Day 6 - Sunday, Oct. 19 - Vienna

Neither of us slept very well. I was up before 7 AM, and walked over to the hotel restaurant for a cup of tea and to work on my computer. Ron came over a little after 8 AM. Breakfast was fine - not up to the Friesacher's standards even though both hotels are rated 4* by the Austrian tourism bureau. Actually, there is no comparison - we don't understand the rating system.

Entrance to hotel restaurant/breakfast area

We left about 9:30 AM, again staying on back roads. We ran into a very foggy patch. It was only about 1-1/2 hours to Vienna. We passed by Schonbrunn Palace, which was crowded with visitors on a dreary Sunday morning. Schonbrunn was the summer home of the Hapsburgs, and has 1,441 rooms. We plan to visit one day since we haven't been in about 40 years.

The GPS led us easily enough to the street where our "home" for the next two weeks was to be. The fun started after that! The only place to park was a handicapped spot. We thought we would check out the situation and be back to the car quickly, but when we entered the building we could not locate the apartment. First we hopped in the elevator, which would not budge from the ground floor. Then Ron walked up several long, steep flights, and did not find #20. Then we walked through an outdoor courtyard and into another door - this one with NO elevator. We still did not find the place. Luckily, at that point we went back to the car, where several people were gathered - staring at the car, peering in the windows, and it seemed, about to call for towing, as someone from the nearby "old folks home" was waiting to get into the parking spot we were occupying.

Ron quickly moved the car, and we found another spot down the block and around the corner. He left me in the car and went back for further exploration. This time he did find Apt. 20 - in the rear building - the one through the courtyard and with no elevator. Up one long flight - 25-steps to be exact. It seems when we had lunch with the owners in Highlands, we failed to discuss or make note of some important details!

The exercise of transporting two large, heavy bags, and numerous small and medium bags was not easy! It involved moving the car again TWICE, and jockeying bags from one door to another, through the courtyard, and up the stairs. First, he parked on the corner (illegally again) and trundled a few of the bags to the front of the apartment and propped open the door to the entry foyer (an unheated, concrete passageway). Each time he brought more bags from the car, I would take as many as I could to the other end of the passageway.

Passageway from front door to courtyard

Ron at door to rear building after courtyard

The dreaded stairs - this is about half of them - there are 25!

Once all bags were inside, he had to move the car again. I continued moving things through the courtyard and closer to the entrance to the rear building. Unfortunately, all of the work of carting it up the steep stairs fell to Ron - who says there were 8 bags, 4 coats, and 2 garment bags). He said it was pull bag up one step, pause, and pull again.

In Garden "Gazebo"

After getting the luggage up and sitting in the "garden gazebo" with a glass of wine to recuperate, we set out to walk to find internet access, as we could not find anywhere that the owner had left us the security code for the apartment internet. We couldn't call the owner, not only because it was still early in the US, but because without Internet Ron could not see his old messages to find the owner's contact information.

Fortnately, after several blocks, we saw a Best Western Hotel/Pension, and went up to their reception area on the second floor. The clerk kindly allowed us to use their computer (and our laptops) and their printer. Having retrieved some of the info we needed, we set out walking back - with a stop at a sidewalk cafe (nice weather and people-watching).

When we got "home" we were able to connect to the Internet, so we were feeling a lot better about the situation. As Ron says, at least there's not as many stairs as we had a couple years ago in Salzburg! The apartment is, as the owners described,  VERY small.

Living Area/Looking into bedroom (note 2 doors into bedroom)

Dining Area - Kitchen to left

Red IKEA Kitchen

Bedroom - Bed extends from wall to wall. Each person must enter bedroom throught different door to get into bed

Our first visitor - think he lives next door. This agile creature walks all over the ledges, roofs, and balconies in this building. He came in from our balcony

I unpacked a lot of our things, and tried to find a place to store things out of the way. Ron prepared our "dinner" - a packet of Knorrs flaedli soup (a beef broth with pancake-like strips). Something light after several days of restaurant meals.

We were too tired to consider venturing out again, and so we called it a night.