New Year's Eve in Vienna 2008/2009.
Early in the morning on December 31, we landed on an Aeroflot flight at Schwechat Airport in Vienna. Passport control was quickly passed, although before that I had read a lot of reviews on the Internet that the Austrian border guards were conducting intensified interrogations about the purpose of visiting the country, but in our case everything was different. At the exit, we bought tickets for the express CAT (City Airport Train) for 9 euros, which took us to the very center of Vienna in 16 minutes. Although it was possible to buy a regular ticket for 3 euros for an equally comfortable train, the only difference of which is that your journey will take 20 minutes more than in the express train. On the way back we did just that. Our hotel "K&K Palais Hotel 4 *", which was located in the very center of the city, we found without difficulty. Typical European hotel, clean and spacious rooms, very friendly staff. Our room was already ready. We dropped our things and went for a walk.
The center of Vienna appeared before us in New Year's decorations and light garlands.
It was cool, but there was no snow. We were surrounded by ancient buildings of palaces and museums, at the head of which stood St. Stephen's Cathedral. This temple is the national symbol of Austria and one of the main attractions of Vienna. St. Stephen's Cathedral is an active church in which divine services are held every day. I was very struck by the interior decoration: the altar, columns and paintings. I also remember the building of the Vienna Opera House. Horse-drawn carriages plied the roads, taking tourists through the narrow streets. We took the metro to the Belvedere Palace, this castle, considered one of the most beautiful baroque examples in the world, in fact, it seemed to me, a pale copy of Peterhof. But it's still worth visiting. Because it's beautiful.
The city was preparing to celebrate the New Year, the locals hurried through the streets to complete the final preparations. Toward evening, only tourists remained on the street.
We decided to return to the hotel and have a rest before the New Year's Eve dinner in a rural tavern, which we ordered back in Moscow. Three days before, I called the representative of the tour desk in Vienna, which organized this gala dinner, and confirmed my participation and the time of the transfer. By the appointed time, we went down to the hotel lobby, where we met with the driver. We were taken to the bus station, where buses with the same tourists were already waiting. Buses were divided according to the language principle. Although there were enough Russians among all the tourists, but, unfortunately, there was no bus with a Russian-speaking guide for us. We got on a bus with an Anglo-Spanish group. The sightseeing tour of Vienna at night was in the respective languages.
After that, we were taken out of town to the town of Grinzing, where local vineyards are located.
Near one of them, a restaurant was opened, which served national dishes and home-made wine. In appearance, the restaurant was not large, but as our guide later told us, that 200 tourists had gathered to celebrate the New Year. The choice on the table was, of course, poor for a festive dinner, although we did not remain hungry, but the wine flowed like water. The whole evening we were entertained by live music. For the first time we saw that the British ordered "Kalinka" and sang it so famously. At midnight, everyone was poured a glass of champagne, the lights were turned off, and the countdown of the last seconds of the outgoing year began. Everyone shouted loudly, kissed and congratulated each other on the New Year. Outside the window there was a roar of firecrackers and firecrackers. After the New Year's Eve, all foreign tourists were drawn to the buses, we had no choice but to follow them. The buses took everyone to their hotels.
In general, I liked everything, if it were not for our cheerful Russian-speaking company, it would not be a lot of boring. Since it was still not too late, we went for a walk to the center of Vienna, where the city continued to celebrate the New Year's Eve. The people had fun, people drank champagne and mulled wine, launched firecrackers and fireworks.
In the morning, after drinking alcohol, it was quite problematic to get out of bed. We called reception and asked for a late check-out. The check-out time in hotels is at 12:00, but we were allowed to stay in the room until 14:00 without additional payments. We went for breakfast which was included in the price. The breakfast was wonderful. The buffet included all kinds of smoked meats and sausages, red fish, pickles, fresh juices, champagne, fruits, yoghurts and famous Austrian desserts. After breakfast, we went to the room to sleep further ....
After checking out from the hotel, we still had enough time before the plane, and we continued to explore Vienna. The day flew by quickly, in the evening we got on the train and went to the airport.
Ahead of us was waiting for snowy Moscow.
