So, off on the grand adventure of Austria! As you know, I
decided rather quickly to take a trip to visit Vienna (as well as a day trip to
Salzburg). It all came together rather quickly and due to my crazy work travel
this winter/spring to NYC I didn’t get to plan as much as I would like until
the last two weeks of the trip. But after a marathon TripAdvisor session for
inspiration one day, I was ready to head out!
Decided on Air Berlin for my flight, flying from Chicago O’Hare
to Berlin for a change of planes then on to Vienna. I have been trying to book
a late afternoon flight so that the plan is to sleep on the plane and arrive
relatively rested early in the morning. Left Chicago with little issues and we
were off! As we were boarding I noticed that there were several small children
on my flight (actually toddlers). Little did I know how important this
information would be!
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| Air Berlin at O'Hare |
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| ready for my in flight nap! |
The flight itself was fine, little turbulence and the food
was decent. I had a window seat so that there was only one person next to me
and then the aisle. I prefer that because I sleep better in the window seat.
Until the toddler started. Crying. For four solid hours! I mean I understand
that they can’t help it. They are babies. But I really needed to get some
sleep. And I just couldn’t. I was able to doze a bit here and there but nothing
substantial and that makes me cranky! Poor kid, mom was doing everything she
could (walking up and down the aisles, bouncing, rocking, all of it). But no,
that little one was not giving in!! Arghhh
The remainder of the flight was uneventful. I watched a
movie and continued to try and sleep. And of course had dinner and then
breakfast. Which brings me to my next point. Breakfast. It was the typical
yogurt, pastry, meat and cheese. And pickles. For breakfast. I found that so
amusing! I mean I know that the German’s love their pickles but I think having
them with breakfast is a little bit overkill. I mean do pickles really go with
yogurt?
After a change of planes at Berlin Tegal airport (more on
this airport in a later blog post: it’s a little crazy how things are done
there), and a quick stamp in my passport, we were off to Vienna. Just so you
know I didn’t get an Austrian stamp in my passport because they stamp you as
you enter the first country (i.e. Germany) not the final destination. Vienna
appeared to be a nice airport but honestly I just swept through and grabbed my
bags, got some cash from the ATM and found a cab. It was about a 25-minute ride
from the airport to my hotel, the Vienna Marriott on Parkring. The cab driver
was amused when I told him that my German was “no bueno”. Heh. He tried to teach me a few words of
German and was super nice. Of course that could also be because I am a good
tipper. Who knows?
Checked in with no issues (as is standard with a Marriott)
and was promptly upgraded to a king bed with a lovely view of the Stadpark
across the street. Free breakfast and free access to the mini-bar completed the
package! Yay for Marriott rewards!
After a quick freshen up I was off out into the city. More
on that in the next post.
So, do you have pickles for breakfast???
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