Vienna, Austria

Delta started new service to Vienna, direct out of Atlanta, so of course we had to try it out! Surprisingly, there were empty seats over Memorial Day weekend! Of course we had a back-up plan, but as departure day approached, the flight continued to look promising for standby travel. So promising, in fact, that we did something we very rarely do, and reserved a room! Rick Steves recommended the Pension Hargita. As a four group, we preferred two double rooms, but the Pension responded that only a quad room was available. At 110 Euro/night, the price was certainly right, so we reserved.

We were in a quandary about what to wear on the flight. Since Delta changed the dress code for non-revenue passengers, we had lots more options. We are creatures of habit though, so we finally decided on our usual business casual attire. I went a little wild and actually wore dark colored tennis shoes with my outfit. Tony’s concession to the more relaxed dress code was to wear pants with patch pockets.

Checking in for the flight was a bit more difficult than usual. Thank goodness we ALWAYS allow plenty of time. The Employee Service Center at the airport was in the process of relocating to the lower level of the airport. We dropped by to take a look, but since we weren’t checking bags, we didn’t see the need to stand in line and headed upstairs to the kiosks. When each of us checked in using the kiosk, we got an error message as we swiped our passport, so we had to go back downstairs and stand in line to see an agent to check in. The security line was particularly long, but we still made it to E Concourse in time for a beverage in the food court. We tried out Tony’s new toy, a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. We were able to check the flight and find that they had already started clearing the stand-by list so we hurried to the gate to collect our boarding cards.

Business Class in the newly configured 767 was quite comfortable. The seats recline just a little more than the old ones (160° to be exact) and include a touch screen entertainment system that you can pause when the flight attendant comes to see if you need more wine! Tony and I watched the same movie (“Because I Said So”) about 30 minutes apart. Tony agreed it was definitely a “chick-flick”. Before I started the movie, I studied the Vienna section of Rick Steves’ “Germany, Austria & Switzerland” book where I highlighted several things I wanted to see and do (including the Vienna Boys Choir and the giant Ferris Wheel).

When we arrived in Vienna, we found the nearest restroom and changed into shorts. We could already tell it was going to be hot just from the walk up the jetway into the airport! We spotted a sign touting an express train into the city that would take just 16 minutes and cost 64 Euro for the four of us to travel round-trip. There was a grocery store on the way to the train where we should have stopped, to stock up on the essentials (Diet Coke, Wine and Chocolate). Next time… Instead, we bought our train tickets from the kiosk and boarded the train. Sixteen minutes later, we arrived at the City Air Terminal which was conveniently located at the Landstrasse stop on the Vienna underground. A short subway ride to the Zieglergasse stop had us near the pension. We took the wrong exit from the subway station so we were a little turned around when we finally emerged into the bright sunlight. I stopped a passerby to ask directions. In my best German, I asked, “Sprechen ze Englisch?” When the lady answered yes, I asked “Do you know your way around?” She laughed and said, “I hope so, I am living here.” She helped us find the Pension Hargita.


In Krems, we climbed a steep hill to the Winegut Schlussel zum Gluck. There we had a nice conversation with the proprietress about the early summer they are having. The fruit on the cherry tree in the wine garden was starting to turn red, very unusual for this time of year; a far cry from ready to eat though.

We miscalculated the time it would take to get to the train station, so we thundered, breathless, up to the entrance just in time to miss the train. We decided to have a snack at the Conditoria Raimitz just outside the train station while we waited for the next one, but were disappointed to find that they did not serve pommes frites. While we ordered bier and wine, Tony went in search of pomme frites. He scored a major win with the girls when he came back with a huge styrofoam box full from the Schnitzelnax. We actually had to send him back for a second serving! We stopped in the grocery store on our way through the train station for chocolate and almost missed the train again!

It was late when we got back into Vienna, so we decided to go back to the Pizzaria Restorante mia Cucina across from our hotel. They were happy to see us again and wanted us to take their wine glasses home as a souvenir. We thanked them and took them back to our room that night, but left them outside the restaurant the next morning.

We made very good connections on the subway and train back to the airport so we arrived extremely early (as usual) for our flight. Since Vienna is a new city for Delta, we played our part in training the staff in the handling of non-revs. They did an excellent job and had us checked in with a couple of hours to spare before the flight. The security for our gate was not open when we approached and there was no place to sit, so we found a table at the Cafe Bistro Johann Straus. The only available table was in the smoking section. It seems so odd now to see smoking in an airport. As soon as we spied a family leaving a non-smoking table, we sent Tony over to lay claim. Another man beat us to it but he offered to share. He was from Montenegro but had spent 30 years in Australia. After we sat down, we noticed that the man at the next table was sweating so profusely that his shirt was drenched. We joked that we were going to catch something from him.