A sunny Sunday begins early for us because we want to get to all the three routes of the Vienna Sightseeing tours: red, green, blue. We start with the blue route and drive near the Hundertwasserhaus but I don't see the colorful houses. I need to go there on my own another day. Then the Prater comes into view with the giant ferris wheel and rides for children and the Danube Tower. We drive one way and cross the Danube Canal and go the other way to return to the Staatsoper.
Before the next ride we have lunch at Oasis Cafe owned by a Kurdish young man from Turkey. The food is nothing to write home about but mom speaks Turkish and I have a delicious ice cream dessert: tropical cup with mango, raspberry and coconut icecream, pieces of kiwi, bananas, strawberries, grapes, and oranges. Makes up for the pasta carbonara.
There are many Turkish people here. I know there are many in Germany but I didn't expect it here. After lunch we take the green ride and drive by the Schonbrun palace, Belvedere, returning to the Opera house once more. Ok, there is one left to do. What the hell! Let's do it. After all we've paid for the whole day: 20 euros each for the hop off/hop on service.
The red ride is the Ringstrasse ride. Heroes' Square and St. Stephen's Cathedral are the main stops. We get off at the Stephansdom and walk around the square teeming with people buying stuff in kiosks: food, jewelry, trinkets, clothes, postcards. Inside the cathedral it's rather dark but I manage to take a couple of photos. Many faithful light candles.
After the end of these rides we walk to one of those other platzes and have a coffee to recuperate. I've seen so many things and heard so much history, I need time to process it all. The sightseeing buses are really awesome, equipped with headphones narrating what you see and a bit of history in 12 different languages. We should do that in Chicago. Really.
More later...
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