So, after our first full day in Vienna we hit the sheets quite hard to get some sleep as we had a busy day ahead of us on the Friday.

First of all was the 2 hour exercise to music booking we had made at the Spanish Riding School to see the Lipizanner horses.

Starting off at 10am we needed to get to the Hofburg Palace nice and early.

Breakfast however came as standard with our room. So it would have been rude to refuse it.

And ohhh, what a breakfast is was!

Rolls and Bread

Cakes and Pastries

There was everything from Yoghurt to bread to pastries. A Full “English” breakfast was available, as was a variety of teas.

Full English

The Tea Selection

Honeycomb harvested from the hives on the roof of the hotel was something I had never seen before.

Fresh Honeycomb

A variety of fruits and vegetables were available to juice yourself.

Fruits for Juicing

My favourite was the waffle machine which made hot, fresh waffles which you could cover with maple syrup. Stunning!

Waffles

The pre-requisite cheese and continental meat selection was available, as well as toast and cereal.

Cheese and Meats

A feast fit for a king!

We had breakfast and headed into the City for the 10am tour of the Spanish Riding School.

Hofburg Palace/Spanish Riding School

Boo and Hofburg

Billed as two hours of horses moving to music, we thought we were getting a “demonstration” of some of the choreography the horses did.

However this was a massive misconception.

There are only certain dates each month that are designated a “performance”days.

Sadly this wasn’t on the day we were there. We did get to see the horses in the arena though. For two hours we watched them run up and down, with the odd syncopated walk or a little training. One of the horses did rise up onto his back legs for a few seconds, which looked amazing.

The Lipizzaners

Also it was another place where we couldn’t take ANY photography.

Whilst I totally understand that you don’t really want to spook the horses, it was becoming a common edict.

Even though it wasn’t quite what we expected, it was entertaining and the compere gave us lots of facts about the horses and their history which made it all worth it.

Stunning Location

We had booked a second session at the Spanish Riding School later that day where we were to go behind the scenes and see the stables and the horses themselves, which we were really excited about.

We did have three hours to kill in the meantime, so we headed to Cafe Central which is a famous cafe in the centre of Vienna. We had been directed there by a really good friend, Rhina who was very familiar with the city.

Queueing at Cafe Central

Of course, we arrived over the lunchtime period and the queue was out of the door. We decided to try our chances and joined the queue and it was only a few minutes before we got inside the doors as the queue moved quite quickly.

We Got In

Roughly twenty minutes later and we were directed to a lovely table, under the prettiest ceiling I had seen in Vienna so far.

The Ceiling at Cafe Central

There were literally dozens of cakes available, and I just couldn’t remember them all. Boo sent me to the pastry cases and I took photographs of everything there was to offer.

I have to say that although this was my first cake in Vienna, it was actually the best one I had all holiday. The Winterkuss was a puff pastry delight, with cream and plums and was just heaven on a plate. I polished off every last scrap (along with a couple of beers)

It was great to put our feet up for a little while, before heading back to the Spanish Riding School!

Boo’s Chocolatey creation

A couple of hours later we headed back to the school again, this time to be taken behind the scenes and learn a bit more about the horses.

The Riding Arena

We saw the indoor arena where we had watched the exercises that morning, and an outdoor arena which even had a horse ‘treadmill’!

The Horse Treadmill

We then went into the stables and were introduced to many horses. The Lipizzaners are born black and turn white as the years pass. Most are fully white between the ages of 6 and 10 years.

In the stable though, there was one pitch black horse. He was in his 20’s and had never turned white. Legend says that whilst there is a black horse in the stables, there will always be a Spanish Riding School!

Splendiforous

We saw so many beautiful stallions and I wanted to pet them all. Sadly we were told to keep our hands off (and no kisses on their noses either). Sadly we were not allowed to take photographs in the stables in case we upset the horses.

We went through to the tack room and saw the custom made saddles, bridles and equipment. All of them shone like gold and were so well maintained.

The Tack Room

Even the post the saddles hang on are wonderful!

Coming to the outside area, several horses poked their heads out of the stables and at last we were allowed to take some photographs. What stunning beasts they are!

Just so Beautiful

What a sight!

We spent the next few hours wandering around the City, finally finding ourselves near the opera house. Had time been kinder, I would have loved to have seen a performance, after all it is on my list of 50 things to do. Unfortunately time nor funds permitted this.

It was almost dinner time and we had opted to go to a highly rated burger restaurant called ‘And the Butcher said to the Cow’

Quirky Name, Quirky restaurant

The quirky decor inside really made the restaurant stand out. Slaughterhouse hooks for your coats. Hoofs and trotters and ears on the wall and a really unique looking menu.

Coat hooks?!

Ears. As you do….

We had a look to see what we wanted. What was a bit strange was that lots of people in their 20’s were turning up in full on ballgowns and tuxedos. To a burger joint?!?

We couldn’t work out why so I just decided to ask!

Vivacious in Vienna

Apparently it was the season of ‘The Ball’ and they were all having some food before heading to the variety of balls being held across the City. How marvellous!

I ordered a sirloin steak burger which came with horseradish and a rosemary hash brown. My side order of sweet potato fries was divine. I ordered a Long Island Ice Tea, which many of you know is my favourite drink of all time.

Absolutely Delicious

The food was amazing and the drink was the best LIIT I have ever had in my life. So I ordered a second.

I mean, after all I was on holiday!

The best Long Island Ice Tea…. EVER!

I stupidly didn’t look at the prices, so when my part of the bill came to €51 I almost had a conniption fit!!!

However I have to say It was a fantastic meal and the drinks were epic. Whilst I was surprised by the bill, I happily paid it as I had enjoyed every part of my dinner.

We left the restaurant and headed back to the trams.

One of the attractions we had seen and wanted to try was the Large ferris wheel in the Prater amusement park. Seeing the City from a height in the evening sounded wonderful as we would get to see all the lights and sights.

And Yes, as long time readers know… I am frightened of heights.

Prater Park

We boarded the tram we needed and rode it for a little while. It came to the end of the line at Prater, so we duly got off.

This was a BIG mistake. Mahoosive in fact.

The tram station was full of people, congregating around drinking out of bottles. And doing drugs.

We were spooked out, but the worst was still to come. We had to walk around the station, heading under a large dark underpass to get across the road to the park.

Boo and I were a little freaked out, but we had no reason to believe anyone would approach us. So we hastened towards the park.

As we were walking up towards the entrance, a man came out of the high bushes around the path, on his mobile. He literally scared the bejesus out of us.

It only got weirder…….

We walked into Prater. It was a dark night and the park was heavily illuminated.

The Wheel

And every single thing was closed and locked down.

Spooky as anything!

Apart from the Ferris Wheel……

Now, if you were watching a horror movie,  where the pretty teen girl enters the house of horrors, I am sure you would find yourself shouting at the screen ‘Don’t go in there, you are gonna DIE!!!!!’

The quickest selfie EVER!

Yet we walked in like lambs to a slaughter.

We entered the ferris wheel exhibition. Which was again unmanned and very spooky. Creepy Carousel music was playing and I think we had literally scared ourselves silly.

Dioramas of Vienna

We walked up to the wheel, which basically is large wooden sheds on a wheel and the solitary worker took our ticket. He told us to get in a particular car number, so we waited for it to arrive.

Big Wooden Sheds

Car number 20 arrived and he slide the wooden doors open to let us in.

Sliding patio doors?!?

Both Boo and I stood looking out of the main windows as it started to rise. And then it started to swing.

Fatties Disassemble!!!

Boo wasn’t loving it!

Two fatties on one side made for a very rocky swaying shed and we were not keen on that AT ALL! Laughing together, we spread ourselves out in the shed to distribute the weight.

Not Happy

Then the wheel stopped around 3/4 of the way up. For around 10 minutes (although it was probably only 4 or 5 minutes, it felt like forever)

Sheer Bravado

We literally were having kittens.

Eventually the wheel came down to ground level and we were let out.

Coming Down

We walked through the deserted theme park, with the creepy carousel music still going…. yet kept our nerve.

So pretty…yet scary

Of course, we still had to run the gauntlet of the drinkers and drug takers to get back on our tram.

I can honestly say I have never been SO glad to see some public transport arrive. I absolutely breathed a sigh of relief after our adventure and you can bet your bottom dollar I headed to the Hotel bar to have a soothing drink to relax my nerves.

Cocktail Time

We sat in the bar for around an hour before heading to bed. The following morning we had a tour booked to go over the border into Slovakia and visit the Capital City of Bratislava.

Watch out for what happened next….

Txxx