Train to Vienna

Our train leaves this morning at 0702. We get to the station a little earlier so we can buy some sandwiches, pretzels, and coke for our journey. We also go to McDonalds for another breakfast and with the few remaining Zlotny, buy one last pastry as well. Then onto our train which leaves pretty much on time.

Train Travel

We only have one connection after this two hour ride and that is in the town of Katowice. We enjoyed our time in Poland and I may have gotten in touch with my newly discovered Prussian Polish roots.
We make our connection without a hitch and find our reserved seats for the 5 hour journey. We realize we will be riding backwards the whole way and when some people further up move, Carol sits where they were facing frontwards and a table to boot. The ones who moved are sitting across from us with family in unassigned seats. Carol the master conversationalist of the duo, starts in conversing with them.,they are from Australia and have been in Poland for their sons wedding. He married a Polish girl from north of Warsaw. His parents traveled here with one of his sisters and her husband for the wedding. We exchange fun travel stories and help to whittle away the hours. It cuts down on my journal time I was counting on, but we did not come here to write but rather to experience.
We reach Vienna and walk out of the train station loaded with police because there are refugees everywhere. We do not want to linger as it does not feel safe so we grab a map from the information place and go outside away from the commotion. I try to find a street that was on my map to our apartment. This is one of the further walks we have had, about 2.8 miles. Nothing is matching the street names I have and when I finally figure out where we are, it turns out the train ended at a different station than I thought it would. We were temporarily misplaced but now we are here is firmly etched in my map mind. We head up mariahilfer strafe which is a very popular and crowded shopping district avenue. Eventually we come to the outer ring of the old city. We cross the outer and inner ring roads both congested with vehicles and enter the old Hofburg Palace grounds. A map points the way to Michaelsplatz which is very close to the apartment we booked. We carefully and methodically weave our way through a few small alleys and passageways among tremendous buildings. Michaelsplatz is reached and within 5 minutes, we are at the apartment address. No sign on the door or buzzer of the building indicating Heart of Vienna Studio. We are right at our the beginning of our meeting time window but no one seems to be around. We decide to knock on the outer door and as we start, it opens and Anastasia says my name with a question mark. We have found our landlord. Always the gentleman, I take the very small elevator up two floors while Carol and Anastasia walk. We enter the small studio apartment, pay our tab, and are left to our own devices. We unwind from our long travel day and walk here. Deciding where to try and eat leaves us with three possibles based on if we can get in or nor as all say reservations recommended.
We leave about 1800 to go to our first choice, Ribs of Vienna. It is about a mile walk and we find it pretty easily. Ribs of Vienna are known for their excellent fish and seafood. Well that would be silly, they are known for their ribs. We go down into the basement restaurant and discover this is on the Asian places to go list as 9 out of every 10 tables is oriental in nature. We don’t care, just an observation. The manager tells us he can seat us if we can be out in an hour and a half. I am thinking , possession is 9/10 of the law, so sure we can, and tell him that is alright.
They have a large variety of different flavored ribs and sauces with accompanying sides based on your selection. We opt for the Orange flavored ribs and Indian spiced ribs.

Ready For Ribs

We decide to be different and get a couple of beers with our ribs. When the ribs arrive they are like two full racks each. The orange have a side of cabbage slaw and carrots in an orange sauce. The Indian has roasted potatoes and cabbage slaw and a curry sauce on the side. Everything is excellent and flavorful with no fatty excess. The bones pile up as the ribs disappear. We enjoy it so much and there are other flavor to try that we book a spot for Friday night. The earliest time they can seat us is 2000, which is late for us but we just go with it. We,burn off some of the calories meandering back to our place and settle in for the evening. Tomorrow we will explore the royal side of Vienna.

Expenses
Pretzels 3.2 PLN
Sandwiches and soda from Market. 17 PLN
McDonald’s Breakfast 10 PLN
Pastry 3 PLN
Train to Vienna 374 PLN
Heart of Vienna Studio 87E
Dinner and Beer at Ribs of Vienna 37E
Walked 7 Miles