Three Capital Trip - Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary), Bratislava (Slovakia) Posted on: 26th November 2016 :: Photo Credits: Prayaag, Pabitra, Alap, Hitkarsh ::
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Preface
Another one of our long-weekend-trips with Studifahrten group. This was a three-day trip covering capitals of three Central European Countries - Austria (Capital: Vienna), Hungary (Capital: Budapest), and Slovakia (Capital: Bratislava).
Day : 1
Location : Vienna
We arrived in Vienna early in the morning after a long bus drive from Aachen with the Studifahrten group. We made a quick stop at Schönbrunn Palace, a former imperial summer residence and then proceeded further for a guided city tour of Vienna. The preparations for Christmas had already begun in the palace.
Our guided city tour began from the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of fine arts). But we didn't go inside the museum due to the paucity of time. Small shops had been set up around the museum as a part of the Christmas Market.
Then we walked to Hofburg, the former imperial palace located in the center of Vienna. Our tour-guide over-enthusiastically explained us the history of each and every part of the palace, but we couldn't remember much :P
The central part of the city was decorated for upcoming Christmas.
After completing the short guided tour of the city center, we decided to walk towards the Danube river.
The riverfront was clean and peaceful. The Danube, longest river of European Union region, passes through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. We walked along the river towards Viennese Giant Ferris Wheel.
The Wiener Riesenrad or the Giant Ferris wheel is a permanent fairground attraction built in 1945 with wooden cabins offering dining, plus exhibition. The park around the wheel had many other amusement rides. There was also the Madame Tussauds™ wax museum, which unfortunately was closed by the time we reached there. So, we just clicked some pics with the statues kept outside.
While roaming in the park, we got to see an Austrian Film-shooting. To our utmost surprise, one of their crew members walked towards us and started speaking in Hindi. We were shocked to see this European guy speak fluent Hindi (though the accent was a bit funny, remember “doogna laagan dena podega” :D ) . He told us that he was inspired by Bollywood movies and had lived in Mumbai for 5 years before starting his career in Austrian film industry. He even mimicked some famous Bollywood dialogues!
After watching their 're-takes' for an hour, we left the park and walked back to the city center.
The city lights were stunning and the Christmas market added to the awesomeness. We had some delicious 'Stuffed-Roast Potatoes' in the Christmas market and departed for our next destination Budapest.
