Vienna part 3 – Quickly through Wiener Neustadt, then Vienna

Finally, I’m getting around to it.

On the Monday, the weather was absolutely gorgeous! After breakfast (coffee for me) we just had to go to Wiener Neustadt for 2 reasons: a) I needed a new pair of sunglasses (I broke mine) and b) we absolutely wanted to see the renovation of Pinki’s (drum roll…) new Bar! Yes! He decided to leave the company and start up his own bar. It’s a thing he’s been dreaming of for ages; plus, he’s a very well known DJ in the region. These past few months, they’ve been tearing down walls and renovating. I tell ‘ya, it’s going to be fantastic!

He’s opening the Backstage Bar on 6th September 2006 and this is what he’ll be offering: a relaxed atmosphere in a mix of modern design and arched ceilings, easy jazz, funk, soul, groove, “chill out” style music (live music on Thursdays), AND you’ll be able to have a normal conversation with friends without having to scream at each other in order to be heard. He’s planning to have live music every Thursday evening. Hey, you might get a chance to see and hear Christoph and Bones live! If you do get an opportunity to drop by, go there. And don't forget to say hello from CS and OX!

Ok. I have to calm down now. Where was I? Oh yes. I needed a pair of new sunglasses. I did... find a pair, that is. You can see them (I think) at the end of this post. Anyway, it was past noon and we were getting a hungry so we walked around a bit and decided to stop by a café. And guess what? They had those lovely opened face sandwiches that we loved so much. Not the same as Trzesniewski's , but pretty darn close! They offered 3 sandwiches and a glass of Sekt (bubbly wine). That was just perfect for me! Of course, the boys needed more than just a mere 3 sandwiches. So, they ordered double the amount… each!

We then started thinking about whether we should postpone the day trip to Vienna to the next day and just enjoy Wiener Neustadt. We knew the weather conditions for the next day were quite unstable, so we decided to drive up to Vienna. Good choice!

We decided to do about the same route we did last January, only with much more liveliness on the streets due to fantastic weather. Besides, it was nice not into got into every second shop just to warm up. I love seeing all those outdoor cafés and watching people. We did a bit of shopping as well. We walked through well known streets such as Kärntnerstrasse, Graben, Stephansplatz to the Stephansdom, made our way to the Heldenplatz to the Hofburg Imperial Palace and to the Museumquartier and, by then, we really needed some refreshments.
We had a beer or two on a terrace overlooking a park and then Pinki’s phone rang. It was one of his friends, Harry, who we had also met in January. We decided to meet him about halfway between Vienna and Wiener Neustadt for some dinner in one of these typical “Heuriger”. We met at the guesthouse “Krug” where Harry and Michaela were already waiting for us. The weather was so beautiful that we decided to have dinner in the lush garden. We ordered a first bottle of wine and considered this to be our aperitif.

We went inside and found quite an impressive choice of cold and hot dishes to choose from: a wide variety of salads, cheeses and bread, hams (warm and cold), braised duck, and much, much more. We were in heaven! You just tell the nice lady behind the glass counter what you would like and she puts it on a plate for you, you pay and take your plates and bread baskets back to your table and DIG IN! Harry had already ordered more wine. It was delicious! All of it!

We ate until we almost burst and then knew we needed schnapps (to help digest, of course). A first round of Marillen (apricot) schnapps was served and then a second. During dinner, we had live entertainment. An accordionist made his way from table to table playing his repertoire. I must admit that I am not that fond of this kind of music, but somehow, it just fit in. We had so much fun, but we knew that the restaurant wouldn’t be open much longer, so we said our goodbyes to Harry and Michaela.

We drove back to Pinki’s after this great dinner and sat outside on his terrace for a while, just enjoying the warm summer night and chatting a bit until we decided to all hit the sack.

We woke up the next morning to non-stop rain. We knew we’d be leaving that same day, so we decided to visit this huge outlet village called the McArthur Glen Designer Outlet in Parndorf which is close to the Airport. We had to leave the outlet again at 3:15 to catch out flight back to Zurich, so we didn’t have that much time. If there’s one thing I can not do is shop under time pressure, so Orange and I ended up empty handed. Maybe it was better that way. At least for our credit cards! Pinki and Andrea had more luck in finding a few things for themselves.

We drove to the airport and few words were said as we would have loved to stay a bit longer. We were sad to leave our wonderful friends. Saying goodbye is always difficult for me, but I managed pretty well knowing that we’d be back and also that real friendship wins anytime over distance, no matter how far. You'll find the album here.

So for now, it’s: “Auf Wiedersehen”!

PS: The flight back and drive home went well, and we were happy to see our “purring son” again. And so was he.