Sep 27 - Arrival in Vienna

Sep 27 – Arrival in Vienna

Our flight landed right on time, about 8:30 a.m. Vienna time – that’s 2:30 a.m. Ontario time. We breezed through passport control and retrieved our luggage. There was a driver waiting for us to take us to our hotel – the Vienna Hilton Park. The hotel was full of people in business suits. There is a huge conference going on right now – the 57th meeting of the EPCA – European Petrochemical Association. We were able to check in, but our room wasn’t going to be ready until normal check in time of 3:00 p.m., giving us almost six hours to fill up. Not ideal, given our lack of sleep. I did a Clark Kent clothing change in the washroom since the forecast high was 28 deg. C. We put our luggage in the secure lock up and set out to explore.

We generally set our aim to be St. Stephan’s Cathedral in the heart of Vienna. We got a sandwich and a drink in a little corner store and then had chocolate croissants for dessert. We spent hours window shopping and walking and exploring. The architecture is fabulous and could be a theme for exploring Vienna all on its own. Vienna is a haven for high end shopping – designer clothing, gorgeous jewelry, traditional Austrian clothing, expensive pens, Swiss watches, handmade hats, tin soldiers, blown glass, ceramics, even fancy schmancy sardines. Little shops with huge bouquets of fresh cut flowers are on almost every corner.

Vienna is a very young city – full of students and young families and hordes of youngish businesspeople, all extremely well-dressed. Business casual for men here means “no tie”. The city is incredibly clean – nary a scrap of litter anywhere. And the streets are hosed down regularly after the horse-drawn carriages make their way around with tourists happily sipping champagne.

By 2:00 p.m., we were hot and tired. We sat in the park by the hotel for a while doing some good people watching, but we were fading fast. We took a chance that our room would be ready, and thankfully it was. We unpacked fast and hit the sack. In predicable fashion, Doug slept for three hours, and I didn’t sleep at all. About 6:00 p.m., we set out for dinner. We had spied a steakhouse in our earlier and without much trouble, we found it. Smoking is rampant here in Austria, and while not allowed inside in restaurants, it is allowed on the outdoor patios. It was a lovely, warm night and would have been perfect for outdoor dining, but the smoke was off putting, so inside we went. We had a lovely dinner and a celebratory drink each, and then found caramel gelato for dessert on our after-dinner stroll. The city is still alive and active in the evening.

No firm plans for tomorrow yet, except to sleep in and avoid the early morning rush in the breakfast room. We might take the hop-on-hop-off bus tour to give the old pegs a bit of a break. My step count for the day was 18,400 – that’s about nine miles. That should offset the chocolate croissant, the gelato and wine. See you tomorrow.Read more