Wiener
After a couple of days in Zagreb, we crossed back into the Schengen visa region and headed to Vienna. The weather in both cities seemed to fluctuate between pouring rain and humid sunshine every few hours, so we learned to be prepared for anything. We learned a few other lessons in Vienna as well. Visits to the Schatzkammer (Treasury) at the Hofburg and the Schonnbrunn palace taught us quite a lot about Austrian history and the Hapsburgs that we didn’t know before. Next we had a music appreciation class at a concert with music by Mozart, Hadyn, and Strauss in a beautiful old theater.
We also got a free language tutorial courtesy of the Vienna Parking Department. I felt pretty good about how many German words and phrases I remembered. I was even able to ask someone on the street about where to buy a parking permit, and then ask for one at the shop. Feeling triumphant, parkschein in hand, we pulled into an empty space. However, we returned to a big fat ticket on the windshield only to discover that the reason for it (and the reason the spot was open in the first place) is that it was a clearly marked “Ladetaetigkeit” which is roughly a loading zone and illegal to park in. That’s a word that was not in any German textbook I ever had.
Our final lesson in Vienna was that it is not a good idea to mess with Austrian cops. We were casually strolling down a street when out of nowhere three undercover police surrounded a guy sitting in a parked car right in front of us. They were shouting and waving automatic weapons before they pulled him out and onto the ground. The whole operation took less than a minute, but seemed to happen in slow motion. Needless to say, as soon as we saw the guns we backed up behind a store front until the action cooled off. We never found out what he was arrested for, but I don’t think it was a parking offense.
Parting thoughts: It was good to be the Emperor. Here’s the summer palace at Schonnbrunn:
halftime