Vienna, Austria 维也纳

June 19, 2022

Sunday morning was quiet, and almost all shops and the farmer's market were closed except for some restaurants. After breakfast, we went to see the last two tourist attractions of Graz, the Mausoleum of Ferdinand II and the Landhaus Courtyard, before boarding the train to Vienna, Austria's capital and largest city.

The train ride from Graz to Vienna was comfortable, and we had the whole cabin ourselves. Our hotel apartment in Vienna city center was in a good location, tranquil, and about a 10-minutes walk from either the train station or the famous tourist spots, and had a large bedroom, a living area, and a small kitchen with excellent conditions. The old-style elevator was cool too.

After dropping off our luggage, we went straight to the Hofburg Palace. We bought the combined ticket package, which covered multiple palaces and museums. We only had time to see their silverware collection before the museum was closed for the day. The museum closed at 4 pm, which was earlier than we expected. The exhibition was impressive, and some of them were still used in the state dinner. It was too early for dinner, so we walked around the plaza area and took many pictures of the famous tourist attractions.

Dinner was Vienna-style schnitzel, Wienerschnitzel, with vegetable salad. At this point, we had tried so many different types of schnitzels, even homemade ones, and it was the first time to have an authentic Wienerschnitzel. It was unique that the bread coating was "puffy," separating from the meat. Our one order came with two pieces of large-hand size schnitzels, one for each of us. The taste was delicious. Look like we would have many more schnitzels on this trip. After dinner, we strolled around the crowded area near the Catholic Church. We stopped by Holy Trinity Columns for the victims of the great plague.

Austria, and especially Vienna, known as one of the most stunning cities in Europe, has spectacular architecture and beautiful palaces. But we had already seen so many of those buildings since the beginning of this trip that our curiosity started fading away. Walking into the crowded Vienna city center and being surrounded by all those vast structures made us feel overwhelmed, especially since all the famous tourist spots were very busy and packed with people. We definitely missed the Swiss Alps’ peaceful nature and wanted to go back to hike on a sunny hillside or a foggy trail path.

欧洲游第三十天：星期天的早晨非常宁静，除了一些餐厅之外几乎所有的商店关门停业。一早又去看了格拉茨的最后二个景点，费迪南德二世陵墓及Landhaus Courtyard。下午坐火车来到维也纳，住在公寓式酒店，带厨房的，相当不错，离火车站和旅游热点十几分钟的路程。放下行李后就去了霍夫堡宮殿, 因为时间不够就先参观了他们的银器博物馆。晚餐又是炸猪排加蔬菜色拉。饭后去天主教堂附近转转，路上都是游客。奥地利尤其是维也纳，作为奥地利的首都，城市建筑和古老宫殿的确很漂亮，非常壮观。但看多了会产生一些审美疲劳，加上满城的游客，就真想回到瑞士阿尔卑斯山里，徒步在无论是阳光明媚的山坡或者是雾气弥漫的小路。