Vienna is interesting in any weather
Review of the tour «Two poles of passion: Spain and France»
08/10/2011 – 25/10/2011
Little preface:
I wanted to go on this tour according to the updated program as soon as I saw it on the Akkord website. But I did not dare to go alone on such a long tour, and at that time I did not have a close partner for a joint trip.
And so I decided to go on a 12-day tour to Switzerland in the summer. But it was not there! Due to the mess with Czech visas, the Rich and Beautiful Switzerland tour is removed from the tour operator's website, and I am left without the selected tour.
After some thought, I switch to the Alpine Trio tour, which is also a very worthy tour, although Switzerland is smaller there. I had already paid for this tour on September 7, and took round-trip train tickets, and now my husband has news: in connection with the upcoming reorganization at the company, he decided to quit his job in September.
The decision comes immediately: we go on tour together, but not to the Alpine Trio, but to the new tour “Two Poles of Passion”, and let Switzerland wait for us. We are urgently rebooking an order for a new tour from September 7 to October 8, renting some tickets, taking others, submitting my husband's documents, my documents are being transferred from one department to another, and waiting for visas.
We learned about the issue of visas 6 days before departure. The information sheet was received in 4 days. We learned from him that we should have an early departure from Lviv at 7-55.
I don't like to go on tours directly from the train. As practice has shown, trains are often late, and this negativity from being late stretches later, like a train, the whole tour follows you. Therefore, I book the Irena Hotel, which we have lived in for a long time, and the night before leaving for the tour we calmly rest in this cozy hotel.
Day one: Border and transit
The day before, we agreed with the buffet to feed us early, so we had no problems with breakfast.
At 7-30 a taxi was called for us and after 10 minutes we were already on the platform near the railway station getting into our bus. We have seats in front, in the second row behind the driver, and my husband liked this arrangement. He watched the road and the surroundings all the time, although on our previous trips he solved crossword puzzles on the road. This time, crossword puzzles were not at all interesting to him.
The leader of our group was Marina Litvinyuk. She immediately informed everyone that she was not a guide to cities and countries, but the organizer of the implementation of the program of our tour, and it should be noted that as an organizer she did an excellent job. The whole tour went without overlaps, delays and delays, except for the departure from Lviv. But this is no longer the fault of our leader.
Our early departure was covered with a copper basin, as the train number 41 was late, and seven of our tourists were traveling in it.
We stood near the station for half an hour, and then moved to the parking lot to the Metro shopping center, where, in addition to our bus, several more Accord buses were waiting for late tourists.
On this day, it was drizzling with a fine cold rain, and it was rather uncomfortable. Therefore, the accompanying groups allowed tourists to go to the shopping center for 30-40 minutes. There, one pass was issued for three people, and everyone who wanted to buy additional water for the journey.
At about half past ten, the late tourists were brought all together by one bus for all tours, they quickly loaded, and we went to the border in Krakovets. Our bus left the parking lot fourth, but, showing miracles of skill, our drivers overtook all three buses that left first, and we were the very first at the border. It was very helpful, and we passed the borders in 1 hour and 50 minutes.
The Poles practically did not check us, they took the first two suitcases that came across, opened them, looked at us for a minute, and that was the end of the search. Hello Europe!
After 20 km from the border, at the parking lot in Radymno, change our bus to a Polish bus of the BOVA brand. Driver Mariusz and his assistant Anya. The bus is almost new, the tables are intact, the footrests are comfortable, the backrests lean back and move to the side. There was enough space for my height. The climate control worked well, when it was cold, it worked for heating, and when it got hot, it worked for cooling. There are no complaints about the bus. And a special thanks to the driver Mariusz for the high professionalism, which he repeatedly showed us on the way. Anya replaced him several times, but mostly Mariusz was driving. And thanks to his skill, we arrived at the hotels not late, within 21-22 hours, except for the hotel in Andorra. But I will write about this move separately.
Now let me tell you a little about our group. There were 34 people in the group, 10 of them were men and 24 were women. Moreover, not only single women were traveling, but there were also single men. Of the total, the third part were young tourists, but there were no children in the group. The rest of the tourists were of retirement age. Basically, the group consisted of experienced tourists who had already traveled on bus tours, so everyone knew perfectly well what discipline was. And I must say that our group was only once delayed in leaving Baden-Baden for 20 minutes due to the fault of the tourist, all other days the departures were on time, without delays and delays. And for that, a big thank you to everyone.
As usual, check in for lunch at a Polish roadside cafe. Hot soup "zhurek" was very useful in such cool weather. We still had Polish zloty from the previous trip, so this time I did not change money at the border. Then a long transfer to a transit Czech hotel in the city of
Prostejov with the name "Hotel Tennis-Club 3*". My first photo was taken in the room at 21-18. The rooms are spacious and comfortable. We also have dinner at home. Thus passed the first day. Hot shower and sleep….
Day two: Fourth meeting with Vienna
For breakfast - a good buffet, departure at 8-00.
Our path lies in Vienna. But an hour after leaving, the Czech police stop us and begin to search the bus.
We all get off the bus without things, and our bus is driven under the scanner. Several times the scanner passes along the bus, the scanner starts to ring, and customs officers climb onto the roof of the bus with special viewfinders. While our bus was being inspected, we could warm ourselves in a cafe near a makeshift fireplace. We liked this fireplace so much that we started a photo session near it. So time passed while the bus was being inspected. Fortunately, the alarm was false, and after about 40 minutes we are allowed to take our seats.
But everyone had to be nervous, both drivers and tourists.
But Vienna is ahead of us, and we are on the road again.
At 11-30 we are already in Vienna. This is my fourth time in Vienna. I have already been to the Sisi Museum and the Treasury before, and therefore we had our own plan to take a walk in the gardens and parks of Vienna, but again a fine cold rain drizzles, and for now we decide to go with everyone to the bus review.
On Maria Theresa Square, a guide to Vienna, Natalia, gets on the bus. Since today is Sunday and most shops are closed, she gives the order to take the group to Hundertwasser's house, near which all souvenir shops are open, and you can buy souvenirs. Here, after the photo session, an active purchase of Viennese souvenirs begins. I was only interested in Sacher coffee in blue packs, and of course I buy it here. We bought all other souvenirs on our previous visits to Vienna.
We also saw the Hundertwasser House itself for the third time.
In half an hour we go by bus further along the Ring. Maria Theresa Square again, everyone disembarks and goes to the Hofburg, but we continue on according to our program.
Departure is scheduled for 17-00, and we have almost 5 hours of free time. In good weather, you can see a lot in 5 hours, but, alas, the rain does not stop.
First of all, we go to the rose park. The roses are still in bloom and the fresh greenery is pleasing to the eye. Even the rain does not stop me from admiring this beauty. Well, how can you leave such a place without a photo session!
Then through the park we go out to the square to the city hall. There, on the square for the kids, some kind of event is held, a large tent is stretched, around it are tents with goods for children, and parents and children walk around the square. This is where the Christmas market takes place every year. The area is just perfect for her.
Here we also take a few photos, and then we go back to the parliament building. Near the parliament, the rain-washed statue of Pallas Athena shone with gilded freshness.
Obligatory photo at the parliament and we go further to the Palace Park to the monument to Mozart. At the monument to Mozart, a treble clef made of pink begonia against the backdrop of bright green grass was visible from afar. Beautiful!
Then our walk continues along the Ring along the Opera to the Stadtpark. Here is the Kursalon pavilion, and a monument to the great Viennese composer Johann Strauss Jr. His bronze figure became even more brilliant in the rain.
Here we had to wait out the invasion of a group of Chinese in order to calmly approach the monument ourselves and take a normal photo.
And yet, next to Kursalon, there is an interesting flower clock, and they show the current current time. This clock showed 14 hours, I checked with my watch, it was exactly 14 hours.
In shops we bought wine, beer, rum, Becherovka, fresh vegetables and fruits, meat and cheese delicacies, and thus organized our dinners.
After a hearty and high-calorie lunch, we leave the cafe, and what a joy: the rain has already ended! And we still have an hour of free time! We decide to go up to the Albertina platform, and from there look at the streets of Vienna. After the rain, the roofs of the houses shone clean in the sun.
Then we go on top to the pavilion of butterflies, there was even such a desire to go there, but I looked at my watch and changed my mind. After all, we have not yet walked along Maria Theresa Square, and we decide to go there through the park. Already there we waited for our bus, and as planned, at 5 pm we went to a transit overnight in Villach.
The day in Vienna went almost as I had planned, and even the rain did not stop us.
Villach is 362 km away. And at 21-40 we arrived at the Grand Media Hotel. The room is excellent, with a huge plasma TV.
My husband first turned on the TV in the room and looked for a Russian channel. But, alas, there were few hotels with Russian channels.
I conducted a photo session in all hotels in the rooms, so now I can easily navigate the quality of the room, and the time of check-in at the hotel. Light dinner and sleep.
Thus ended our second day of travel.
