Prater

We got a taxi to the Dubrovnik airport and listened to young driver, formerly from Zagreb, explain about the local real estate prices and rentals. To us it did not seem too outlandish but his salary is quite small he said so it is all relative. Dubrovnik airport is very small and we were shuttled to the plane on a bus. In less than 90 minutes we had landed in Vienna. Vienna only become a destination because China Airlines flew out of its airport. Rather than catch the shuttle into town we caught a fixed price taxi. The hotel is not too bad, a small private hotel, the person next door to us is a permanent resident. We settled in and went to a local shop for milk and other supplies. The cold weather had arrived. It was overcast and very windy. Our 1 month prepaid sim had expired today so we were relying on Google Maps with no directions.
The next morning we went down to the breakfast room for an organic breakfast, whatever that was going to be. I had organic corn flakes which were made of cardboard whilst MDW had two pots of tea. We then did as the locals were doing and ate freshly made cake. Not a bad idea as it tasted very nice. Brought back memories of my youth when we would sometimes have chocolate biscuits or cake for breakfast, must have been Dad’s European influence. The underground was a minute away, we bought a two day unlimited ticket, validated it at the train station and we were off. We arrived at the centre plaza where the main church was. Absolutely beyond belief. It was so tastefully done yet ornate at the same time. Great sculptures, art work and decorations. Mass was being said when we walked in to have a look but that did not seem to disturb the priest and the two ladies in the front pew. We spent the remainder of the day walking around admiring the architecture. It’s hard to put in words how tasteful yet magnificent it is. This has become our favourite destination these holidays although MDW still has a soft spot for Florence. The wind had really picked up and it was raining. MDW wanted to go to her favourite shop which is usually located in the suburbs around high density low cost housing, get the picture. And it was dark with lots of shadowy alley ways and shady looking characters. The street lighting was minimal but on we marched. The wind had destroyed my $5 umbrella so I had no protection from the wind or rain. Suddenly we were there, well almost because we followed the sign on the building which took us past people possibly doing drug deals and a dead end. MDW was getting frustrated but we walked back a little and found MDW’s planned destination. In we walked but shock, horror, what MDW wanted to buy was not in the store. See MDW has fallen in love with honey cashews and peanuts at LIDL. She was not happy but fortunately I found them in another isle. MDW was happy but now we had to get back. I suggested the tram but had no idea what direction or where to catch it. MDW just asked a couple of girls who happily told us what we had to do to get to the city. We took tram to the underground and now it was about 7pm. The train we needed to catch was packed but we squeezed in along with many others. People would just shove you out of the way as they were exiting which resulted in us shoving other people. We arrived at the centre and headed off for a long desired schnitzel at Figlmuller. There was a queue of people out the door waiting for a table so we joined them in the rain until we eventually were shown a table for two. The schnitzels arrived, bigger than the dinner plate but I managed to eat all of mine whilst MDW did her best but left about half on her plate. We asked for the bill and the eftpos machine was put in front of me and the waiter said I just need to put how much I want to tip. Well my tip is if you are going to charge that much for a schnitzel you should not expect a tip. I indicated I just wanted to pay the amount which did not make the waiter happy, “well no tip then” and his jovial nature had disappeared. Back to the underground, full tummy’s we hopped on full trains and back to our hotel. The wind was so strong someone had their takeaway meal blown out of their hand. The horse and buggy’s had given up with only the hardiest of tourists out and about.
The next day we decided to get some culture but we tried to wait out the wind and rain. The weather app was saying it felt like 1 degree outside. So after lunch we headed to the museum quarter and spent several hours walking around the museum of natural history. So many exhibits from the smallest to the largest. We possibly saw almost every animal past and present that has inhabited this planet. The buildings in the quarter were also amazing. As we are flying home tomorrow morning MDW did a final bag repack and I weighed them in at under 23kgs.
Together we saw so much, encountered different cultures, drove on the other side of the road, had a lot of laughs, a few worrying moments and lots of precious memories. The planning went pretty well although we would have changed the length of time we stayed in some of our destinations.
Thank you for the comments and likes, hopefully it wasn’t too long winded, look forward to catching up with you in the near future when we can show you our 3000 photos.
P.S. MDW doesn’t know but I am starting to plan our next holiday.. 🤣🤣🤣Read more