Southampton to Vienna

Written by JB Sr.

A 2 hour delay on flight to Paris CDG, but Orient Express (the real OE not the overpriced steamer with Louis Vuitton clad aristocrats) left on the minute and arrived in Vienna 15 hours later also on the minute! Sleeper compartment was compact and bijou but very comfortable, great scenery in Eastern France as the sun went down and in Austria as the sun came up.

We brought our own dinner – baguettes and fine Brouilly; one of the 9 Crus of Beaujolais – who can name the other 8?. My son managed to name 6, so his vastly expensive education wasn't entirely wasted! We slept really well and had a good breakfast in our sleeper, included in the price, but the packets of rye bread, like most things that we know we ought to eat because they are so good for us, were totally inedible, possibly an incorrect packaging of nylon pot scourers!

Vienna is simply excellent, but then I guess most cities are if you see them in the sunshine. The underground railway, is modern, clean efficient and cheap and the city itself is very fine with lots of street cafes, with a thoroughly authentic Austrian feel.

Most impressive of all was that our hotel room was ready for occupation at 9:00am – how often does that happen? We walked much of the historic centre that morning, but this was punctuated by multiple coffee and consequential toilet stops (the old guy isn't the one with the bladder problem – I have had the operation.)

We managed to escape from Mozart's house without being tempted to buy the golf balls bearing his immortal silhouette.

We set out on this trip to sample at least 1 humble dish a day, with cheap wine. Lunch was a fabulous Wiener Schnitzel with wine spritzers as they didn't serve beer and dinner was set in a fabulous 'Keller' in an old part of town (The Zwolf-Apostelkeller) where they served fabulous wine and a large plate of typical Austrian cold cuts.

Only one of us climbed the Donautrum tower for some panoramic views of the city, as someone had to stay down and stand guard of our belongings.

The train across the Danube to the hotel for tea. A great first day in Wien.