Things to Do in Vienna When You're Dead (Tired)

After a grueling night train from Lviv with an OCD compartment-mate, I had about six hours to kill in Vienna before catching a train to see Candi in Venice. Hmmm... what to do with six hours in Vienna, considering I walked nearly every inch of it in 2001.

First stop was Schoenbrunn, the summer palace of the Habsburgs. It is a pretty place to walk in the morning and I recalled them having really nice apple struedel. I didn't want to show up at Candi's empty-handed. Especially when she is providing me a peaceful haven for nearly a week.

Notice the weird tree grooming, where one side is natural and the other flat.

But they do it to get this effect when you approach the house...

Not a bad back yard, eh?

But it seems appropriate for the house...

... and a shot from the front driveway...

Is that where I left my summer cottage? (This will forever be the yardstick by which I measure a palace.)

OK, that filled two hours. Now what? Then I discovered something I had never seen in Vienna -- the Prater, which is basically a small amusement park/carnival. I hadn't been here before because my travel partner at the time thought rides were no fun. Turns out it was him that was no fun, but I digress.

The famous spectacle in the Prater is the giant ferris wheel which was erected in 1897 by an English engineer named Walter Basset. Apparently, these were all the rage at the time. Being an engineer by training, myself, I had to first explore all that the park had to offer before deciding how best to part with my money. (I mean we are talking euros here. They're actually worth something!)

In the final analysis, it was a choice between 8 euros for a relaxing 20 minute ride in a piece of lasting history over a beautiful city OR 1.5 euro to spend 45 seconds being slung back and forth through mechanical, whiplash-inducing S-curves, swooped up and down hills that bounce you right out of your seat, and slammed against the side of a steel car as you are whipped around spiraled tracks on the Wilde Maus. Well, it's obviously a no brainer, right?

Yup, my back still hurts from those s-curves.