I went to Austria - Vienna and Salzburg for the last few days of Holly's 20s last week. We flew out on Tuesday afternoon from Liverpool airport into Vienna. Our flight was delayed by an hour as our plane coming in was delayed. The flight only took 2 hours.
We booked with Ryanair but our plane ended up being a Lauda. They didn't sit us together but instead 10 rows apart and my seat was the extra leg room by the wing.
Considering our flight was delayed by 2 hours we landed an hour later at 5:40pm and got the train for 1 stop - the express train to the city centre. The ticket was €12 (£10.34). When we got off we bought a 48 hr underground ticket for £12.64 to our hotel.
We were staying at Hotel Motto which was really fancy...
The separate toilet was a good idea until you realise that you couldn't wash your hands if the bathroom is being used. You had to close the curtain to get a shower as it was just glass. But the room was nice and spacious and fancy.
After putting our stuff away we went and got the underground to this Italian Holly found called Da Capo. It was so busy and fully booked for the night so we decided to book it for the next night. We ended up going to KitchA Sushi Taco and Grill which was the next thing we had on the list but they said they didn't have any tables available either but could possibly wait. So we went to our last resort with was another KitchA Sticks and Rolls which actually had a table for us. Don't know what was going on it was 7:30pm on a Tuesday night - people don't cook in Vienna and just eat out?
We were starving but by the time we got to the restaurant we weren't even hungry no more and the lighting was really bad I was falling asleep. The food did actually come quick when I eventually decided what I wanted to eat.
Fried Udon Noodles - with shrimps - €13.90
Kitcha Roll - Pink Alaska - Salmon, cream cheese, avocado, masago, sesame - €12.90
Chasiu Ramen - Season pork, tea egg, nori, pak choi, sweet peas, carrots, coriander, leek, Naruto fishcake - €14.50
Avocado Maki - €4.60
I would have been alright just getting the sushi and done without the noodles. The noodles came first and I ate that then was struggling with the sushi but had to finish them!
As it was Holly's birthday trip I had to surprise her with a birthday cake! She went the toilet and she thought I was asking for the bill but I got us a Matcha Tiramisu - €6.90. It was nice definitely better than a coffee tiramisu. After dinner we walked to the underground to get it back to the hotel and we watched a Christmas film on Netflix The Happiest Season. It was crap - and came out 2 years but never heard of it.
Some how we always stumble upon the designer shops street without intending!
Day 1
First full day we went out at 9:15am and ended up getting a croissant from the bakery next door to our hotel - Motto Brot which turns out it was part of our hotel and was expensive.
Our hotel was right by the aquarium that we didn't go to
The croissant was nice but pricey and we were meant to try one of them brioche shaped croissants but didn't end up trying one!
We got the tube to the museum quarter and went to the Hofburg which included the Imperial Silver Collection, Sisi Museum & Imperial Apartments. Ticket cost €16 (£13.77)
We walked through the Christmas market but wasn't open yet
The grounds are huge!
You get an audio guide to tell you what everything is. The full tour takes 2 hours or you can do the quick highlight one with the stars (can't remember how long that takes but a lot quicker).
It starts with the Imperial Silver Collection - Imperial porcelain, crockery, cutlery, cooking utensils, and table décor.
This model shows how big the grounds are! We didn't even walk all the grounds as we didn't go see the Greek looking temple and gardens. Also wasn't meant to take a photo of this.
After you go the Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartments where you weren't allowed to take any photos - hence the blurred photo below. It was really interesting to learn about the Emperor and Empress of Austria - Franz Joseph and Elisabeth (Sisi). We had no idea about them but it was so interesting and there's a Netflix show about them called The Empress which is the Austrian/German version of The Crown. It's been dubbed in English but originally in German. It's really good we ended up watching it when we got to Salzburg and finished it when we got home.
After we went back to the Christmas markets
€5 for the mug then drink on top of that price
These looked so good!
Then we walked to find St Stephen's Cathedral
We stumbled into a famous cake shop called Demel. There was a big queue for the cafe and we seen a sign for shop and it was a bit dodgy as it was down the back of a long alley way so wasn't sure where we were going but the shop is at the back of the cafe.
The croissants were cheaper and looked nicer than the one I had at breakfast!
St Stephen's Cathedral
It's free to go into the cathedral. You can go up the tower and climb the 343 steps for €5.50 which you can only pay in cash. It was not fun as it is a tower you're just going round in a circle on steep steps. Also was wearing boots and winter clothes with a big coat! Could have done it in the summer sweating but would have at least been in trainers.
It was crap as you could only see out small windows and was too bright to be able to take good photos. Then you had to walk down the exact same steps down.
After we just wandered around before we had to get back to the hotel to get ready for dinner to go to the ballet.
Mozart moved to Vienna.
I was very prepared for snow even though my hat looks warmer than it actually is. This was probably the coldest date out of the whole holiday. But it felt colder back in Liverpool the days before we left.
Next post the ballet
