CHAPTER 15. AUSTRIA CONT.

We drive on to Vienna and find the Ander Wien Hotel where our room is the best we have had this trip, large and with private bath. We ask the manager to reserve one like it for our friends Bob and Maurine Rollins who arrive tomorrow night. The hotel is on the outskirts of Vienna, but right next to the subway train, so it is easy to go to the city center. We walk around the hotel area and locate a store, a sweets shop, and a restaurant. We have a snack dinner in our room, then drive to the RR station to scout things for picking up our friends, and go back to the hotel for early to bed.

We have breakfast at the hotel, and it includes a soft boiled egg in shell that tastes delicious after all the continental breakfasts we have eaten in B & B’s and in smaller Austrian hotels.

After breakfast at the Ander Wien we drive to the Schönbrunn Palace and take the tour along with large crowds since today is a religious holiday. The palace is fabulous and the guide is good, giving an English explanation to five of us, and then in German to the large group. The furniture and decoration are truly outstanding.

Following the tour we walk thru the extensive gardens and up to the Glorietta and back before having a good lunch at the Schloss Restaurant. The coach museum is closed for the holiday, so we drive down to the “ring” and around it. We park and walk in to see St. Stephen's and to check on a couple of hotels; both of them are not available for when we will return to Vienna so we will reserve at the Ander Wien. We go back there until it is time to pick up Bob and Maurine. When we return with them to the hotel the manager has forgotten they are coming, and has rented their room when a tour came in. He is upset because all he has available is a single room with one twin bed; they take it rather than look elsewhere late at night. The next day they have the good room next to us, and when we return in three weeks we both have the same rooms waiting!

After breakfast we drive with Bob and Maurine to the Eurocar agency and return our rental car. We take the subway to Karlsplatz and soon split up to sight-see. We go to the Hofburg and see the porcelain and silver collection, then go to the Augustina Kellar for lunch. After lunch we tour the Imperial Apartments, walk around the area some more, then go by trolley to the hotel. Helen and George Davis soon arrive in their VW bus and we all go by trolley to the Wiener Rathauskellar for good food, noise, music, and singing. The next morning we all leave in the VW bus for three weeks in Eastern Europe (#5).

When we return in three weeks, Vienna seems clean and bright after the dullness of the Eastern Europe cities in 1978! We stay with Bob and Maurine at the Ander Wien for five more nights while we see more of Vienna. We enjoy the substantial Ander Wien breakfast; the soft boiled egg and the first decent coffee we have had since we were here before! We take the subway to the Hofburg and wait in line for the training performance at the Spanish Riding School and are disappointed in all but the dancing horse performance. Afterwards we go to the Albertina to see the graphic arts collection of sketches by Dürer, Rembrant, Rafaello, Michelangelo, Rubens, and many more great artists. After lunch in a cafeteria we take a tour of the Vienna Opera House and buy tickets for a performance of Die Valkiere. We have a quick look at the Opera Museum then return to our hotel for apples and camembert and brandy before having soup and salad at the local restaurant.

After breakfast we take the subway to the Museum of Fine Arts. The Michelin Green Guide says to allow three hours, but three days would be better! We see most of the Flemish, Dutch, and German schools of art (1/2 of one floor) by rushing, but just walk thru the other half, and then briefly see a few of the sculptures in the second floor before the 1 pm closing. We have lunch at the Augustina Kellar, see the Capuchins’ Crypt, then walk to see the University. We take the trolley to the hotel to rest and have supper at the local restaurant.