Olivier's Blog

After a short shift, Talie is ready to walk around the city. First stop: Stephansdom. We won't have time to go inside, as I have to head back to the hotel for a call. We will at least observe the building during the day, as it is difficult to see the complete architecture at night. After heading there, we will look around the center of the city. Overall, this was our complete walk:

Arrived at Stephansdom, we can barely walk. Center of Wien on Saturdays is packed. People are dancing, singing, playing instruments and drinking beer in the middle of the streets. This differs significantly from my last walk there, which was at night in the middle of the week. We are told by a young man selling concert tickets that streets are filled with people on Saturdays, but since everything is closed on Sundays, it quickly gets back to a more quiet mode.

Looking up, we can see the cathedral. Some parts are being renovated, but you can see all the details of the architecture. Even the roof is amazingly detailed. On top, we can see people walking around visiting the building. We definitely need to go back and take the tour.

Continuing our trip, we take all the little streets in every direction. At some point, even if we knew approximately how to get back, we couldn't say if we were facing a particular direction or not. After a while, we are back on Kärtner street. We just have to go south to cross the the ring.

Almost arrived at the ring, Talie asks if we should eat something if we want to survive until dinner. On our left, a hot dog stand selling their local version of the food. We take one and end up with a 12" baguette, carved and stuffed with sweet ketchup, strong mustard and a huge sausage. Good thing we only took one for the two of us.

For the two of us? Yeah right, Talie almost ate the whole thing. Turned out, it was pretty good, and probably more nutricious than what we call hot dog sausages.

Heading back to the hotel, we look where we could go for dinner. We decided on a spot and went back couple of hours after. That restaurant is almost the proud sponsor of today's Sesame Street moment. It is a word Talie decided to memorize carefully: Schopftintling. This, is a sort of mushroom.

Posted by Olivier Hill in Vienna at 11:08 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Not really a long post and I'll make one longer once I've done something interesting today.

Between 6 and 9 in the lobby of the hotel, you can get complimentary coffee. Basically, it is an automated espresso machine with pictogram buttons. I've been using it for 3 days, and I can't really figure out how to ask for a double espresso (and short ones, not allongé). What I found out is that it is best to simply press twice the small cup button.

Still, waiting in line, there is a blond mid-40 women in front, trying to understand the machine. She is pressing a button, transfering the small styrofoam cups inside her big thermos, then doing the whole thing again. She definitely looks American. Turns out, she's from Texas.

After a short discussion on how difficult it is to get coffee (still, don't forget she is from the US and must be drinking a container of cheap Dunkin Donuts coffee each morning), I just remember the Starbucks I discovered the first day. Asking if she would want to know where the Starbucks is, I get a strong: "REALLY, Where?". I guess she'll be heading there now.

During that time, couple of taxi drivers entered the lobby and took a small cup of coffee for the road. Each morning, they are drinking their small cup while waiting in line for clients. Even the polizei (police) is doing the same thing. At least, some people are happy with that complimentary machine. Rule of thumb, if you want to fill your thermos, you're at the wrong spot.

Posted by Olivier Hill in Vienna at 06:20 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)