Remember this is a blog & it updates backwards! Go to the bottom and find the first post if you want to get the gist of this in sequence...
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Finished uploading all the ball videos etc & sorted out the rest of the pictures this morning, so now I feel I can get on with the rest of my journey!
Booked into this hostel for another week here in Vienna, as I haven't done or really been anywhere yet, other than the Ball.
Will visit the normal touristy things tomorrow & show you what I did then.
Am going down town now to get some lunch.
Total spend yesterday...nil, as everything is shut!
Total spend to-day will be 85cents for a 235ml bottle of red or of bubbles and 1 Euro for some cheese.
Have everything else upstairs now to feed me for a few more days.
I am pretty tired & drowsy to-day. I think I'm coming into the bio-rhythms for over here now..
See you to-morrow. xxxx
Some girls getting ready to leave for Prague & Paris...
Kumi, my roomie, from Japan & a georgus roomie girl from Finland!
Sutomi, from Japan heading upstairs for bed!
Just found these downstairs bathrooms!
This is my 2.70 Euro bought breakfast! You can still access the yogurt, bread, jam, butter etc.
I left my cup of water out overnight on the 5th floor window-sill, to cool & it froze!
The hill up to our Hostel. It's at the top, on the right, just before that cream building at the top of the hill.
The SPAR supermarket, taken from the same place as the above pic.
Taken just behind the SPAR supermarket, heading across the park to the railway...underground.
First time I actually stood in the real snow since I've been here!
At the end of that previous little park, heading up the steps to the Underground rail. Note the glass lift on left!
The Vienna River...from the rail bridge.
Crossing the rail bridge...I have only seen 3 pairs of gym boots, mine & 2 others, so far & only 1 person with a can of coke. How good are these Europeans!
Remember this is a blog & it updates backwards! Go to the bottom and find the first post if you want to get the gist of this in sequence...
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O.M.G!
Here I am on a journey to fulfill a dream! I am really here!
The Beginning of The Ball. Presenting the Debutantes...
There are 2 versions of the opening ceremony...one in wide screen & the other normal size...
Down the bottom of this post page, it cuts out early! You will have to press "Read More" on left side to see all the splendor of a Viennese Ball. There are about 50-70 pics anyways & 5 videos.
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In this video, when the public was invited to join the debs in their first waltz, I waltzed with my camera & did a few twirls, with the debs, under my beloved chandeliers & and in a real Palace too! How grand is that? Hence the wobbly video...
Part of the ceiling in this particular Ball Room...So many presentation rooms, so beautiful
Ooops, didn't see the chairs go past!
Real fresh roses everywhere. There must have been a million rose blooms all over the Palace.
There I am, in the little black dress & all my finery.
Just about done in, I am! It's after 12 midnight already...
Caught red handed, or footed here! A 19 yr old Romanian girl & I were sitting on the stairs, after getting lost for the hundredth time...
Calling it a night...1 am...
The ladies toilet in the Palace!
An Office room in the Palace...I want one.
The line up for ice cream cones! It was huge, with almost 100 people in this line. It's a Viennese Ball tradition.
The cloak room, would you believe! Check out the chandeliers in here even.
My check in ticket for my "valuables"! My joggers, fake leather coat & fluffy scarf.
A wall light in the cloak room...
Heading out the door, back to my Hostel.I'm chandeliered out!
The georgous girl who helped Nina get me my Ball ticket. Claudia...WOW!
This is Nina's assistant, Claudia, who helped me make my Vienna Palace dream come true! Thank you so much... :-)
Well, what else can I say?
It's been a pretty mind filling experience to say the least & that's only dream number one accomplished!
The thing that amazed me was, as this was my first Palace, were the number of ante-rooms...rooms where people gather, standing up! I didn't get to see any lounge areas, with voluptuous velvet, padded & studded chairs where you could just chill out under the crystal & dream away...
Not that I'm complaining, it's the culture here obviously.
There are heaps of areas where you buy your own food!
At 100Euro a Ticket, I thought food would be supplied.
Not so.
Nina said to allow 50 to 75Euro for food & drinks.
I bought 3 glasses (half full) of Champagne at just on 8 Euro each & a plate of 6 huge chocolate covered & sugar dipped strawberries...6 Euro for that & gave 2 away as they were so big!
The food was an eye opener...no wonder these people are so slim!
They are also a very tall race, maybe 4-6 inches taller, overall, than us Aussies.
But the quality of what they consume is revealing.
There were the usual fancy bagel/roll with a variety of lettuce mix & smoked salmon, (13 Euro), all types of dainty plated morsels of food, which we don't get served at home.
Aussies are really gross when you see how nicely the food is set out here...not just at this Ball event, but in all the shops in general.
No wonder Aussies are the fattest race on earth now, passing the yanks last year for the covetted prize of fattest nation on earth!
The absolute junk we consume is really shameful, when you see how with a little effort & concern, the use of fresh food can easily be implemented.
OK, my rant...back to the splendors of the ball!
Every where I went...there were more grand ball rooms with different chandeliers! I couldn't believe that anyone could love them as much as I do, but obviously Sisi & Franz Joseph loved them too! (The Hoffburg Royal family).
It was as beautiful as I dreamed it would be. The crystal chandeliers, the atmosphere, the gentle and delicate ornately decorated ceiling & wall panels, the ceiling heights and all.
The only thing I missed, I think, was the orchestras. I imagined they would be huge!
Too much Andre Rieu, I think!
However, it was one of the most beautiful things ever that I have experienced. I am very happy & can go be a tourist now...
Sensing the coldness on my cheeks down at Threadbo & Blue Cow & over here in Europe is racing to be the most delicious feeling of all, but for sheer man made beauty, nothing comes close to the Ball experience last night!
I did have a nice conversation with a very tall european gentleman for 30 mins, then had a mime type dance with another gentleman for 10 mins or so as I was passing thru' on one of my numerous getting lost expeditions. That was fun!
I got lost umpteen times, as there's upstairs & more upstairs & grand staircases to prance up & down on...which I did my fair share of too, I might add!
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Total spend to-day...
32.20 Euro at the Ball for 3 glasses of champers & a plate of 6 choc dipped strawbs, with 2.20 E for my cloak room fees! (my bag had my sneakers/joggers in it, as I caught the train in to the palace precinct & jogged about 300 mtrs from the underground to the Palace entry, where I proceeded to change into my ball shoes, shawl etc!!).
24.Euro for hairspray, nail polish remover, 3 pairs of stockings (grey, black & bone), razors, fish for lunch, that massive bar of choc, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, pkt rice cakes, a slab type European fruit bar to share with roomies & a litre fresh orange juice. Then 2 E in change for an old man, asking for a coffee.
