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Sunday 19 July

Departure from Budapest Keleti at 11:10 to Vienna. 1. Class train is a hit. You don’t have rush. There is always plenty of room. Then train journey becomes a pleasure instead of a stress factor.

The trip to Vienna is 3 hours. From Wien Westbahnhof there’s a short walk to the Pension Kaffeemühle. I get an excellent room, although it can not meet conditions in Budapest.

Culture for everyone - even for me....

Rathaus

First walk in Vienna is along the Internal Ringroad where a wide range of Vienna's attractions are located. First, MQ - Museums Quarter - which is a cozy area with museums, cafes, sunbeds of yellow concrete where the locals rests and a really cool toy-racetrack for the children and me. I continue past the ompressing Natural History Museum and Art History Museums and via the Austrian Parliament to Vienna City Hall where Town Hall garten is transformed into a large beer-Garten with at big screen showing opera every evening. On the opposite side is the beautiful Burg Theater.

In the evening there is dinner at a local pub before relaxing at Kaffeemühle.
Monday 20 July

From City Park to Karlsplatz says the walk in Lonely Planet. And although there are only a few hundred meters between the start and end - the walk is 6 km.

It starts in City Park, one of many parks in Vienna. There is a lot of statues with various classical composers. And the small River Wien also run through the park. Then it continues past some beautiful public buildings - the ministries and the main post office - before going into the Hundertwasser area. First, it’s Kunsthaus Wien and then it’s Hundertwasser Haus. Both were built by the architect that quite obviously does not like the straight lines.

Hundertwasser Haus

Schloss Belvedere Then it continues through residential areas and busy shopping streets to the palace Belvedere. Or rather - the palace’s - there is both an upper and a lower Belvedere. Between them there is a large park. There are museums inside both palaces. The trip ends at a second park at Karlsplatz. From there I go home to rest at the hotel.

Tour 2 is shorter. I take a tram to the center. Here I check out a couple of must-see sights - Heldenplatz, Hofburg and Stephansdom. There are lots of tourists and carriages. Then I head for Schwedenplatz and take the U-bahn back. Vienna has a well-developed public transport, which means there are hardly no air pollution.


Tuesday 21 July
 
A planned daytrip to Bratislave has been cancelled. There is still much more to see in Vienna.

Daytrip 1 goes to the countryside north of Vienna. I take 2 different U-Bahns to reach Heiligenstadt and then a bus 39 to a hill / mountain called Kahlenberg.

 

Kahlenberg
 Kahlenberg

There are good views acress the city of Vienna and the Danube, but here in the morning it is disturbed by the back light. However, it is not this part of the trip that is most interesting. It is the trip down. It takes place on foot through the beautiful forest and through lots of vineyards. Austria produces some white wine and down Kahlenberg, there are plenty of vineyards. It is nice with the views of Vienna and the Danube in the background. After an hour going down hill I am in Kahlenbergdorf where I jump on a bus that brings me back to Heiligenstadt and further connections to the U-bahn.

Tour 2 later in the day goes by tram to the center. And while public transport is fine - but the information lag - or my understanding does. 2 times I get on a tram that runs in completely wrong direction. Else I just walk around the Innere Stadt through small streets, hoping to avoid the tourist hords that walks up and down the pedestrian street between the major sights - The Tourist Triangle – they call the route.

Wednesday 22 July

This day starts with a tramride to the Prater. Prater is a large park and a colorfull theme park. The park includes the famous Ferris wheel - Risenrad - which was built in 1897. I take a tour in that. The tour takes 10 minutes. Otherwise, there is much more you can do in such a park - for example gamblinghalls.

Prater

Flaktürm

From Prater I walk to another park called Augarten. It is very hot today - so hot that there are nearly noone in the park - and those that are, they stay in the shade. The park is also home to the world's oldest boyband - Wienersängerknaben - and includes 2 ugly flaktürme. These are concrete monsters from World War II, built in a quality, so it’s impossible to tear them down again. In the park, I find a good lunch place - 2 sausages and a Radler. A Radler is a refreshing local drink which consists of half beer and half lemon water.

Fianally I walk throug the neighborhood Leopoldstadt before I take a tram back to the hotel.

The evening is a quiet and hot trip around the area where I line and dinner in a local snitzelhaus – the snitzlens response to McD.

Thursday 23 July

A rainy day in Nuremberg It is time to head back home. The trip back is cut into 2. Today, I leave Westbahnhof kl. 10:40 to Nuremberg. Here I arrive 15.30 - just as a massive rainstorm hits the city.

I have not booked a hotel, but soon find the nice Lorenz Hotel in mid-center. The only strange thing is that you must go through a shoeshop to get to the reception.

Rain has been replaced by rain, so I take a quick photo tour of the city. There are some old houses, a river, 3 churches, 2 squares and a castle – that’s it.

Dinner is at  the big beerstube Barfüsser. Excellent beer and plenty of food.

Friday 24 July.

Then it’s the final stretch back home. 11.30 from Nürnberg arrives in Hamburg at 16.00 - and 17.30 from Hamburg is in Aarhus at 22.20. It is a nice trip on 1 class, though the bistro car in the Aarhus train had forgotten water for coffee.

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Nuremberg