Vienna / Bad Vöslau

This vacation (in 1976) has been one of the wonderful holidays we made over the years. We always wanted to visit Vienna once in our life, but we never expected that it would be such a wonderful experience. Well, read it all yourself and see if we said too much….

The driver/tourmanager welcomed us and wished us a real nice vacation. His name was Enne. After every stop, we had to move one chair in the bus forwards. It rained all morning and it continued to do so but now it also started to rain inside the bus as well. We sang some songs about the rain. After a lunch we continued our drive to "Straubing" for a tea break. The church of this city was a real nice one with a green roof. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay long there and we drove away after half an hour.

And believe it or not, but it started to rain again inside the bus. Not only at the backside, but on the frontside now too. Enne told us that the bus had been back to the fabric four times already, but obvious they couldn’t save the problem there. Unbelievable. We suggested that it "maybe" would be an idea to let these people of the fabric travel around in the bus during a rainy day. Enne played some music in the bus to keep us wake, but we were very glad that we arrived in Neumark around 7 o’clock in the evening to spend the night there. Jenneke JR. became room number 2 and her parents room number 32. After dinner we went to bed so we were fresh to continue our trip the next day.

As told before, we left Neumark around 7 o’clock and around half past 1 in the afternoon we arrived at Passau for the lunch. Another group had their lunch there as well, the group who left Bad Vöslau. Together with this driver, Enne tried to repair the bus, but without any luck.

At half past 3 we continued our drive and passed the border around 3 o’clock. We had to wait in Passau for awhile, because they found some drugs in a bus that came from Sweden, but after that we drove to Bad Vöslau without any problems and arrived at Hotel Stefanie.

Jenneke JR. had room 118 (at the first floor) and her parent’s room 225 at the second. Dinnertime came at 8 o’clock. The food wasn’t that good so we started to complain and it be better the rest of our visit. After a small walk outside, we went to bed.

When we came downstairs, we received the program for the upcoming week. This morning, we had some free time and we went, with our tourguide, to the Kuhrpark, which laid some steps higher as the city itself.

Before we realized it, it became half past 1 and we went back to the hotel for the lunch.

In the afternoon, we made our first trip to Vienna. It took 45 minutes to arrive in Vienna. There was so much to see that everybody got speechless. Surprise: the sun was shining, but only sometimes some rain. Enne drove us to Belvedere where we got some time to walk around, to take some photos and to buy some postcards.

After Belvedere we drove back to Bad Vöslau for dinner.

There was a possibility for everyone to go to the church in the morning, but it was also possible to walk around or to sleep a little longer and that’s what we did.

In the afternoon, we drove to the Kahlenberg and then to Vienna to enjoy a concert in the Stadspark. They played some songs from "Gräfin Mariza" and the "Radetsky Mars". We visited Grinzing and drove back to Bad Vöslau.

In the evening, they invited us to watch some Dias someone made of Vienna. Especially the ones of Vienna by night were wonderful.

We left Bad Vöslau around 8:30 in the morning to drive to Semmering.

On our way, we saw a lot of trees, which were fallen apart during the last storm. We had a little drink in a cafe in Mariahilfberg with (another) lovely church.

After Semmering, we drove to Payerbach for the lunch and from there we went to the Hohe Wand. Oh boy, it started to rain again, but there was some sunshine as well so we were able to see a wonderful rainbow. From the Hohe Wand you have a wonderful view on three countries.

After our visit there, we went back to Bad Vöslau had dinner and went back to Vienna again. This time for a "Tour through Vienna by night". That was so fantastic. We also visited the Donauturm. Within seconds you’re upstairs and you have a lovely view on Vienna. The restaurant itself turns around so you are able to watch Vienna just sitting in your own chair. Maybe you can imagine how happy Jenneke JR. was, when she discovered that there where windows laying between her and the city this time so she hadn’t had much trouble yet.

Around 22:30 we were back in Bad Vöslau and went to bed.

We left around 9 o’clock to pay the "Spaanse Rijschool" a visit. Parking the bus was a big problem here and it took Enne more then half an hour before he found a parking place and we were, finally, able to leave the bus. The horses inside started to practice already and it was very fascinated to watch their training.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to see a show of these horses during our visit, because you have to order a sheet months before if you like to join the show and of course that’s not possible when you only stay 1 or 2 weeks in Vienna.

After this, we drove back to Bad Vöslau for lunch and then we drove back to Vienna to visit Schönbrunn. Schönbrunn itself was very fascinated, especially the rooms inside the building with a lot of gold.

After Schönbrunn, we visited the Opera and went inside. On stage the "Õsterreichische Vokstheater" was practicing. From the balcony, we had a wonderful view on everything. And surprise: Jenneke JR’s father was just sitting in the chair of a VIP. Even (former) Queen Juliana of the Netherlands sat in that chair!

After a tea break, in Café Mozart, we had some time to walk around before we had dinner in BIP.

In the evening we visited Prater. In "Großrestaurant Oberbayern" was a Bayrisch Orchestra playing. When we were inside, they brought the Dutch flag in and they played "Tulpen uit Amsterdam" and some other typical Dutch songs. Later we received a small beer glass from Enne as a remembering.

It was very quiet in Prater so we spent most of the time inside the Café before we drove back to Bad Vöslau not knowing what the next day would bring us.

The next day we had a free morning and we walked to the Kuhrpark and further to the Harzberg. It was a real climb, but the view at the top was gorgeous. We had a little drink there and went back downstairs just in time for the lunch.

Everybody was surprised to hear that it was Enne’s 9th wedding anniversary today. We drove to Melk to visit the "Stiftchurch". In the library of the church, you’ll find more then 80.000 very expensive books!

After this visit we took a boat to seal over the Donau. Unfortunately, it started to rain again, but it was great. Dinner was served at 19:15 followed by a Bingo evening. This week we didn’t win anything.

For most of us, this was the last day of their holiday, but we stayed for another week.

We drove by bus to Vienna again to do some shopping in a Mini Souvenir Shop. We bought another costume doll here. This time from the Stubaital. It was also possible to have a little drink in "Arabia" at the Heldenplatz.

In the afternoon, we had some free time and in the evening we drove to the "Raimund Theater" in Vienna to see "Bruder Straubinger". We didn’t understand much of it, because most of the players talked in a dialect, but anyway we enjoyed it very much.

Most of the members of our group left Vienna today and we said goodbye to them early in the morning. Afterwards, we drove to Vienna and visited first the "Karlskirche" and then the "St. Stephansdom". At the time, they were working on a Metro in Vienna so it was very hard to cross the streets. We walked through the "Graben" and "Kärtnerstraße", a street with very expensive shops. We had lunch in BIP for a second time.

At half past 7 we had dinner and then the bus with the new group arrived. We saw it immediately; this group was totally different from the group we traveled around week during the last week. We spent the rest of our vacation with the other 13 people who stayed behind when the others left us earlier that day.

Their driver/tourmanager’s name was Herman, and quickly we realized ourselves that we had been so fortunate to have Enne the week before.

We visited Baden in the afternoon. It was possible to drive with Herman on the way to Baden, but we had to travel on our own back to Bad Vöslau later that day.

It was a quiet day today and we walked to the Kuhrpark to sit down in the sun (!) in the garden of our hotel.

It was "Schönbrunn" time today again. The roses were not full growing, but it was great.

In the evening there was another Bingo. And surprise: this time Jenneke JR won something, a little shoe with Bad Vöslau written on it something she wanted all the time!

In the Kuhrpark we made a program for the next day and in the afternoon we walked to "Soos". It’s a lovely place and we had a little drink in an original "Weinstube". There would have been a party in the evening, but that never took place. No idea why it has been cancelled.

The last time to visit Vienna, where we first visited the rooms of the "Hofburg". We all liked these rooms very much even more then the rooms in "Schönbrunn".

After the Hofburg we had drink some café and before we knew it, we arrived in the "Volksgarten" with some lovely places to sit down so we decided to stay here a little longer.

We also visited two Museums today: the "Kunst Historical – " and "Natural Historical Museum", which are build right across each other. Between these Museums you find the "Maria Theresia Denkmal".

In the cellar of the Museum we discovered a restaurant and we had lunch there. Later we visited the "Rathaus" and we also got a tour inside there. Flowers were standing everywhere for a party to be held the next day.

In the "Hofburg" we visited the "Schatzkammer" this time with beautiful jewelry and other things.

The evening was for the group of 13, the other group went to the Rainmund Theater.

Yes, and this time it was our turn to say goodbye to Vienna. We left Bad Vöslau at 8 o’clock and had a café break in "Traun" in a car-restaurant and then we drove to Passau. The weather was beautiful so Jenneke JR. was able to make some photos now.

After a long drive with a tea break in "Pfatten" we arrived in Neumark to spend the night. And it was hot!

The last day of our holiday. We drove the "Sauerlandroute" with not so many cars and then to Arnhem for a farewell dinner.

Here we catched our bus back to Den Haag and we ended our trip where we started it at the Central Station in Den Haag. We took a cab home and arrived here at 21:15 in the evening. So ended one of our marvelous holidays!

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