It was on a Sunday - August 31st, 1996 when a group of German students and their two teachers left Hannover to discover Vienna.
The adventure started at 10:26pm on track 3 at Hannover Main station where we took the night train to Vienna.
We arrived a bit tired (cuz the night wasn't very comfortable or restful) but totally excited on Monday Morning. We took a subway to our hotel (Pension Samwald, Hoerlgasse 4, really old-fashioned, lost it's glamour already but perfect) where we moved in our rooms. Unfortunately, it started raining for hours so that we basically spent our first day resting and getting sleep back.
But the remaining days indemnified for the first day; the weather was just perfect to explore Vienna. We've toured around the inner city, visited the Stephansdom whose tower most of us climbed up by foot (136,7m). At the top, we had an awesome view over the roofs of Vienna. After being on solid ground again, we went down to visit the catacombs, an undergrounded tomb under the dome. But that wasn't the only tomb we've been to. The second one was the Kaisergruft (tomb of the emperor). This one is placed under the Kapuzinerkirche and it's the last resting-place for the members of the Habsburger (including Franz I. Stephan of Lothringen and his wife Maria Theresia).
But we've also been over the ground in the wonderful sunlight which we could enjoy during our stay.
One day we went to the amusement area called Prater. First we took a ride on the big wheel where we got an overview. After that some of us took another ride on a different caroussels which turned up and down and twisted a lot that was so wonderful and I could have done it again and again but some of us looked really pale afterwards! And refused to do it again. So we didn't.
The art works of Friedenreich Hundertwasser were very impressive: rainbow-colored, slanting, curved, ornamental and simply erratically. He never liked the straight line and that's what his works demonstrate.
Another day we visited Schloss Schoenbrunn, the residence of the Habsburger. We first had a guided tour in the palace but then could spent some time walking thru the wonderful garden and headed towards the Gloriette. Really nice place to live but maybe a bit too big!
On two evenings, we've been to theaters. First we saw a play at the Theater in der Josefstadt and the next one at the Burgtheater.
But that wasn't all. In the inner city area, we visited also the Hofburg and the museum, the Caf Central, Caf Griensteidl, the Parliament, the City hall, the Peterskirche, the Karlskirche, Vienna Sezession, the houses of art nouveau, the Naschmarkt, and spent as much time just walking around.
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