Saturday, November 17, 2012
Berlin, Prague and Vienna Day 10 (Contiki Day 8)
The last full day of my Contiki tour. The tour effectively ends tomorrow morning after breakfast but that's well... just a hotel breakfast and you could skip that. In fact a few people are flying off at 0700ish tomorrow. I would never willingly choose that kinda flight timing for leaving a foreign city if I had a choice.
In the morning we went on a short walking tour through the Hofburg and into the Inner Stadt. I must say that Vienna strikes me as some place that I will return to again. Come on, wouldn't you like to come here to attend a classical concert too?
After the walking tour by our tour manager, our tour ended in a major shopping area and he brought us over to Swarovski's Flagship store which is 3 stories high. Seriously this place is super bling!! If you like bling, you will go nuts here. No kidding.
Then we had alike three hours of free time, which is kinda not enough to go to museums and stuff but to loong to just hang around. We went to Hotel Sacher where we had the famous (although I only found out about it yesterday) Sachertort. It's basically a chocolate cake with a consistency akin to brownies. Obviously my friends will not require me to provide a reason why I would go and eat a chocolate cake.
After that, a few of us went to the Kunst Historisches Museum. On the way there, I passed by the Spanish Riding School and went to buy tickets for tomorrow's Lippizzaner performance. It's supposed to be the only school in the world left that still uses traditional methods to train horses. I bought th 53 euros tickets so I hope it will be decent (at the the ticket guy said it will be better then at the side).
As I exited the school, there was a large crowd. I must say that I was less guarded than I should be because I had a friend walking slightly behind me, but she didn't notice the pickpocket behing me (not her fault) but I felt a lifting of my bag and looked behind. Immediately behind me was a dark haired guy reading a map. I didn't immediately check my bag but after a few moments, I felt something was seriously not right and I checked my bag. The frigging zip was 1/3 open and I had very carefully closed it just moments earlier (friends who know that I got my phone pickpocked in Bugis Junction will know that I had very specifically zipped up my bag just before that incident as well... you guys know I am very casual with closing my bag).
I was almost gonna freak out as I checked my bag and fortunately, I determined that nothing of any value had been taken. My bag was just too darn full at that point in time (darn lucky for me that I had stuffed the cap portion of my coat in there this morning so my bag was stuffed).
Seriously, I thought Prague would be dangerous but well, never enjoy yourself too much and be careful when there are many people. Anyone that is to close is to be terminated (I kid).
Reached the museum but only spent about an hour and half in it. It is a fine place for anyone who loves fine art. If you come to Vienna and love art, you need to visit the Kunst Historisches Museum. Had to leave the museum because we were going on a optional excursion to the Schnapps Museum. It's basically a visit to where they made Schnapps and the 6th generation son gave us the history and brief tour of the place. We all get to drink Schnapps at the end but I didn't. I was just there for the tour and so perhaps the art museum would have been better lol.
After that we went back to the hotel so people could dress up for the dinner and concert. I just did what every true blue Singaporean does and went in my daily casuals lol. The dinner was Chicken Schnitzel!! I love Schnitzel. The best Schnitzel I've had so far was in Berlin. After that, we went over to where Mozart had his first performance for Maria Theresia and we attended a performance there. It consists of Mozart and Strauss pieces (no prizes for guessing why these two) and also had some pieces which had dance choreography as well as singing. There was a piece with comic effect as well (a violinist who can't perform the most difficult instrument of them all, the triangle.) All in all, it was a good performance and many people gave them the standing ovation although I didn't (and kinda felt a little bad after that).
Best night ever. Attending a classical concert of Mozart and Strauss pieces in Vienna! And of course they definitely did play "An der schonen blauen Donau", just in case you were wondering.
Come on people, come to Vienna and watch the concerts!
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In the morning we went on a short walking tour through the Hofburg and into the Inner Stadt. I must say that Vienna strikes me as some place that I will return to again. Come on, wouldn't you like to come here to attend a classical concert too?
After the walking tour by our tour manager, our tour ended in a major shopping area and he brought us over to Swarovski's Flagship store which is 3 stories high. Seriously this place is super bling!! If you like bling, you will go nuts here. No kidding.
Then we had alike three hours of free time, which is kinda not enough to go to museums and stuff but to loong to just hang around. We went to Hotel Sacher where we had the famous (although I only found out about it yesterday) Sachertort. It's basically a chocolate cake with a consistency akin to brownies. Obviously my friends will not require me to provide a reason why I would go and eat a chocolate cake.
After that, a few of us went to the Kunst Historisches Museum. On the way there, I passed by the Spanish Riding School and went to buy tickets for tomorrow's Lippizzaner performance. It's supposed to be the only school in the world left that still uses traditional methods to train horses. I bought th 53 euros tickets so I hope it will be decent (at the the ticket guy said it will be better then at the side).
As I exited the school, there was a large crowd. I must say that I was less guarded than I should be because I had a friend walking slightly behind me, but she didn't notice the pickpocket behing me (not her fault) but I felt a lifting of my bag and looked behind. Immediately behind me was a dark haired guy reading a map. I didn't immediately check my bag but after a few moments, I felt something was seriously not right and I checked my bag. The frigging zip was 1/3 open and I had very carefully closed it just moments earlier (friends who know that I got my phone pickpocked in Bugis Junction will know that I had very specifically zipped up my bag just before that incident as well... you guys know I am very casual with closing my bag).
I was almost gonna freak out as I checked my bag and fortunately, I determined that nothing of any value had been taken. My bag was just too darn full at that point in time (darn lucky for me that I had stuffed the cap portion of my coat in there this morning so my bag was stuffed).
Seriously, I thought Prague would be dangerous but well, never enjoy yourself too much and be careful when there are many people. Anyone that is to close is to be terminated (I kid).
Reached the museum but only spent about an hour and half in it. It is a fine place for anyone who loves fine art. If you come to Vienna and love art, you need to visit the Kunst Historisches Museum. Had to leave the museum because we were going on a optional excursion to the Schnapps Museum. It's basically a visit to where they made Schnapps and the 6th generation son gave us the history and brief tour of the place. We all get to drink Schnapps at the end but I didn't. I was just there for the tour and so perhaps the art museum would have been better lol.
After that we went back to the hotel so people could dress up for the dinner and concert. I just did what every true blue Singaporean does and went in my daily casuals lol. The dinner was Chicken Schnitzel!! I love Schnitzel. The best Schnitzel I've had so far was in Berlin. After that, we went over to where Mozart had his first performance for Maria Theresia and we attended a performance there. It consists of Mozart and Strauss pieces (no prizes for guessing why these two) and also had some pieces which had dance choreography as well as singing. There was a piece with comic effect as well (a violinist who can't perform the most difficult instrument of them all, the triangle.) All in all, it was a good performance and many people gave them the standing ovation although I didn't (and kinda felt a little bad after that).
Best night ever. Attending a classical concert of Mozart and Strauss pieces in Vienna! And of course they definitely did play "An der schonen blauen Donau", just in case you were wondering.
Come on people, come to Vienna and watch the concerts!
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