Text & photos by Dinna Chan Vasquez
NOW it can be told, the Philippine government ban on travelers from Taipei was issued just hours before I was to arrive in Manila from Vienna via layovers in Bangkok and Taiwan. I was in Europe for over a week with 16 other people as part of an incentive trip of the company for which I am a consultant.
We left Manila on February 1, a Saturday, via EVAAir. It was the height of fears about the coronavirus. The day before, I also had a cold, and I was sneezing and coughing. Imagine the faces of people at the airport every time I did that, even though I would cover my nose and my mouth with a tissue or handkerchief. Anyway, EVAAir is such a cool airline because it provides masks for its passengers and I wore them throughout our journey from Manila to Taiwan to Bangkok and, finally, Vienna. The flight, including layovers, took over 16 hours.
We arrived in Vienna, Austria, on a weekend, which meant that many of the restaurants and establishments were closed.
Austria is a country that shares its borders with Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Technically, if you have a Schengen visa, you can visit the neighboring countries like we did. These countries are accessible by train or bus.
Vienna is a beautiful city. All I know about it is that it has beautiful churches and it is where the Vienna Boys Choir comes from. We stayed at Aparthotel Bianca, which is a 15-minute walk from the Reumannplatz Underground Station (Line U1) and a five-minute drive from the A2 motorway. OK, maybe we took a bus to the Reumannplatz Underground Station instead of walking but it was very cold most of the time. That’s our excuse.
Anyway, we had an early dinner at a restaurant that served schnitzel, those fried thin slices of veal, pork, chicken, mutton, beef or turkey usually served with potatoes and/or salad. The restaurant was recommended by the person at our hotel’s front desk. The food was good and the servings large.
An average meal in Vienna is about €5 to €7.50, €1 equivalent to about P54+. Tip for those traveling on a budget: it is best to bring 3-in-1 coffee sachets, biscuits and cup noodles if you want to save money. Aparthotel Bianca provided a substantial breakfast of breads and pastries, cold cuts and cheese, spreads, coffee and juices, but there were many days when we had to leave early so we couldn’t partake of this scrumptious spread.
You can also buy breads and pastries at the bakeries in the train station. They are quite expensive but worth the price, if I may say so.
Anyway, on our first day in Vienna, we went to Karlskirche or Saint Charles Church. Located on the south side of Karlsplatz in Vienna, the Baroque church is dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo. Saint Charles was known as a healer for plague sufferers.
Like some big churches in this part of Europe, there is a fee required to enter Karlskirche, which was built in the 18th century. The architecture of the church is a mix of many ancient elements, including Greek and Roman influences. The church was the last work of the eminent Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and completed by his son Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, pledged to build the church after a plague epidemic.
I did not get to enter the church as I thought it was closed but my companions went inside (I think the entrance was €8 and they only take cash) because they needed to use the restroom and they said the view was breathtaking when they went up.
To go around everyday, we paid €8 for the Vienna Pass (24 hours). The pass ticket that covers all networks (underground, train, tram and buses, including Nightline buses) within the inner zones. There are 24-, 48- or 72-hour ticket variations for flexibility. The Vienna Pass works on an honesty system. You validate/activate the pass when you use it the first time. There are rarely any inspections. I never encountered any inspections during our time in Vienna but my companions did.
It is funny that when we took public transportation, people would generally ignore us, even if anyone in the group sneezed or coughed. This was true of younger people, even mothers with children. The older people, however, would look at us warily and some would even move away if we sat beside them. It was understandable though. Reports about the coronavirus were indeed alarming at the time. We did not take it personally as I think they did not mean it personally, too.
On the second day, we went to Parndorf Fashion Outlet, which houses many brands and restaurants. To get there, we took a bus in front of the Opera House (for €15, I think). It was 30 minutes from Vienna.
Here was the fun part. I did not go to many stores at Parndorf. I mostly went to the sportswear outlets. At Adidas, the Falcons were priced at around €52 (about P2,800+). I would buy them here in Manila for P6,000. Shoes at Nike averaged P2,800 to P3,200. It was surprising how the styles at the outlets were current and not dated. Birkenstocks were also a good buy at Parndorf, costing less than P3,000 for the models that are priced at nearly P6,000 here.
The brands at Parndorf include Prada, Armani, Bally, Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren, Guess, Diesel and Desigual. There are also outlet stores for Lindt, Manner and Milka, if you’re looking for chocolates and wafers to bring home as pasalubong.
Manner Wafers are a good pasalubong because the hazelnut-cream filled wafers are light and not too sweet. They are perfect with coffee or tea. The Manner logo is a picture of Vienna’s famous Saint Stephen Cathedral (more on this later).
Josef Manner’s first store in the 1890s was beside the cathedral. The Archdiocese of Vienna agreed for Manner to use the cathedral in its logo in exchange for funding for its repairs. Another good pasalubong for chocolate-loving family members, friends and colleagues are Mozart balls or Mozartkugel. This confection is made of pistachio marzipan and nougat, and covered in chocolate. Originally known as the Mozart bonbon, the Mozartkugel was named after composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Mozart, along with Ludwig van Beethoven, Marie Antoinette, Sigmund Freud, Nikola Tesla, Franz Kafka and Hedy Lamarr were Austrian. Adolf Hitler was also Austrian and not German as most people, including myself, thought.
Day three of our trip was spent in Salzburg. We took a train from Vienna to Salzburg for around two hours and 26 minutes. The trains are comfortable and have clean water closets or Wcs, as restrooms as known in most of Europe.
Salzburg is famous for being the shooting location of the film classic The Sound of Music, and also for Mirabell Gardens, the Felsenreitschule and Schloss Leopoldskron.
More on travels in the time of coronavirus next week….
Image credits: Dinna Chan Vasquez