Keith had advised us to leave for Heathrow Airport at 5am this morning, but we thought that was too early, so we arranged to set off at 6am. He used to travel down to Slough regularly, so he did know what he was talking about! However, we didn't want such an early start, as we were both fed up with travelling somewhere and then being too tired to enjoy ourselves.
It was lovely to set off in daylight, and the sun was just rising. At first, the traffic was fine, but as we neared Luton, we started to crawl. This set the tone for the journey, and Sophie could see congestion ahead and along the M25. Our flight was at 10:30am, and we needed to drop the car off at the car park and check in two hold bags.
We literally crawled all the way to Terminal 3 of Heathrow, and there were times when we thought we were going to have to run all the way to the gate, miss our planned breakfast and arrive at the plane sweaty and stressed! Images of Keith saying, "I told you so!" were running through our minds!
However, we made it to the car park on Bath Road just after 8:00am, giving us plenty of time to check in the bags ourselves (easy), go through security (easy) and find somewhere for breakfast. We picked a restaurant called Evergreen Bar and Kitchen, which wasn't too busy. We had an hour for breakfast, which was perfect to indulge in something hot. Sophie chose Eggs Benedict while I opted for avocado on toast with poached eggs and a couple of rashers of bacon.
Our gate was close to the restaurant, so there was no long trek this morning. Everything was going so well! I had been dreading the whole experience of the airport and the flight after Mallorca, so I was pleasantly surprised.
Off to Vienna!
We boarded the plane and both of us were glad we only had our handbags and coats to take on. We found our row, stowed our coats in the overhead lockers and settled into our seats. What followed was a complete fiasco as the poor cabin crew tried to find room for the huge number of carry-on bags that passengers were bringing with them. Passengers sitting at the front of the plane had to stow their bags at the back, people were asked to take coats out of the lockers (Sophie had hers on her lap for the whole flight), and people with smaller, squashy bags had to shoehorn them under the seats in front. This meant that the flight was late taking off. I felt so sorry for the two female cabin crew who had to somehow find room for the cases, but they managed in the end! Phew! The price of checking in our two small suitcases was included in our package, but I think BA were charging about £70 to put a bag in the hold if you had booked the flight separately. No wonder passengers were reluctant to pay that amount!
The flight, when we took off, was fine and I nodded off at one point. Sophie and I chose an Aperol Spritz each and a bag of nibbles to get us through the two-hour journey, and it was very pleasant indeed! The pilot said that the weather was fine in Vienna with temperatures of about 15c. We landed, had an easy route through passport control and luggage reclaim, and emerged into the afternoon to decide how we were going to get to the hotel.
We had briefly toyed with the idea of taking the train into the city, but comfort and convenience won the day, and we opted for an Uber, which was about 30 euros. We had to go up to another level where the taxis picked people up and where huge boards were advertising the service. Our driver was young, called Mohammed, and scored highly for his taxi services. We took off and were soon on the autobahn, passing heavy industrial areas - our first impression of Vienna.
Our driver didn't speak a lot and drove faster than I would have liked on the motorway, but he got us to our hotel, The Kaiserhof, efficiently. We checked in and our room was ready, which was a huge bonus. The man on reception, Herr Welt, was outstanding and welcomed us warmly to the hotel, pointing out the beautiful bar and breakfast room. We were on the second floor and our room was lovely, with two individual beds, a mini bar, an immaculate bathroom, a free bottle of water and Ferrero Rocher chocolates on the pillows. We didn't have a view, but we could see apartment windows opposite.
A little exploring
We unpacked and decided to go and do a little exploring. Herr Welt gave us a map and told us where all the important sights were, a short distance from the hotel. He was enthusiastic and evidently loved his city! He gave us recommendations for restaurants and a café to try opposite the Opera House.
The earlier rain had stopped, and it was sunny again. We walked to the end of our street, turned right, and we were on a main road with tram lines running in both directions. I quickly realised that between the road and the pavement was a cycle lane... wander into this and you would find yourself facing speeding cyclists or scooter riders! We were always wary of crossing these lanes, and Sophie, a little while later on, didn't realise she was in the bike lane and luckily jumped out of the way of a horde of cyclists!
To our right, we could see the green dome and two minaret-type pillars of the Karlskirche, a church built between 1715 and 1737 to thank God for protecting the people of Vienna from the plague. Ahead of us was a busy intersection with cars speeding past and trams ringing bells as they glided past. Throngs of people walked along, and we could just make out the Opera House, our destination for tomorrow night.
The man at reception had recommended a café/shop called Gerstner. The ground floor was a confectionery shop selling beautiful Easter eggs, while the next two floors had cafés. We climbed the stairs, not quite knowing what to expect!
The very top floor was beautiful, with chandeliers, gorgeous paintings, marble, and gilt everywhere. We were shown to a table and I opened the menu with trepidation, thinking we were going to be charged 25 euros for a slice of cake and the same for a glass of wine! I was pleasantly surprised, though, as the sparkling Schlumberger Grüner Veltliner was about 8 euros, and the same for a slice of cake. The wine measures here are 125ml, which I think is sensible!
We spent an exceedingly pleasant hour enjoying our cakes and wine and chatting. It was a glorious place to sit and people watch, with people choosing cakes from the array laid out in the salon,
We enjoyed two glasses of fizz as we really didn't want to leave! But all good things must come to an end, so we paid the bill and made our way back down the stairs. We bought two small bottles of the wine to store in the fridge in the hotel and enjoy later, and resisted the lure of the huge chocolate bunnies!
By now, we were feeling a little weary, and the wine had made us sleepy, so we headed back to the hotel to relax. We switched on the BBC World News channel and then freshened up with a shower. We didn't know where we were going to eat tonight, but there were a couple of restaurants nearby that served typical Austrian food.
We did know that we wanted a drink in the beautiful bar, though! There were three people having drinks and nibbles on a sofa and armchairs opposite the bar, but we took a small table near the steps leading down to the breakfast room. It was blissfully quiet, with soft music playing in the background.
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| Reception area |
Sophie ordered a Campari spritz while I settled for a glass of sparkling white wine, known as Sekt. The barman brought our drinks and some nibbles - olives, tiny biscuits and peanuts. It was heaven sitting and chatting, and enjoying our drinks. The barman was perfect; he was unobtrusive, but around if we wanted him!
The three people sitting opposite ordered salads, and we decided to stay in the hotel rather than venture out. It was just too relaxing! We ordered salad with crispy chicken strips and meat patties served with pickles and potato wedges. Perfect!
By about 9pm, we were well and truly shattered after our busy day. Time for bed!
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