Can’t believe I’m on day 9 already, it’s going very quickly. Today was spent parked up at Vienna, my stop between Auschwitz and Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia. I took a trip up to the town which is on the other side of the Danube, a pass is available to trains trams and buses (24 hr) for 6.70 Euros.
The town is very much like Prague – a curious mixture of old and new that all seems to work together, the centre of the small old town features the Imperial Palace. It’s Sunday here and all shops are closed. There are a few McD’s open, Burger King and the odd Turkish or Chinese restaurant for those who need a bite to eat.
The McDonalds I went in had a different breakfast menu to the UK ones, maybe 30-40% of the items in common, some were tuned more to the local Austrian palate.
Like Prague it seems to feature a few homeless people in the most touristy bits. I guess they survive on handouts from the passers by.
Some wandered the streets, some were asleep on benches, and some were sleeping on the grassy areas.
Another similarity with Prague was the multitude of horse drawn carriages ready to give you a tour round the city centre.
I took the U2 line into the centre, this loops round the North, West and South of the City. Making my start at the South, I walked to the East and then from there back in to the centre where I found the lovely Imperial Palace.
This has the name of Franz Josef I engraved in a stone over the archway, some building work is going on, but that doesn’t detract from the lovely view.
The front of the palace features a walkway that takes you into the Palace Gardens. These are home to some very large bronze statues and nice grassy areas to park yourself on.
Going all the way through the Palace Gardens takes you to the West side of the old City and the Museum Quarter. I had a look and a museum ticket was 25 Euro, I fancied a look in but didn’t want to see things that badly so I headed back to the South and then back to the campsite.
The metro train back over the Danube took about 10 or 15 minutes, did a pile of washing and drying as I was near a water tap 🙂
Tomorrow is Croatia and the picturesque Plitvice Lakes National Park. I get a nice deal from Three which gives me unlimited internet on my phone in the EU for £5 a day. However, Croatia is not in the EU so I won’t be doing any data roaming. That means the SootyTrak® system will be off as it depends on the mobile phone GPS and internet to work. Should be back on Wednesday when I head back into Slovenia and onward to Venice.