Day 3

Having stayed up until gone 1:30, the 8:30 alarm was NOT fun.

It took us 45 minutes to get down to breakfast and whilst eating I tried to buy a 72 hour travel card and it wouldn’t &@:£&@ work.

Honestly there was almost sliced cheese, ham and curious looking sausages everywhere.

We went back to the room before heading out and I tried again and it worked perfectly - typical.

Joss wanted a paper ticket so opted to get hers at the station.

I read somewhere that after buying a ticket like that, you needed to then put it in a blue box machine to get it verified - a fact I quickly forgot as Joss bought her ticket in seconds and was cheaper than my ticket - livid.

There are no barriers for trains / underground - they basically trust you to have bought a ticket with the occasional ticket inspector to act as a deterrent to wrong-doers.

We travelled 9 stops to arrive at Schönbrunn Palace for our day’s culture.

It was at that point we saw 2 curious looking blue boxes and after I remembered Joss inserted the card and it time stamped the ticket so the 72 hours began then - ooops that means technically she went without a ticket - serves them right for not having barriers.

We arrived about 20 or so minutes early for our 11:30 entrance so we dived into the cafe.

We could have had a coffee or tea, but we didn’t.

The waiter was very patient with our German until he replied to us and we had no idea what he was saying, so he repeated it in perfect English.

We entered the Palace at our allotted time and were given free audio guides for the tour. 

Each room was numbered and that corresponded to the playlist number.

I was getting more and more angry that we seemed to be the only ones abiding to the no photography signs until, at room 11, I realised it meant no FLASH photography - d’oh!!!

We did the tour and the rooms were very plush and then we hit the gift shop - the highlight of many a tour.

Leaving there, Joss found that there was a place called Naschmarkt at one of the stops we would have to go through to get home and it had a thriving market and restaurant area - so ideal for lunch.

It didn’t take long to get there and we were bombarded by a mixture of smells and colours and of course, the obligatory souvenir stalls.

We certainly helped their economy today.

We then stopped for lunch and we both had the Viennese goulash with dumpling, sausage and fried egg (and gherkins).

It didn’t look much when it came but it was delicious.

Joss wanted to be good so had a Diet Coke but that backfired as it came out completely flat - nothing wrong with my choice though.

We then caught the tube home and meandered back to the hotel via some more souvenir shops and a bakery for a little lie down before the evening’s festivities.

We left the hotel with sole intent to annoy Hattie so we went to McDonald’s.

It was nice but nothing special although I did have the chocolate donut which was better than I’d expected. 

We were due to go to the gig venue at 8 and it was only 6:30 so Joss sourced a sports’ bar.

The beer was nice, the football good and the eavesdropping on a lesbian couple to my right on a first date was even better.

I thought the taller woman had blown it when she kept going on about being an alcoholic but when we returned later after the gig they were still there so this line must have been working.

So, on to the Lottery Winners’ gig.

The venue was tiny and they had a local girl called Lost Boy as their support and she was really good - a bit like Alanis Morissette but in German.

Then the Lottery Winners came on and they were absolutely brilliant.

So much better than in Bournemouth and the engagement with the crowd was so funny.

Oh yes, this happened too….

What can I say, she’s a star!!!!

Once over we ran back to the sports’ bar to see the end of the Spurs game and then walked on to “our little bar” - the sports’ bar from yesterday.

They were showing the Rangers’ game going to penalties and even though they were closing early they insisted we have a second drink as the husband of the owner was there and he wanted another beer too.

We talked about his love of Rapid Vienna and we said we’d be there Sunday and he was so pleased he hugged us both.

It’s been a really great day but quite frankly, I’m shattered now.