December 9 - 2nd full day in Vienna

Lukas was feeling better, so Angela went into full Mama Bear mode and went to visit him after breakfast. The rest of us, with a day’s training on the metro, set off on our own to show Angela that we could find our way without her. The train/metro station has a full mall within it, so we did some exploring (kitchen and home décor stores seem to be the favourites) before jumping on the metro. We worked our way to the Opera House and got on Tram #2. It covers about half of the ringstrasse that goes around the old part of the city, making a big circle around St. Stephen’s Cathedral. We had a commentary to follow by Rick Steves, but it was hard to coordinate it with the tram’s progress, so most of us just enjoyed the view. About halfway around, we jumped off the tram to see the Danube River – this is actually now just a canal (the Little Danube) as the main river has been rerouted to better suit modern transport requirements.

We then jumped on Tram #1 to take us back to the Opera House. Angela had said to meet her at a fabulous vintage shop around 2:00 p.m., but again, we were peckish. You’d think we never eat at breakfast but trust me, we do. Angela had recommended a little café across from the vintage shop called Vollpension. So, we set off. Any trip takes at least twice the estimated time on the GPS because of the window shopping and store detours. We found a flea market place, stuffed to the rafters with little shops offering anything and everything – little cafés, wines, cheese, meat, fish, fruits, veggies, candy, souvenirs – you name it, they had it.

We got to Vollpension just as the rain forecast for the day begain. Vollpension is like going to have cake at your granny’s house. Had we had time, we could have taken baking lessons from the grannies who run the café. There were six of us, so we ordered six yeast buns with custard sauce and used our three granny coins to select three desserts from the display cabinet – an apricot tart, an eggnog cheesecake and a chocolate cake. Hands down, our favourite was the yeast bun in the custard sauce. (MA and I love anything dripping with custard sauce.)

After our allotted hour (which keeps people from hogging the tables), we joined Angela and Lukas at the vintage shop. I am not a vintage aficionado, but this store I would rank as pretty much the ultimate in the vintage experience. The owners had brough special items from their warehouse for Angela who had contacted them a couple of weeks ago. She bought some items which I’m sure she will rock in her typical cool style.

We had some time to use up before our dinner reservation at 6:00 p.m., but by now it was raining hard, so Lukas guided to an indoor mall. We split up and did our own things, and reassembled shortly after 5:00 p.m. We all wonder how the very upscale shops in the mall survive because the foot traffic was very light, and the prices were very high.

We got to Sixta Café for 6:00 p.m. Unlike some places where we have dined, the service here was superb. Lukas had researched good restaurants when Angela and Peter had come to visit a few months ago. Good choice. When the waiter heard us mention that yesterday had been Lukas’s 30th birthday, he brought pear schnapps shooters for everyone along with a huge candle. The food was great; the atmosphere was delightful; the laughs were plentiful; and the food was delicious. A memorable end to our time in Vienna.

We are on a train at 9:15 a.m. tomorrow. We should be in Nuremberg by 1:30 p.m. See you back in Germany!Read more