Nai-publish: 05.08.2020
32 degrees, pure sunshine, no rain. The monitor in the hotel displays the weather for today.
No idea for which location, it says "Vienna" there, but there must be another one. Because in this Vienna, where we are today, it's raining and when it's not raining, it's at least cloudy, windy, and uncomfortable.
Like in every city, we decide to take a tour with the hop on hop off bus. Until the first stop, we are lucky and sit downstairs in the dry. At the Prater, we get off to have a look around. The weather is too gloomy for the Ferris wheel, you can hardly see anything, so we stroll through the deserted Prater and pity the showmen who would actually have high season now. Also in our other stops on the tour, everyone said that there are much fewer people because of Corona. We didn't expect that at all, we thought that now, when so many people have bought bicycles and flying is not necessarily recommended, bicycle paths and destinations like Vienna would be completely crowded. Just like on the Danube Island, there is plenty of space for cyclists and pedestrians in the Prater. What stunned us: there is even a separate path for riders, about 5 meters wide, that runs across the entire avenue. Unfortunately, Frieder is not here, straight and forward, at these temperatures a gallop would have been possible here.
From the Prater, we continue to walk to the Hundertwasser House. Petra is completely thrilled and wants to go home immediately to build a Hundertwasser House there. Mario can convince her that she is in need of a vacation and cannot leave now. Instead, he entices her to the famous Viennese Naschmarkt.
There aren't really many visitors here either, but nobody is paying attention to distance, hygiene, and face masks. Somehow strange, on the one hand there are few tourists everywhere, but those who are here act as if nothing is happening. The two of us are the only ones wearing face masks in many situations.
What would Vienna be without the Prater and without Sachertorte? The Prater is already checked off, now we walk from the Naschmarkt to the Hofburg towards Hotel Sacher, which is right across from the Vienna State Opera. From afar, we can see that other people also have the idea of enjoying a piece of cake at the Sacher in the afternoon. We quickly check the length of the queue and decide to wait in line. There are about 15 people in front of us and we hope that our umbrella will withstand the light rain a little longer. A couple with 2 pubescent daughters gives in to the nagging of their offspring and breaks out of the line towards the shop. This gives us an optimal starting position, as there is now only one young man in front of us. It starts, we are assigned a small table in these venerable halls. The order is clear: 1 piece of Sachertorte and a Viennese Melange. With great care, we eat the traditional pastry. A long walk through Vienna brings us back to the hotel. In order to prevent us from falling asleep at the dinner table, we use the time for some rest in the late afternoon. Since the Heurige in the outer districts are certainly worth seeing, but unfortunately not within walking distance, Mr. Google helps us in the search for a Heuriger near the hotel. "12 Apostelkeller, historical city Heuriger in the catacombs of Vienna" - that sounds great. According to Google, the cellar is only a 5-minute walk from our hotel. But without navigation, we would have walked past the inconspicuous entrance. Upstairs, it doesn't look inviting, but the further we descend the stairs into the cellar, the more we recognize the special ambiance. Traditional food is offered in the cellar from the 11th century. Exactly to our taste. Afterwards, we stroll through the evening Vienna a little bit. There is still a lot of life on the streets and in the restaurants. A visit to St. Stephen's Cathedral is rewarded with great lighting and even an impressive organ performance.