From Vienna to Budapest

After visiting Vienna, our next destination was Budapest. Therefore, we travelled through the outback of both Austria and Hungary.

The European countries are very advanced in harnessing green energy by using the windmills. The Asian countries still have many things to learn about harnessing green energy.

There were plenty of wildflowers by the roadside. We took some time to admire these flowers at the final rest stop before entering Budapest.

Appreciating Music in Vienna

During one evening in Vienna, we went for a concert featuring the waltz music by Johann Strauss. The concert hall is inside a stand-alone building in the heart of the city.

The concert hall is not very big, but big enough for a medium-scale chamber music. Beautiful chandeliers adorn the ceiling of the hall.

When the concert was about to start, we took our seats which were at the last few rows. When everybody had settled down, the first tuned took its note.

The performance was a mixture of waltz music and excerpts from operas as well as ballroom dancing. It was an enjoyable evening at the city which was once the cradle of music.

Dining in the Rathaus

The Town Hall (Rathaus) in Vienna is a government building housing the office of the mayor and also the city council. The construction work started in 1872 and the building was completed eleven years later.

The long corridor in front of the Town Hall building is a meeting point and resting place of the locals.

At the basement is a historic restaurant operating since 1899, called the Wiener Rathauskeller. The restaurant is beautifully adorned with chandeliers and vaulted ceiling.

We had our dinner there during our first night in Vienna and the soup served was with pan-fried egg strips.

The main course was carved fried chicken served with parsley potatoes. The chicken cutlet was very crispy on the outside and moist inside.

To cap it off, a dessert with vanilla ice-cream and mixed berries was served. The little sourness of the berries went well with the sweet ice-cream.

Shopping in a Village

The McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Parndorf was designed as a village layout instead of a shopping complex. It is about thirty-minute drive away from Vienna.

All the shops are line along long corridors. Most major brands around the world can be found here.

There are something for the naughty ones too!

Schönbrunn Palace

The baroque-style Schönbrunn Palace (Schloss Schönbrunn) is a World Cultural Heritage site for its splendidly furnished royal residence and ceremonial rooms. It was the Habsburg's summer palace with 1,440 rooms. It works out to be exactly 24 hours if one were to visit every room for a duration of 1 minute.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is somehow associated with the palace which is sometimes regarded as a mini-Versailles. The association is being debuted his royal concert in the Mirror Room at the age of six.

The rear side of the palace ground are gardens, a zoo, a greenhouse, a maze and a swimming complex. The Gloriette Monument sits on top of the hill at the extreme rear end of the palace ground. It offers a spectacular view over the palace ground from its roof.

From Salzburg to Vienna

Salzburg is situated in the middle part of Austria where else Vienna is in the East. Therefore, the journey on the road from Salzburg to Vienna took about five hours. While sitting in the bus with nothing to do, I took out my camera to shoot some photos of the countryside.

Besides shooting, we also bought some coffee at one of the rest stops to kill time in the long bus journey. This cup of coffee came with a free mug, and it was also one of the best tasting coffee during the tour.