9. More Vienna museums and Churches
Fri, Sept 20
12.09.2019 - 05.10.2019
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Europe 2019
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So this morning was dedicated to getting some laundry done - luckily, our airbnb host let us use his washer - there was a laundromat nearby, but the reviews of the place were horrid. I laughed that people would review a Laundromat but the comments about dryers not giving out heat and washers being broken made me glad that people did review. We had actually stuck our head in the evening before when looking for a restaurant - and the place looked like something out of a horror movie. Did up the laundry as we enjoyed another light breakfast supplied by our host (usually something like some bread, fruit, supplemented by the yogurt and cereal I had picked up). There was no dryer, but he did have a drying rack I could spread our stuff out on. Nice to finally have some clean clothes after more than a week on the road.
Our plan had been to go to the Hofburg, but that plan was soon thwarted. I was under the impression it was one big museum, not realizing it is different museums, so I got frustrated trying to find the 'door'. Eventually we realized it was numerous museums but was getting a little cranky about trying to figure out which one to go to. After some debate, and knowing we were going to be going to Schonbrunn the next day, we decided to forgo seeing furniture and whatnot (and I had listened to a few podcasts about 'Sisi' so didn't need her back story) and I let my hubs choose the armoury museum. The nice thing - it wasn't busy at all. And I do love looking at armour - the intricate designs are a marvel. I'm not a fan of guns, but the decorations on the firearms are so gorgeous. There was also a museum of musical instruments attached, and that may sound boring but it was quite neat - again - seeing the designs - and a violin made out of tortoise shell bought by Empress Maria Theresa in 1749. And the building itself was also lovely.
Now it was getting on to lunch so we hit Pizza Bizi again (the pizza is just so good!) and of course - when nearby - back to Zanoni - where I got black cherry gelato again and picked up a piece of Sachertorte for later. We had been going to go to Demel, but when we went in, the place was just so crowded, I decided against it.
Next was time for churches again. First we stopped into Peterskirche - so over the top and full of stuff. Amazing. Next we went over to see the 'mechanical clock' but had unfortunately just missed the 'performance' at the top of the hour. Then, we hit the Jesuitenkirche. Funny - a few evenings before while we were enjoying a gelato, an older fellow stopped and started chatting with us. He told us about this beautiful church (tho he couldn't recall the name) and how to get there - well, this must have been the church he meant, because the directions fit. It looks so unassuming outside, but inside - WOW. The trompe l'oeil making the ceiling look like it had a dome. The gorgeous pink and green and creamy yellow marbles. The twisty columns. The gold and gilt everywhere. I was blown away. I think it was my fav over the top church - absolutely breathtaking. Our airbnb host told us it was his 2nd fav church in Vienna.
By comparison, we went in St Stephen's next and it was kinda boring, to tell you the truth...lol. I did tell some tourists sitting behind us in a pew that they should go to the Jesuitenkirche - hope they took my advice! Afterwards we wandered around a bit and I decided we should hit Starbucks so I could get a Vienna mug (I've collected a few on our travels, including a Netherlands one). Well, we went in and were followed by a huge group of teens - I mean - like 2 dozen of them yelling and pushing and being teenagers. I just had to leave - shoving my way out thru them - left my poor hubs there. But he got me my mug!
We decided to head back to the room to rest - got back around 4pm and took a few hours to relax. I had looked up Irish pubs since I was craving cottage pie. There was one over in the Opera House area that seemed to be highly rated. Flanagan's Irish Pub. We'd been going to go inside to eat, but - really! - apparently smoking is allowed inside (!!) and it was pretty gross, so we headed back out to the outdoor tables, trying to stay away from smokers, which we did for the most part. I ordered my cottage pie and hubs got chicken fingers - and then we waited...and waited...and waited. It was over 30 min wait, and the place wasn't even that busy. I think the server said something about shift change, but we'd thought we'd been forgotten, and to top it all off, the cottage pie was only ok.
Meh.
Well, then we wandered back over to Museum square to see some of the buildings all lit up at night - and it was a lovely mild evening...
Posted by u2traveller 18:08 Archived in Austria Comments (0)