Today was a big day: we drove back to Vienna and caught a train to Warsaw.
We were at least three hours (by Autobahn) from Vienna. So, we had breakfast, loaded the car and went one last time over the mountain pass, back to the Autobahn. From there, we headed north, past the castle and around Salzburg. At Salzburg, we headed east on one of the other Autobahns. Once again, we passed Stift Melk and then into Vienna.
We took the bus from the airport to the train station. Vienna has two train Stations, and it's important that you get the right one. Once we got there, we started the process of getting tickets. This turned out to be more of a process than I expected (smile).
The train didn't leave for six hours. Plus, the train was NOT going to Warsaw, it was going to Krakow - from there, we would need to make connections to Warsaw.
Evidently, Vienna gets good marks on the "touring student" grapevine: the train station was FULL of students (from countries all over the place) waiting for trains. Teresa and stowed our gear in a locker and set out to tour Vienna.
IMPORTANT TIP: If you are going to Europe PACK LIGHT. Teresa was adamant about that, and I ended up being very glad she was. We had one pullman suitcase each, my backpack and Teresa's small purse backpack between us.
When you are trying to get your luggage onto a train, or into a locker, you will be VERY thankful that you packed light.
With the Rick Steve's guidebook in hand (well, actually in my backpack), we set off to see what we could of Vienna in the six hours.
The first place The Bellevdere (a couple of blocks from the train station) turned out to be the "summer palace" of the Austrian kings that had been turned into a very nice art museum. Teresa was able to view some of her favorite impressionists. From there, we walked down the gardens (which have been converted into a public park) and made our way towards "the famous Ring".
One of the Austrian kings, when he realized that modern warfare had made walls obsolete, had the wall around Vienna torn down and turned into a ring road around the city center. "Inside the ring" places you squarely in historic Vienna.
Vienna's public transit system is a series of electric trolleys. #1 and #2 circulate the Ring (#1 clockwise, #2 counter-clockwise) and make for a good, quick, tour of the city.
We settled down for the whirlwind tour around the ring. Impressions: the statue of Stauss (next to his concert hall where Waltz competitions are held); the canal; the really nice park with everybody out enjoying themselves; the Opera house and the statues.
We liked Vienna and we plan to return.
Once the trolley ride was over, we decided to dine within the ring. We ended up in the Hotel Imperial, which was EXCELLENT. After dinner we walked down the pedestrian mall to St. Stephan's church.
If "the ring" is the center of Austria, St. Stephen's is the center of the ring. It is the national cathedral. It was damaged during WW2 but repaired and restored. A really nice place to visit.
And the walk down was wonderful. The mall was lined with shops, crowded with people, street performers, musicians�. I would have loved to spend more time there, but we had to get back to the train.
We walked back to the station, picked up our luggage and headed for the train platform. Our train was sitting there, waiting.
Neither Teresa nor I liked the look of the second class compartment, which was the only one available when we purchased our tickets. We were going to be on the train ALL night (it was around 9:00 PM at this point and the ride was 9 hours) and, not only would it not be comfortable, neither of us would feel really safe enough to sleep. At this point we encountered the (Polish) conductor, who explained that there were couchettes (sleeper bunk beds) available - for a price.
The conductor's eyes lit up at the sight of American money.
The deal was made, we were moved into a compartment with the bunk beds and started to get comfy. Teresa is of the opinion, and I don't disagree, that those American dollars went into the conductor's pocket. If that is the case, more power to him: the man had a family to feed (he was wearing a wedding band) and American dollars are worth a LOT over there. It wasn't like we were cheated - we ended up with a private compartment with beds.
Then, the two ladies (probably students) who REALLY had tickets for that compartment showed up� the conductor took care of it, moved them into another empty compartment and we settled down to doze.
Unfortunately, we couldn't really do more than doze. The bunks were MUCH nicer than the second class coach, but the movement (and novelty) of the train made it a little difficult to sleep.
And then there was Passport Control� they made it impossible to get a good night's sleep.
Going from Vienna to Warsaw, we passed in and out of the Chec Republic. Each of those countries wants to know who came in and who went out. They do this by checking your passport. While I could understand this intellectually, it was an entirely different thing to be awakened, in the middle of the night by someone rapping on the door wanting to see your passport. This happened twice at each border along the way. When we left a country, we would enter another country. BOTH of them want to see your passport: and they don't work together.
So, at the first stop, I was awakened by somebody banging on the door, wanting to see our passports. I got up, opened the door, had the passports scanned, locked the door back and started to settle back down.
Right about the time I was starting to drift again, ANOTHER banging at the door started� this was passport control from the country we were ENTERING�.
This started the process for the evening. I swear that, at one stop, three different people had to check our passports (I still haven't figured that one out).
On the whole, it was a pleasant ride. The ride through the night took us into