Tilting at windmills in Vienna

[Hollywood]

Thanks for that information, Hollywood. I'll certainly be taking the 72-hour Vienna Card. Do you know if one can buy it at the airport?

According to the website you can buy this card at the airport:

Available in hotels and at the tourist information centre on Albertinaplatz (open daily from 9.00 am to 7.00 pm) and the tourist information point at the airport (open daily from 6.00 am to 11.00 pm), at sales and information points of the Vienna Lines (e.g. Stephansplatz, Karlsplatz, Westbahnhof, Landstraße/Wien Mitte) or by credit card on tel. +43-1-798 44 00-148.

[Euan Mackinnon]

Quijote

My wife and I spent several days in Vienna just a few weeks ago. During that time we visited Heiligenstadt among many other places.

I completely agree with Hollywood about travel in Vienna. It has the finest and most completely integrated public transport system of any of the main European cities I have been to.

Given your travel requirements, the following travel info may be of help to you.

We found the cheapest (and very quick) way from the Airport to Vienna was to catch the S-Bahn (Line S7, Direction Florisdorf) to Praterstern. You buy the ticket (cost 9 euros) in the main hall after arrivals then descend to the station beneath. We asked about buying a Netzkarte but were told we couldn't get one at the airport. However, this was not a problem because …

… in the main concourse below Praterstern station there is a ticket office (clearly marked) where all sorts of public tickets can be bought. We found the 72-hour Netzkarte was the best (cost 14.50 euros).

You can then catch the U-Bahn (U1) for 2 stops to Schwedenplatz.

However, because you see so much more, my wife and I preferred the trams (which are superb - frequent, regular, almost always on-time, go everywhere except the centre of the old city).

If you want a tram, catch the 0 (yes, zero) which starts at Praterstern for 2 stops to Radetzkyplatz then change to the number 1 for 3 stops to Schwedenplatz.

However, you say your hotel is at Schottenring. If you want to go straight there (instead of to Schwedenplatz) ...

... either take U-Bahn U2 at Praterstern (direction Karlsplatz) for 2 stops to Schottenring

... or stay on tram number 1 for a further 2 stops and get off at Schottenring.

Have a great time, we did!

All the best

Euan

PS. One final thing about transport. We found, to our pleasant surprise, that the S7 ticket back to the airport was even cheaper (4 euros, from memory). This was because the Netzkarte we were using had not completely run out when we returned to Praterstern for train to the airport. As I said, public transport in Vienna is superb. If only the UK could get anywhere near this … sigh!

[Quijote]

Dear Euan,
Many thanks, for your recommendations, I've taken good note of them, they will be very helpful to me.

[Quijote]

All packed, ready to go...
If the hotel has a computer I'll try and post something for you guys.
I'll have to leave the A-Z Beethoven Quiz in your good hands until I get back on the 11th November. For that other quiz run by the Blue Baron, please don't let him win!

[Sorrano]

All packed, ready to go...
If the hotel has a computer I'll try and post something for you guys.
I'll have to leave the A-Z Beethoven Quiz in your good hands until I get back on the 11th November. For that other quiz run by the Blue Baron, please don't let him win!

Good luck and hope you have a fun trip!

[Quijote]

Quijote in Vienna Report Day 1

Left early for the airport with my new SAT-NAV thingy that lead me seriously astray (a ferry crossing of the Rhine, what?), but made it on time. The long-stay car park fee is almost half the cost of my plane ticket, but there you go.
Thanks by the way to Hollywood and Euan for their ticket tips and so on, that all worked yell.
On the programme today after checking in : Augarten Palace (thanks Megan): a bit disappointing for it's now a porcelain factory, but the structure is pretty much as it was in B's day, so I let my imagination have full run. Managed to quite envisage fat Schuppanzigh and B playing there.
Late lunch : Wiener schnitzel with a big beer ... heaven.
After lunch : St Stephen's, Peter's Platz and then for dinner the Zum Alten Blumenstock. Crap food, but at leqst I got to dine yhere B lived and dined for a couple of years!
Apologies for the typos, this is a German keyboqrd. Will report bqck tomorrow.

[Quijote]

Apologies for not posting a regular update. Anyway, it's my last night before I fly back to the "socialist paradise" (Merci, Monsieur Hollande) and I'm sitting in the hotel lobby preparing a quick report of days 2-4. Bear with me as I grapple slowly with this German keyboard ...

[Quijote]

Quijote in Vienna Report Day 2

Bit of a hangover this morning given the excitement of being in Vienna, plus several beers too many with my yesterday evening's [immortally beloved] Wiener Schnitzel!
As instructed by the Blue Baron, I decided to check out the Dreifaltekeitskirche where B's funeral was held. Due to the hangover, I got there at 12.30, and it was closed! Took a bunch of 'photos from the exterior, and then took a tram (took several wrong trams, actually!) to Schubertpark (site of the original Wahring Cemetry). Got there (finally) and bloody hell it was closed (not the actual park, just the walled off section where I could see a bunch of old gravestones). I nearly gave up, but I decided to wander through the park anyhow and joy of joys the original Beethoven and Schubert burial sites with original headstones were actually at the back of the park!!!
I found this moment quite moving as this was where B was buried for more than 50 years before being exhumed to the Central Cemetery.

After that I thought I'd check out a Bruckner site (5 Schottenring) where he lived for 20 years or so. Found the site: now a modern business office complex and no plaque!

Went back to the hotel to spruce up, then back to same restaurant for another Schnitzel to commiserate ...

[Quijote]

Got to have a cigarette break, back in a moment ...

[Quijote]

Quijote in Vienna Report Day 3

Ah, a serious day today, the first day I got to meet a fellow BRS member in the flesh ... Hollywood !!!
Took the metro to Heiligenstadt in the morning where Hollywood had agreed to meet up and give me a guided tour of the key B lodgings where he wrote his famous "Testament".
This was a definite highlight for me, the building oozing its history, even though it was difficult to imagine its surroundings given how built up and modern Heiligenstadt is today.
It was certainly a pleasure to meet you Hollywood, but you shouldn't have told me all those dirty secrets about Peter, though I shan't repeat them here. Hah !

After this great morning, took the metro back to my hotel, spruced up, had lunch (bradwurst, cabbage and rosti + beer) and then headed off to the Central Cemetery. I had been here two years ago, and still felt underwhelmed seeing B's final resting place, especially after having seen his first burial site in the Schubertpark.
Also this time I found Schoenberg's grave and then ... a recent arrival ... Ligeti's grave! That made my day, I can tell you.

Had a quick beer in a stubli outside the cemetery, then a pizza in some nondescript eatery, then fell asleep in bed watching Terminator 2 ...

[Quijote]

Quijote in Vienna Report Day 4

My last full day before I return to France. As my (excellent value) 72-hour Vienna Travel Card had expired I decided to trust my own two legs and had a mammoth walk from the hotel to the centre.
On the way I decided on the spur of the moment to see the Dreifaltekeitskirche again and this time (not being hungover and therefore early) it was open !! I sat there and wandered slowly around the church for nearly an hour, taking in this wonderful space and trying to picture B's funeral ...
I then walked back to the "centre" and took in the University (Bruckner woz here), the Burg Theatre, the very ancient Greek-looking Parliament, the Hapsburg Palace, the Lobkowitz Palace (felt up the facade...) ...
On the way back near the Graben I stumbled across something completely unexpected : the Artaria publishing building, the very original place! I couldn't believe it !
After that, a quick visit to the Pasqualatihaus, another quick feel up of the piano there, and then back to the hotel.

[Quijote]

That's it, folks. When I get back I'll post a few snapshots if/when I work out how to do so.

[Hollywood]

It was certainly a pleasure to meet you Hollywood, but you shouldn't have told me all those dirty secrets about Peter, though I shan't repeat them here. Hah !

Hey Peter, Quijote is just telling you a big old porky pie. I never, and believe me when I tell you that your super hero secret identity is still safe with me.

Anyway, it was also for me a pleasure to meet you Quijote, a fellow half spaniard like myself. I'm so glad that eventually the sun came out so you were able to have an even better day to discover some more famous graves at Zentralfriedhof.

Looking forward to seeing some of your photos posted here.

[Peter]

Hey Peter, Quijote is just telling you a big old porky pie. I never, and believe me when I tell you that your super hero secret identity is still safe with me.

Anyway, it was also for me a pleasure to meet you Quijote, a fellow half spaniard like myself. I'm so glad that eventually the sun came out so you were able to have an even better day to discover some more famous graves at Zentralfriedhof.

Looking forward to seeing some of your photos posted here.

Don't worry, I know you're far too much a lady to betray me to the rascally Don! I know for sure his trip will have been transformed and made most memorable under your excellent guidance.

[Quijote]

Don't worry, I know you're far too much a lady to betray me to the rascally Don! I know for sure his trip will have been transformed and made most memorable under your excellent guidance.

Rascal indeed! I have the photos Hollywood showed me and secret tape she made of your last meeting and I'll be selling them to the Press shortly ...

In the meantime, I'm going to try now and post a couple of photos I took ... bear with me as I grapple with the technology ...