Vienna

Well, while not many trips have inspired my to write lately, the trip to Vienna has.  Turns out that while I've been to Austria before I'd never been to Vienna... And even then it was only one weekend to Salzburg one time in 1987.  I was delighted to be offered the chance and jumped at it quickly.  Only later did I look at my calendar and realize it was over the same week that the National square dance festival was, an event which I thought I'd try not to miss again.

So after being home with Mike for only two days, I headed to the airport again, pulling my routine of "sleep as much as possible on the plane" then get there on Sunday morning with some time too adjust before work on Monday.

My hotel was close to the city center, so immediately I went out to walk around old town.  Vienna is beautiful!. Every corner you turn has more beautiful architecture.

The weather while I was there was also gorgeous, if maybe a little hot.

Everyone said I had to try the famous Sacre Tort,
So of course I went to the original Sacre hotel to try it.

The Lipizzaner horses are in Vienna,
I went to the Spanish riding school where they train,
but it's summer vacation for the horses.
As one guide put it, "So there will be baby horses next year."

I planned to snag a geocache immediately, and noticed an event cache scheduled for 6pm.  I thought perfect, I would end my walking tour of old town at the geocache and meet a few Austrian geocachers before allowing myself to turn in and pass out (guess I hadn't slept on the plane as well as I could have).  I did fall asleep for an hour or so while grounding myself in the park.  (The theory is that if you ground yourself by touching the earth with your bare skin that your energy adjusts to your location in the world better, and lessens the effect of jetlag).

Anyhow when 6 pm came, I didn't notice any likely geocachers near the event site, so I opened my app to check.  Well the date was the 18th and the geocache was the 19th.. Oh well,. I'd have to come back tomorrow.  I started a note to the event organizer, and only then did I notice it said AUGUST 19th (this was June).  Oops, perhaps  I was tired.  Hold this thought.. (It will be relevant in the next post.)

Karl's Kirche

The office was across town, across the Danube, so every morning and evening I took an Uber back and forth.  The admin at work put together a list of must do's for me to see in Vienna.  So the evenings that I had energy left to do it, I whittled away at that list.  Tuesday evening I went to a famous Wiener Schnitzel restaurant in old town, and after dinner walked over to Karl's Kirche, which was surprisingly beautiful and FULL of life.  The walk back through the Technical University of Vienna campus was such a different feeling than walking through old town.. Really enjoyed the evening. 

Thursday evening I went to a "Heurigen" which is basically a winery.  This Heurigen was in a house the Beethoven used to live in!  Atmosphere was great and the food was fantastic, although not much traditional with the Mushroom Goulash (didn't realize it was mushroom when I ordered it) and Apple Strudel flavored Ice Cream, which I mistakenly thought was going to be Apple Strudel WITH Ice Cream.  After dinner I walked around town and through a park dedicated to Beethovan.

Inside the Heurigen

The Heurigen, a house Beethoven lived in.

Beethoven and me.

Mushroom Goulash!  Yum.

Friday evening I decided I must take the boat down the Danube to Bratislava.  The cheap tickets were sold out, so I bought a ticket that allowed me to sit in the Captain's cabin.  It was very windy.  The Captains cabin was up on the upper level, so they ushered me upstairs, but somehow I didn't get the fact that I was supposed to go INSIDE.  I was a little miffed that I paid more and was going to get sunburn and wind blown before getting to Bratislava.... Somewhere about half way there I figured it out... Duh!

The boat trip was 1 hour long.  Then I walked around old town in Bratislava.  Loved it.  It was very quaint.  Also very small.  But I didn't have much time.  AND of course I wanted to get a geocache.  I went to one that was at the last remaining Jewish synagogue in Bratislava.  But although the geocache was found the day before, it was no longer there.. I am sure of it, so I had to rush and find another one, to insure I got a geocache in Slovakia.  I ended up finding this beautiful Blue Church.  Turns out it is something you can find out about with research, but I had not found out about it, and felt very rewarded by geocaching once again.  The church looks like it's made of sugar and it quite a surprise when you turn the corner in this residential neighborhood.  Geocaching also got me out of old town, which while I enjoyed it, was obviously for the tourist.  I had dinner at a "tourist" place in old town that served "Traditional" Slavic food.  I had Gnocchi with Sheep cheese sauce and bacon.... Yumm!

 

My foot in Bratislava - 7000 km from New York

 

The Beautiful Blue Church I found geocaching

 

I took the train back to Vienna.  The cab driver did not speak English well, and ended up taking me to the wrong train station, although we figured it out before he dropped me, so after a phone call he said I'd be better at the other train station and I got a Mr.Toad's wild ride experience to the other station.  But I made it there with 5 minutes to spare.  He didn't hear me when I got in and asked if he took credit cards, so that was also a little awkward when I got out, but luckily had JUST enough to cover the trip.

Saturday, back in Vienna I had scheduled a Segway tour.. Always fun, and always informative.  Generally I try to do this just after I get somewhere, but that's ok, I still learned a lot, had fun, and saw a few things I hadn't found on my own.  

Sunday I went out to Schoenbrunn palace, a Viennese landmark rivaling Versaille.  I took an hour and a half tour and learned a TON of history, then walked out in the gardens..  just as I reached the other side of the garden, it started to rain.  It was so hot!  I was never happier to be caught out in the rain as I walked back to the palace.  That event took the whole day, and it was beautiful.

Schoenbrunn Palace

The Gardens

Before leaving the palace I took in a Strudel making show.

By Monday, I was pretty touristed out, so I looked up a Square Dance.  I hadn't had much (some but not always) success in the past, so it took me a week to get onboard.  Eureka, I found a group that dance on Monday evenings right in the middle of old town, Vienna, close to the cathedral.  So I went.  It was so hot, and these old buildings don't have adequate (if any) air conditioning, so within about 1/2 and hour I was over heated and felt like I wished I could sneak out.  But the host club was very generous, and I danced all evening.  I had a lot of fun.  The caller also called in Wiener-Neustadt about an hour from Vienna on Tuesday night.  He asked me to go, and offered to drive me.  At first I thought I'd decline, because it was SO hot and miserable, but everyone was so nice, and trying to accommodate me, I decided to take the opportunity to get to know them better and to go to another town.

Meeting up with the caller meant I had to take the Subway to where he was, which wasn't difficult, but I hadn't done that in Vienna yet, so that was a good encouragement.  I had a fantastic time in Wiener-Neustadt.  The club individuals and I really connected.  The weather had broken a bit and/or the town was a little cooler.  


The calling was fast, just enough different than the US calling to keep me on my toes, and the dancers were very good.  It was one woman's birthday, so we stopped for half an hour to have a little champagne, salad, and cake.  It was quite special to be included in that as well.  I left that evening feeling very sad, like I was leaving long lost friends, and chances are I won't see them again.. It was a very odd sensation to feel for these people that I had just met that evening.

Wednesday evening I staying in and worked, as I had so many of the evenings actually.  But when the first night (which was a Sunday) I found the hot tub closed at 7pm, I discovered my bathtub!  Since my hot tub at home died a quiet death last year, I have been trying to take and enjoy baths, but I can't quite get them to work well.... WELL, my very nice hotel in Vienna had a very nice bathtub, longer than me, wider than me and deep enough that I could float.. with unlimited very hot water.   If I had this tub at home, I'd take a bath every night!  So I did!

The last evening there I was feeling a little melancholy, but did get out and walk around town.  The last day my client, Florian, took me out for lunch to a restaurant that he felt I should go to, but still hadn't made it there.  The Schweitzer (Swiss) house.  Jan-Hugo, my colleague from Norway, had just arrived to take over from me, so it was good as a hand over before heading to the airport.  The restaurant was a beer-garden style place.   It was in the middle of a very old and famous amusement park in Vienna.  Jan-Hugo and I were tempted by the Ferris wheel after lunch, but decided we better get back to work for a few hours before I had to go.

Florian taking us out to this special beer garden.. A treat!

Jan-Hugo, my Norwegian colleague
taking over for me after I left.

The line up of beers ready to be served!

The famous (and old) Ferris Wheel in Vienna

A week in Paradise

One of our adventures in May was to leave the RV in Albuquerque and got to Cabo San Lucas for a week with friends. They have a timeshare in Cabo and have gone for the last 4 years, we have a timeshare in Breckenridge, but have never really intended on using it, rather intended to use it for the amenities and to turn into Interval International and exchange it for other locations, in effect forcing us to take higher quality vacations. This is the first such vacation, and we had to use it or lose it by the end of May, and our friends (Mike and Melissa Timmerman) go every May.. humm, we saw a plan developing and jumped at it.

This is Mike's first trip outside of the United States except a couple of work trips many years back, and the first time he had a passport. We stayed at a beautiful resort (Hacienda Encantada) about 6 kilometers from Mike & Melissa's slightly nicer resort. Plus they had a One Bedroom, with living/dining/kitchen, and ours was (mistakenly) a studio, nice room but no kitchenette. So we decided to spend most of out time or home basing at their room in Grand Solmar.

Our Condo : Rancho Encantada

View from our balcony

Melissa surrounded by Mikes

Cabo at night

Grand Solmar : Timmerman's condo

Because of my status with United, we were able to fly 3 of the 4 legs first class! Yay! The first afternoon, taking a shuttle for $20 for the 2 of us round trip to Timmerman's place, and being confined to the shuttle schedule AND the fact that the shuttle dropped us off still a 30 minute walk from their place... well that convinced us to rent a car for the week. We had a fun event planned every day.

Sunday over breakfast we had our timeshare presentation as all good timeshare owners must do... But we met a salesman (Von) who was quite an asset to our trip. He was Swiss. His wife, Christina, also a kindred spirit, was from Minnesota. They have lived in Mexico for 20 years or so. They are in the process of converting a VW Van for them to travel around in for 4 months a year. They own a Mango ranch in the little town an hour north of Cabo called Todo Santos. We were already planning to go to Todos Santos the next day, so he sent us the directions and invited us to go visit.

 On the Mango ranch (in the countryside of the "real Baja" as Von put it) there was a Big House, two guest houses, and a tree house. They had also built a sunken grass surfaced, tennis court, pool, and of course the Mango grove... lots of other fruit too. All this walking distance from the beach. This property is available on VRBO.com. What a treat to tour it on our day in town. Then we headed into town for lunch at a fantastic, although tourist trap, restaurant in Todos Santos called the Tequila's Sunrise. The proprietor, Manuel, was a showman and known for his fantastic Margaritas. Melissa and I shared one, and I'm sure glad we did... Still had to walk it off. That was fine, because we were on a mission to walk around the artsy crafty town and do a little shopping. I found a number of Mexican Opal necklaces that I just loved, and managed to talk the salesman (ok 4-5 different salesman) down from the highest price ($1100) to the price I ended up paying of $225. Probably still too much but that last guy really worked for it as he saw us heading back to our car and ran out to make us a new offer, and in the end, stopped us in the intersection, took our credit card and completed the sale all while we were in the middle of traffic.. OK it was Todos Santos traffic, but none the less, amusing. We grabbed a geocache in Todos Santos before heading back to Cabo to pass out for the evening!

One of the cabanas with the kitchen outside.

Melissa heading up to the bed in the treehouse

Mangos

And More Mangos

The "big House Kitchen

In front of the "Casa Grande"

Swimming and a sunken tennis court

The Hotel California in Todos Santos

Tequila Sunrise Restaurant.. Fantastic food, not so good price... But Margaritas!!!!  Whoa!
I'm sure glad I shared one with Melissa!

The Propriator - Miguel

Tuesday found us out early to give Mike and Melissa a ride to the golf course, then Mike and I tried our hand at Snorkeling. Turns out my second set of snorkel equipment which I brought for Mike leaked. Also he felt as if he needed a life jacket... I float so well the thought that he might want one never occurred to me, after all he is a much better swimmer than I, but between the lack of life jacket and malfunctioning equipment, we didn't feel safe to go out very far, and although we saw some fish, it wasn't that good. Instead we headed back to relax by the pool. That evening M&M took us out to one of their favorite restaurants in town. The two Mikes each got an order of Lasagna which could have fed the whole table!

Wednesday morning Melissa and I visited the spa for a massage, then completed it with a fish pedicure! This was fantastic! The fish are the Garrarufa fish shipped from Turkey. The spa scrubs up your feet then you put your feet into the fish tank with these little fish that nibble on the dead skin on your feet. we left with incredibly soft feet. I don't know why this is not offered in the US, I was scheming to think of someone that I knew that might want to do this business.  Keeping them in the RV has it's obvious drawbacks!  If I had it available I would do that weekly!

(Sorry the video is Sideways)

Have to recommend the
hotdogs at "Doggy Style"
Everything homemade, even the Dogs 

Wednesday evening we took a sailboat out for a sunset cruise.  Melissa had never been on a sailboat before, and this boat carried 22 of up out into the bay a long way, served the open bar, and appetizer tray, then sailed for about 45 minutes, before returning at sunset.  It was really a nice time.  This is the season for Manta Ray.  I never knew Manta Ray jump about 3 feet out of the water and splash down.  The were EVERYWHERE, watch the video to get a clue.  It was fascinating.  The guides said they do it to attract a mate, and also to clean off parasites.

Our Hostess on the sailboat

Thursday found Mike T & Melissa on the golf course again and Mike M and I relaxing in the room.  That afternoon I wanted to walk the beach to the south end (very short distance) and then climb over the rocks to the famous Divorce Beach on the Pacific side and Lover's Beach on the Sea of Cortez side.  The others decided to take a relaxing afternoon by the pool.  I was a little nervous about climbing over the rocks, but the resort staff keep a fairly close eye on the guests and just as i was about to give up on it, one guy showed up and assisted me to the top.  I scrambled down the other side and walked across the beach, and was somewhat nervous about how to get back down when I came back.  The beach was beautiful, but the sun was relentless, so I didn't want to stay too long, and about 45 minutes later when I climbed back to the top, the guy was waiting for me!!  BUT, just as I scrambled over the pennicle, my phone slide out of my pocket and slide down into the boulders.  This happened just as the resort guy got called away, so he suddenly disappeared. (Was he just my imagination?)  I was trying to find and get to my phone.. I thought I could see it but wasn't sure, when a young Mexican man came up the path.  He started crawling around trying to find it.  Then a lifeguard came up the path, he had a phone he could use as a flashlight, so the three of us were looking.  Finally I had the bright idea to call my phone from the lifeguards phone, and finally the phone was found.  Those two guys got into places... I'm not sure how they did it!  But disaster averted they then helped me down the rocks, and walked me back to the resort where Mike rewarded them with a generous tip.  And I had an adventure to tell!

Friday morning Von hooked us up with a private yacht cruise.  The 4 of us got the boat for 4 hours, complete with 2 crew to drive, and regale us with the stories from the sights.  We drove up the pacific side past many famous and remote houses owned by the likes of Tiger Woods, Sammy Hagar, John Travolta, etc, and then back around the tip to a popular snorkeling cove.  This time we had working equipment and life jackets for those who wanted it and we all, including Melissa who can't swim well, enjoyed the snorkeling.  We had a fabulous morning.  In the afternoon we finished shopping, returned the car, and enjoyed a quiet evening back at the room playing cards, and visiting one last time.

What a great week!  Mike complains that the prices were too high, but he loved the trip too.  And while we might go back once because there were things we didn't do (parasailing, jet skiing, hobi-cats, and staying at the mango ranch).. We are likely to want to experience new places too, and with the deal Von set us up in, we now will have more flexibility to try out more places.  I was so happy to have a success for our first vacation of this kind and look forward to many more to come.  But in the meantime, the glow will just have to last a while, as with anybody's vacation.