, named for its 18th Century builder, Lucas von Hildebrandt. The cellars predate the building above and were reconstructed in the 1300’s in gothic style and again in 1561. They served as public shelters during the Turkish sieges
of the city in the 1500’s. The cellars became a pub and restaurant in 1952, named for the figures of the twelve apostles who adorn the brick caverns walls, each with their own tables in cozy booths.
There we enjoyed a wonderful bottle of Portuguese wine (to toast my upcoming camino) and traditional Viennese dishes of schnitzel and pork.
Dessert was purchased along the route back towards the underground. Enjoying scoops of yummy gelato we wandered slowly to the U-Bahn and made our way back to our hotel.
Vienna, unfortunately is not a city that you can truly appreciate in the short amount of time we were allotted, especially when that time includes a bit of misdirected wandering. The city is filled with cultural highlights that we simply had no opportunity to experience. In the end, we enjoyed what we could. Next time.
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