The Vienna Prater
An oasis of pleasure
Many people regard the Vienna Prater as just another fun-fair. But it�s much more than that:
it�s a Viennese institution, like the coffee houses or the Heuriger (wine taverns). Its landmark, and
one of Vienna�s too, is the 65 metre high Giant Ferris Wheel. You can see it from most any point in the city. It towers over the 200 booths in the Prater,
the ghost train, go-karts and grotto railways, the merry-go-rounds and fruit-machine halls, throwing and shooting
galleries. I used to think the Prater was the wheel itself but actually it's the whole park. I can never resist taking a ride in it. Rather than seats it has enclosed cars each the size of a small railroad car. After I get up then I remember that ferris wheels always make me nervous.
The Prater has something to offer for the whole family: take a ride with the children on the fairy-tale railway, the
children�s dodgems and the scenic railway. Plummet down the extra-long slides, laugh yourselves crooked, bent, fat or
thin in the hall of mirrors, savour the romantic nostalgia of an old merry-go-round or the great variety on offer
from the Prater caterers: from pickled gherkins to boiled beef.
The wonders of the heavens await you in the Planetarium. And in the Prater Museum you can re-live the greatest
moments of this fun-fair. Each booth in the Vienna Prater is an independent enterprise - which is
why you don�t have to pay an admission charge to enter why the various attractions are not always open at the same times. It's just fifteen minutes on the Strassenbahn from the city center.BACK
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