Sometimes I can be quite capricious about deciding whether or not I like a city. Sometimes all it takes is a sunny day, and a smile from a cute waitress, to convince me that I've found my home from home. On the other hand, grey drizzle and a bit of surly service can quickly see me heading for the departure lounge. Brno (see previous blog) was an example of the latter.
It's rained heavily at times in Vienna, and some of the waiters have been pretty grumpy - in fact they're famous for it. Google 'Vienna grumpy' if you doubt me. And yet I've damned near fallen in love with the place. Top five at least. I've been in and out of the city throughout August, located handily as it is between Czechia and Slovakia and Slovenia, and now I almost feel like a local. I'm comfortably familiar with the U-Bahn (underground train), which by the way is wonderful, one of those networks where there just always seems to be a train pulling in at the very moment you arrive on the platform. And a full week of metropolitan public transport, across U-Bahn and bus and tram, is only 17 euros. Very different to the overpriced, tumbleweed-strewn lottery of delay that we have back home in Tyne & Wear.
Also, in fairness, it hasn't rained all the time here. The summer heatwave has been out in force too. At such times the local tradition is to head out of the city centre and down to the Donauinsel, a large artificial island in the middle of the Danube, containing several clearly-signposted FKK beaches. FKK stands for Freikörperkultur, which means 'free body culture', ie nudism. These beaches swarm with tanned, leathery old Austrians, disporting themselves in nothing but flip-flops, soaking up the sunshine and cooling off in the Danube.
Not all of them are Austrians, of course. Occasionally they're joined by untanned, not-yet-leathery English backpackers. Now more than ever, dear readers, you'll be relieved that this blog is a resolutely selfie-free blog. You can scroll down in safety to my pictures below. But I do recommend the FKK experience. We all like to feel the sun on our skin, so why not feel it everywhere? One minor moral quandary is that there aren't many toilets to hand. We all pee in the shower; most of us would pee in the sea; none of us would pee in a swimming pool. Where do you draw the line in a river that's about 200m across? We must all answer to our individual consciences in this respect. So long as it's all nummer eins and not nummer zwei.
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| Looking south at the Wiental Kanal from the Stubenbrücke. Kanal means canal, obviously. Brücke means bridge, a bit less obviously. |
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| Cemetery in Ottakring, to the north-west of the city centre |
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| Steinhofgründe park. Within easy reach of the city centre. |
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| Graffito # 1 I think this joke works better verbally. |
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| Graffito #2 True fact. See also "traffic". |
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| My Vienna digs. Comfy little studio apartment in Ottakring. For what it's worth, this is cheaper than anything comparable in Sunderland. |
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| Edd vs Food #123 Schakschuka, or 'shakshuka' if we're not speaking German. At Cafe Wortner, Wiedner Hauptstraße 55, 1040 Vienna One of the oldest coffee houses in town. Poached eggs, spicy tomato sauce, feta cheese, avocado, flatbread. |
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| Edd vs Food #124 Chicken kebab & chips at Bahn Kebap & Pizza, Favoritenstraße 74, 1040 Vienna Everything on. Note how you get both mayo and ketchup separately. Served in bread, it's a bit over-heavy. I've switched to wraps (dürüm) since this meal. |
