Munich to Vienna

This easter weekend, we finally zeroed in to visit Wien (Vienna). It was a last moment plan with no reservations in any of the fast trains, but who complains when you have budgeted groupe tickets available, both for Vienna, and Bayern Area. We decided to go using the cheapest possible option (recession time 🙂 ).

The route we decided to follow was Munich-Salzburg-Linz-StValentine-Vienna.

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Our first destination was Salzburg, where you can reach anytime from Munich using a cheap group Bayern Ticket. We stopped at Salzburg for the brunch, and left for Wien. In Austria, they have this Einfach-Raus- Ticket which allows for great savings and unlimited travel
for groups of up to five persons on local regional trains run by
Austrian Railways (ÖBB).

Since we decided for the cost saver option, we had to compromise on time factor (and comfort as changing trains at a number of destinations is not always a pleasing thing to do). There was no direct regio train to Vienna, and we were supposed to change at Linz, St Valentine. But because of some maintenance work (?) going on, train connectivitity between Haag and Amstetten was broken. ÖBB had arranged for a bus between the two stations. It was scenic all the way from Haag to Amstettan, and that minimsed our disappoitment a bit.

We reached Vienna in the evening and were tired. But there was no time to waste as it was fast paced trip.

Rest of around an hour only and we were ready for the evening visit to the city. But we all were hungry to the core and required refilling, before proceeding. Luckily on the way to Hotel from Wien-Westbahnoff, we came across an interesting Pakistani restaurant “Der Wiener Deewan“.They had this very cool concept for a buffet, eat all you want, but pay what you think it’s worth. It was totally a reinvention of dining experience. No wonder the place was crowded enough for the place they have.

Near by one can visit the University and Votivkirche. Rooseveltplatz also has a small garden infron of Votivkirche. We spent our evening in the area and returned back to Hotel.

Next morning we left for Vienna International City. There was no guided tour available as it was a public holiday and hence we managed at our own. One interesting thing I noticed was a square named after an Islamic Scholar Muhammad Asad (well I was not aware of him earlier except for his book Road to Mecca).

And yes, Oracle office, near by was like Nostalgaic for me given the good time I had at Oracle India.

We spent sometime in the near by park and left for St Stepehan’s cathedral. We had our lunch at Mac D at Stephansplatz (Fries ONLY urgggg as no vegetarish/Halaal in McD menu) and walked towards the Spanish Riding School which is nearby. Cross the Spanish Riding school and you have Hofburg Imperial Palace . A number of famous locations like Austrian Parliament (and statue of Athena infront of it) , Naturhistorisches Museum, University etc are nearby. Infact for the good old time sake, we took horse-drawn chariots from Imperial Palace for a round. 🙂 It was a short round trip covering Austrian Parliament, Town Hall, Court Theater, St Stepan’s Cathedral, Opera etc.

We left Hofburg for Schönbrunn Palace . The area around Schönbrunn has a zoo, kinder space and the palace. But Roopsha, the only kid accompanying us was tired and enjoying her sleep on her pram, and hence we didn’t go to zoo.

In the evening we took a tram ride (number D) to Belvedere Palace . And in return, we stopped at Karlsplatz to take an evening walk in the shopping area nearby.

On Karlsplatz, there was a musical Toilet. After all you are in land of Mozart :).

One interesting observation regarding road side vendors (or on
substation )is most of them hail from the subcontinent. Some legal
resident, and some illegal. Yes, illegal.
Daaada used his Bangala skills to the fullest and got the address of an Indisches resturant, Mughal Darbaar :). The food was not upto the expectation we had, but then all appears good when you are hungry. The hotel had interesting ambience with images of all the Mughal emperors from India, including Aurangzeb‘s. Seems Mughals still sells for India. 🙂

That was end of day for us, and we left for our hotel. Next morning, we left for Danube area, roamed around in the city, had our lunch in a good chinese restaurant and left for Salzburg. Yes, we were tired enough in the two days of fast paced trip that we choosed not to take the break-journey route. Instead we took a direct IC train to Salburg and left Vienna for München. And yes, I missed not visiting Wachau. May be in next trip. InshaAllah 🙂

_{More info on Wien and places in Wien can be found at : http://www.wien.info/}