Travelogue - Vienna, Austria September 2012 (2)

Definitely overstayed our welcome in Vienna when we decided to skip Bratislava! Needed a break from the constant traveling so much!

As we stayed in Nerbau, Tex managed to find a really nice place for coffee to kick-start our sight-seeing day! Went to this cafe called Amerling Beisl.

Went back to Westbahnhof to try the much-raved Happy Noodles! If you are heading to Vienna, this is a must-try! We love it very much! You could choose your own ingredients of course and they will fry them with their noodles and place it in a cup where you could walk and eat at the same time as well.

 

Choose chicken and shrimps.

The area also had hot dog stands and Tex decided to be adventurous to try meatloaf made of.. horsemeat! Hahaha, in contrary to the wide fascination over horsemeat recently.




Errrr, horsemeat meatloaf.

It tasted quite tough and wasn't very tasty? Not quite what we expected.

We scooted off to Schloss Schonbrunn next!

Embracing nudity.

My eyes!

I amuse myself at how much more touristy I could get.

The other pair of legs that will walk the distance and explore every single nook and corner with me, as long as I want to.

Tumbled back to the city centre for some light shopping and with no inclination to look for St Stephansplatz, we stumbled upon it!

Man, doesn't it just look grand.

We were pretty amazed by the dedication to their culture - as the Church was undergoing some restoration works, there were construction panels covering the exterior walls of the church. We believe that they didn't want to disappoint tourists, hence the construction panels were painted/printed with the exact images of how the Church would look like, if there weren't panels covering the building! Mad amazing.

Stayed after sunset and the Church looked overwhelming gothic at night. I was actually rather afraid to set foot near it. #scaredycat

See what I mean?

Went in and was fascinated by the interiors! Can you believe the works of the olden days?

Then we had the best Schnitzel ever!

 

 

This marked the end of our stay in Vienna! We headed back to Prague the next day so stay tuned for the last episode of the travelogues!

Travelogue - Vienna, Austria September 2012 (1)

Aaah, finally squeezed some time out to blog about another of our favourite city that we've visited - Vienna! Ever since we returned from Europe, Tex and I have been daydreaming about living in this city for a short while. The schnitzels that we had were to die for! Of course, it wasn't all about food. The people were friendly and the city was just refreshing to be strolling around in. A good mix of ancient architecture and modern buildings. Already in love!

We overstayed in Vienna simply because the hostel that we stayed in was too awesome to leave. Decided to give Bratislava in Slovakia a miss as we didn't want to just score countries - we were quite worn out by the travelling and really needed a rest. The Believe-It-Or-Not Hostel was such a home to us! Lily really did a good job!

Arriving at Wien Westbahnhof from Salzburg, we took another train to yet another station (which I completely forgot the name, the German!) before taking a bus to the district called Neubau. It is known to be a 'young and liberal' district but naturally you can expect slightly more dodgier characters around this area. Having said that, the area still felt generally safe at night. Perhaps I was with Tex all the time.

I know this looks like quite a deserted creepy corridor.

Reaching at the door step! Ringing the bell.

Called the owner, Lily, when we arrived at the door step and she let us in 'electronically'. I have no idea how she did that. She doesn't even stay at the hostel.

Coming through that door on the left!

I have a good feeling about this place already!



Behind those two doors - a closet and a toilet.

The hall area - where everyone mingled. I finally noticed on the last day that the yellow thing in the background was a hammock!

Travelling information for the travelers.

The book exchange corner! You take one, you leave one behind.

Moving on into the rooms! This is the 8-bed dormitory, the larger room.

This is a smaller room, only four beds. Tex and I slept on the beds up at the loft.

Spot my Dora The Little Explorer towel. Hahaha!

Very hungry after the train ride and all the transiting hence we headed our for some dinner/supper! Came across this Japanese restaurant which was still open at 10PM hence we went straight in!




I can't decide if this is Chinese or Japanese. It's Roast Duck Ramen.

Yummmmmmm!

Yaki Soba? Can't remember.

Went in search of our next quest - the Viennese Schnitzel! It is one of the best known Viennese cuisine and where best to eat it but in Vienna itself! It's sorta like our chicken cutlet but pounded by a hammer and mainly made from beef or pork.

Had one here. Not impressive, in my opinion.

Viennese sausages.

One thing Tex and I noticed was that the sausages served at kiosks were really tasty and they were normally cheaper than what you have in restaurants! So if you're visiting Europe on a really tight budget, kiosk food can give you a run for your money! One hotdog is prolly about only €2!

When I woke up early the next morning and was having a cuppa with Lily, our hostel owner, she recommended me to visit Cafe Central, since I told her we love hunting around for cafes and would love to experience the coffee culture there. Quoting her, "It's really hard to get a table, you would normally need to make reservations. If you do not manage to get a table, it's even worth it to just enter and take some photos of the place!"

With such recommendations, we walked around for about half an hour, battling the cold winds and rain because I underestimated the weather! Tex had to buy me a dual-cardigan from a very nice old lady and it's his best €29 spent!!

Reached and it was located at a very odd corner of a fork. And we managed to get a table without even waiting for long!!

All these tortes! Ahhhhhh!

Hello sir.

So we ended our day with roaming the streets of the city centre in Vienna, tried to buy my Ferragamo shoes and my Longchamp bag but didn't in the end because the colours and sizes were not to my liking. Oh well! "Money saved!"

Hahahaha, favourite phrase whenever I miss something from a particular launch. Blogshop shoppers would understand!!

Pardon my really slow posting - the weather in Perth has been crazy. 38 degrees Celsius is not doing my body good and I've just been really lazy, drinking a lot of water and well, lazing around. Not to forget that I've been enjoying getting my hands on the fresh ingredients here and cooking all sorts of dishes for Tex to try! I do update regularly on Instagram though, so you can check my photos out there!

Alright, till the next! :)