Tuesday 14 June 2005
It has been hot again today, in the high 20s. We got up after a little sleep-in and went into the city. We caught a tram out to the Hundertwasser apartment building - an impressive structure with nothing aligned and free of straight lines. The apartment is close to the Danube so afterwards we walked over to it. Far from bring blue the Danube is very green!
We then caught the tram back to the city where we walked along the canal past pleasant parks and impressive architechture. The city overall is not is impressive as Prague but the public buildings all have beautiful marble statues of Greek gods and heroes.
After lunch we went to the Spanish Riding School to see if there was any performance on during the day we could attend. They have only one show a week, on Sundays - but they have morning excercise open to the public. A performance is €50 to €200 and the excercise is €12 each.
We then went to find the travel agent that sells a ticket to use the free bicycles around the city. Once you register you can pick up a bicycle from stands all over the city and use them for less than an hour at no cost. After you return the bike you wait 15 mins and you can then take a bike for another hour. Chaucey and I picked up bikes from Schwedenplatz and went for a ride on Prater Island. We wanted to head back to the park but couldn´t work out how to get there so ended up returning the bikes after 45mins of fruitless searching. Cycling in Vienna is very different to Wellington. There are cycle lanes everywhere with their own traffic lights. Also, you do not need a helmet. It was very hot so after the ride we had a cold drink.
Afterwards we caught the U-bahn back to the hotel. After a rest we went out to a pizza restaurant for dinner and then back to the hotel for a well deserved sleep. Tomorrow we will go to the Spanish horse school in the morning and then on the train to Salzburg.
One thing to note is the odd layout of the german computer keyboards. The 'Z' and 'Y' are swapped and there are extra keys with accented letters and the special characters are in unfamiliar places. It takes a little getting used to and a lot of backspacing while you type!
We then caught the tram back to the city where we walked along the canal past pleasant parks and impressive architechture. The city overall is not is impressive as Prague but the public buildings all have beautiful marble statues of Greek gods and heroes.
After lunch we went to the Spanish Riding School to see if there was any performance on during the day we could attend. They have only one show a week, on Sundays - but they have morning excercise open to the public. A performance is €50 to €200 and the excercise is €12 each.
We then went to find the travel agent that sells a ticket to use the free bicycles around the city. Once you register you can pick up a bicycle from stands all over the city and use them for less than an hour at no cost. After you return the bike you wait 15 mins and you can then take a bike for another hour. Chaucey and I picked up bikes from Schwedenplatz and went for a ride on Prater Island. We wanted to head back to the park but couldn´t work out how to get there so ended up returning the bikes after 45mins of fruitless searching. Cycling in Vienna is very different to Wellington. There are cycle lanes everywhere with their own traffic lights. Also, you do not need a helmet. It was very hot so after the ride we had a cold drink.
Afterwards we caught the U-bahn back to the hotel. After a rest we went out to a pizza restaurant for dinner and then back to the hotel for a well deserved sleep. Tomorrow we will go to the Spanish horse school in the morning and then on the train to Salzburg.
One thing to note is the odd layout of the german computer keyboards. The 'Z' and 'Y' are swapped and there are extra keys with accented letters and the special characters are in unfamiliar places. It takes a little getting used to and a lot of backspacing while you type!
posted by Michael at
9:07 PM
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