last day in Vienna

Today is my last day here.I have enjoyed every moment here in Vienna.I have visited most of the places in and around the city.There have been some highs and lows but on the whole it has been a wonderful experience for me.

Church at durnstein

Picture 111
Originally uploaded by Riteshkamath.

This is also a nice pic

Durnstein

Picture 119
Originally uploaded by Riteshkamath.

I think this is one of the best photos I took at Durnstein..

Banks of the river Danube

I had been to the banks of the Danube river 2 times.These are some pics I took there.The best pic I feel is of the Duck sitting along with the ducklings just beside me.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

A rainy sunday

It was a rainy sunday.Or is it that it rains on all sundays here ? This has been the case from the time I arrived in Vienna.I thought of going to nearby places like the Belvedre quarter.I have no Idea but some good pics about what I saw there.

Naschmarkt

I had been to Naschmarkt.It is at a walking distance from my hotel.It is similar to a bangalore market with the addition of liquor shops, hotels, cafe and pizza shops. I could find a lot of Indians there selling goods , newspapers.Sadly most of the Indians I have seen here sell newspapers. The Sardars are pretty well to do type of people here. They have a big community here.

Overall it is a nice place to visit on weekdays.But may not be a nice place for teetotallers like me.

Some confessions to make

I had been to a departmental store, I had never tasted beer before. So thought of trying it out.I took a 300 ml og Ottakringer Beer.But after I had a sip I came to know what a blunder I had made. It had the shittiest of shit taste.It was so yucky that I had to throw away the beer.I just dont understand why people have to make their life so uncomfortable .Believe me , there are better things to drink than beer.

20/08/05 Melk To Krems

Woke up at 9:30 in the morning .I knew that I had ruined my plans of going on the boat ride which I am planning from 2 weeks now.I had missed it last week too. But now I was in a "Now or Never mode". Had I missed it this weekend I would not had a chance to be there.So thought of going anyways.

I had to change 2 trains to reach westbahnhof.Waited in the queue for the ticket and finally got one for 26 Euro ! ( For once I thought I will not multiply this amount by 53 . There will be too many digits in it and I'll faint.) Ran to the train.The train was just leaving ,caught it just in time.Finally I arrived in Melk at 1:20 Pm .

I could see the Melk Abbey from the station itself . It is a wonderful building .Melk is a great place in itself. But I didnt have any time to wander around. I again ran ( Yes I have started running nowadays ) to the boat, purchased the ticket and got into the boat.

finally the boat started. To my left was a guy and to my right was a girl. I could not move an inch. There were people everywhere.It was like a bmtc bus without a top. I felt that had the boat drowned, I would still manage to catch hold of someone and survive since there were so many of them.

Whenever I tried to take a photo, someone would lift his hand or come in between.Finally some people got down at spitz , suddenly I could feel some fresh air and space around me.Things got a lot more relaxed.The trip lasted for about 2 hours to Krems and about 3 hours to Melk upstream. I took and kept on taking photos. Even a one GB camera card was not enough!

The Wachau valley is a magnificient strip of scenic beauty.There were a lot of medieval towns on the way.Lots of churches, some ruined castles. Among all the places the best one was the town of Durnstien.All along the valley I could find vineyards along the slopes of the hills.. a very pretty sight. Anyone visiting Austria should definitely go on a wachau valley trip.It is highly recommended.

day 11 : Rathausplatz

Yesterday I set out to seek some entertainment after work. I took the U2 and went to Rathaus. There was a film festival going on at Rathausplatz from July to august. So thought of attending it.Before the show started I was wandering through the food stalls . There were cuisines from every country.. finally I was able to spot an Indian stall. They were serving chicken gravy with basmati. I just couldnt resist anymore. I took some chicken makhni with basmati .. surely was the best food I ate since I arrived here.

After that went to the place where they were screening the movie.It was an open air theatre. It started at about 8:30 PM. I would like to tell you that it was no movie.. It was an opera kind of picture...everyone was singing. Ther was a fat lady who was threatening to jump out of the window, but some other lady was preventing her from doing so.. and both were still singing ...oh god ! there was a guy sitting neaby and was also singing.. suddenly the movie got over.This is no comparision to our Indian movies.I still remember the Rajkumar movie (Kannada) I had seen during Ganesha Festival 15 years ago . That was far better than the opera .So I wouldnt recommend you to go to an opera.

a holiday today !

I had a feeling that I will be losing a holiday since I will be in Vienna on 15th August.But as you see today is a holiday here as well.It is the "Assumption Day" , a national holiday in Austria.

Well, I did a google search and this is what Assumption day is all about " A feast commemorating the Virgin Mary being taken up into heaven " . But the downside is that I have not done any food shopping for the weekend and hence will have to rely on the turkish pizza shop for one more day.

Wish you all a very happy Independence Day !!!

day 9 : Schrönbrunn Palace

I was actually planning to go to the boat trip from krems to melk . But after the hectic day in the Vienna woods, I was not able to move around with my sore feet.













So thought of going to the nearby Schrönbrunn Palace.The palace is a very beautiful sight .Near the palace are beautiful gardens, Neptune fountain, a maze garden and a Zoo. I just had a peek at all the locations and came back.

Day 8 : Baden

Here are some pics for today.

Pic of Kurzpark

a lake in Rosarium

Centre of baden

Today I had been to Baden, A small town very near to Vienna.. about 25 Kms from the city.Ther are many things to see in Baden.It has its own stretch of shops, a beautiful rose garden called Rosarium. I got a chance to wander around in the Austrian woods. The is a park called Kurzpark , which leads you to a hill.On the hill you can find some good monuments, Museums and hotels.Ther are also hot water springs n Baden. But they smell real bad.Overall for the average Indian , Baden could seem like heaven.. So make it a point to visit it once in your life (even if u dont visit Vienna).

When I was nearly lost I found a sardarji and a pakistani to help me on the way.On the way back our train was waylaid by a speeding polezei car . They ordered the driver not to open the doors and in full filmi style came running to me. I was really shocked.Then they asked me something which I didnt understand I showed them my tickets.But they wanted to see my passport.I always carry my passport u c. So no problems.

Day 4: Danube & Prater

Visited the danube river after finishing my work yesterday.It is a very beautiful place.it has a piece of land in between the river and what more, It also has a train station on the island.Will definitely go on a weekend danube boat tour. Altogether a great place to be in the evenings.






On my way back I got down at praterstrn and went to prater.Prater is in a way similar to Funworld in bangalore.Apart from the general stuff like the wheel,roller-coaster, you can find, museum,a planetarium, a very huge park for jogging and spending the evening. I was also able to see that there are horse driven carriage rides around the prater.






It was 8:10 PM when I came to my room .. was still sunny outside.

So today is my fourth day in Vienna.It has been a great experience to stay here, mingle with people, move around.Planning to visit the danube river banks and also the Opera at the Rathausplatz Film Festival.The best part is to stay in office till seven and still be able to go out since the sun sets only at 9'o' Clock.Lets see how the day progresses....

Wein in a day !

I reached austria(Vienna ) yesterday.

I had lost my big bag but got it later in the evening.I am not able to call anyone because all calls to india are not reachable on my card. I will try to find out

1) the weather here is a little hotter than India. so I am carrying a great deal of sweaters , jacket and wollen sleepwear.

2) i finished bisibele bath only 3 MTR packs remaining. :o(

3) My friend had told to book in the suite hotel but after coming here I came to know that there are 5 suite hotels in Vienna!!! :o( my mistake..

4) if thats not worse.. heres one more. she told me that SAP isbehind SUITE hotel. the bottomline is I have to go to every suite hotel and check the road behind it. ( This is my trip for today)

5) In germany everyone knows SAP . But here only god knows where it is.

6) I could find only one Indian here in Vienna and that too a sardar.But still I wasnt able to talk to him since he was in an advertising poster !!!


I slept at 6 pm yesterday and got up only at 7 today.