After a day of rain we were greeted with sun and moderately warm temperatures today! Despite the fact that we are directly in the heart of the city, walking around in the fresh air is more enticing than riding underground on the Ubahn. Today we planned on venturing over to the Prater. The Prater is essentially an amusement park attraction. One of Vienna’s symbols is the huge Ferris Wheel, which is 61 m in diameter. The entire area consists of 250 attractions from roller coasters, powered cars and attractions of all sorts, which guarantees entertainment for both young and old. Although the times of operation are from March 15-Octoboer 31, there are some attractions open all year round! Heather’s main goal was to take a ride on a pony. Unfortunately the man told her she was too old! Despite the initial failure, we enjoyed venturing through the nearly abandoned amusement park.
Due to the beautiful weather we decided to spend the day in Mariahilferstrasse, Vienna’s premier shopping street. The Mariahilferstrabe is the most famous shopping street of Vienna and it connects the Inner City (the First District of Vienna) from the Museums Quarter with the district of Pensing in the outskirts. On the strip itself mainstream consumerism dominates. An interesting fact is that during the four weekends before Christmas, the Mariahilferstrabe is made a pedestrian zone to accommodate the millions of shopping crazed crowds. This area is either known as a shopping paradise (or Hell)!
After walking for what seemed like hours we decided to head over to the Opera House to check out the details regarding standing room tickets. We hope to make it to a show at some point during our trip. Just directly opposite the Opera House we noticed an elegant café called Café Sacher. At this particular café they combine tradition, luxury, and style as well as Viennese charm to their food and to the atmosphere. The Sacher Café is much more than a mere coffee house; you not only enjoy coffee culture at the highest level and get to taste scrumptious confections and beverages, you can indulge in numerous original Sacher products. Although they are famous for the traditional Viennese Sacher-torte cake, Dom and Heather decided to try the apple strudel. And for me, I am a sucker for hot chocolate so I couldn’t resist! So, I ordered Heibe Schokolade mit Schlagobers, which is hot chocolate topped with whipped cream. All of their chocolate specialties are made with original Sacher Trinkschokolade and fresh milk. Needless to say it was a great decision!
While traversing down the streets we stopped into numerous shops and puttered around at a casual pace. Every clothing store I walked in I became so tempted to make a few purchases…but I resisted! One small purchase I did make was for a Mozartkugeln Mozart chocolate ball. These typical Austrian souvenirs have a core made of pistachio marzipan, surrounded by a layer of dark and a layer of nougat crème, coated with the finest chocolate. Today I surely had my sweet fix!
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