Dec 02 - Vienna, Austria

We awoke at the hotel and had some coffee in our room and downstairs. We were too late for breakfast and too early for lunch.So we shared a half of sandwich from the little market area inside the hotel.

We got an uber to our hotel. Hotel Graf Stadion. We told the desk clerk about our dilemma last night, but she didn't really say anything about it. She said, your room is ready and it was. It's a charming little room. 

We spent a good part of the afternoon there.Because my tummy was not feeling great. We headed out for some early dinner.Because stewart has made concert reservations for tonight. We chose the destination that was only a three minute walk. However, on the way there we came upon a restaurant that looked too good to pass up. Marienhof was the name of it. After perusing the menu, Stuart decided on the Elderflower Spritz, and I decided on the Autumn Aperol Spritz. Both were delicious. For a starter, he had cream of garlic soup and I had cream of pumpkin soup, also very good. My soup had pumpkin seed oil on it, whick seems to be on the seasonal items. For our main Stuart ordered pan fried butterdumplings with egg and I ordered Styrian fried chicken breast. Both are considered classic menu items. There were many items to choose from, so it was hard to decide. Stuart was not fond of his but I loved mine. The chicken breast was nicely coated and cooked. On the bottom of the plate was a cold potato salad that was tangy and delicious. Next was lamb's lettuce and the chicken on top of that. Of course, we skipped dessert. It was a quick walk back to our hotel. We played Phase 10. We were tired and skipped the concert tonight. We changed it to tomorrow night. It was good to have a fairly restful day. 

Dec 01 - Train to Vienna, Austria

We were up into the train station with plenty of time after getting there. We had a coffee and an apple crumb cake. My coffee had Baileys in it. It was delicious but it tasted a lot stronger than just Baileys in it. Our seats are good, both together and facing backward for a short part of the journey, then forward for most of the trip. We did get first class train tickets, so we have service from the waiter the entire time, they bring you food to your seat. The views are absolutely magnificent. We can't always get good shots outside of the train because of the lights inside the train, but it is like a winter wonderland out there. Even though it's an eight hour+ ride on the train. We are glad we did the train instead of a plane because of the views. The trip has been amazing until we got to some stop, which I forget the name of. Now there is a problem with the track ahead and they're working on it. We are stopped here for an unknown amount of time. We are about thirty minutes out of Linz. It ended up being about a 1 hour stop. It will be good to get to Vienna and our hotel. Even if it is still early, we are tired. It is only 4:30p, but it is dark already. 

 

There was another glitch of course. I did not realize check in time was only until six o'clock. I was supposed to contact them 48 hours ahead if we were going to be late. That didn't happen and we could not figure out how to call the hotel. Finally we did call the hotel and got a message in German and couldn't figure out what to do. So Stuart to the rescue once again, he booked the Marriott for tonight. Even though it's not very late, we are pretty tired. The hotel gave us a complimentary drink in the bar and we ordered a small pizza item to have before going to bed. It has been a day full of beautiful scenery and delights. Tonight it is cold with a little rain and we are tired.