One more RTW hurrah... oh whY not!

[KeithMEL]

Day 2
I'd forgotten to charge my camera battery so all pics on Day 2 belong to petz and are reproduced with his kind permission.

Kyo and I decided to have breakfast at Cafe Schlutzenberg, an extremely traditional Viennese cafe. He was attempting to track down something which he saw on the IC Wien's video intro to Vienna which he thought was a huge omellete in a frying pan. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful, and the waiter was left extremely confused. We later discovered that it was really a pancake. Bubbly brekkies seem v popular in Austria, however it looked rather light food-wise. I had a traditional Austrian brekkies which consisted of a soft boiled egg, cheese, LOTS of bread, and a pot of coffee. Went a little overboard and drank the entire pot of coffee (3 mugs), though still felt ok at that time. I'd wanted a latte but they only had regular coffee along with the set brekkies I ordered.

I then met up with florianwagner and petz who decided to bring me on a little coffee tour, whilst Kyo wandered off for a walk to see the sights. I had a latte at a contemporary cafe with rather IKEA style decor next to the LM. Non-soy alas, as v few places did them as jjpb3 had warned. The latte was rather diluted and contained a lot more milk and foam compared to how we do them back home, though not quite as overflowing with milk like the US. That, being my 4th cup of coffee for the day, was when the caffeine buzz REALLY hit and I consequently felt rather ill for the rest of the day.

We then wandered up to a rather trendy cafe around the corner. Always interesting to observe the blend of old world, contemporary and trendy in Vienna. Apparently small talk isn't a thing you do with servers here; I'd asked the waitress how her day was only to be met by a startled silence, and was immediately enlightened by florianwagner as to why that was the case. I decided some alcohol is in order to bring down the caffeine buzz, and had a glass of raspberry sparkling wine.

Lunch was had with the rest of the gang at Demel where jhm who'd just flown in that morning caught up with us. The decor of the place was a bit too high brow for my liking, but I could look past that for the food and dessert were simply sensational! I had a v yummy goulash, followed by a hazelnut cake. phaleesy was clearly in heaven for such an ardent foodie as she enthusiastically attacked the cakes with much impressive vigour.






I'm clearly not the only person who takes pics of my food

We then made our way to Schönbrunn castle, approximately a 20mins subway ride out of central Vienna. Kyo and phaleesy went off exploring the castle, whilst the rest of us were more either more concerned about the overcast skies or couldn't be arsed and had more coffee and cake at Cafe Dommayer, just around the corner from the castle. The coffee house is known for its Emperor's melange, which is the Austrian espresso with a special twist - mixed with rum and egg yolk. Now I am an obvious fan of both coffee and alcohol, but I'm not a fan of the 2 put together as they just taste too weird. Plus the egg yolk.... I passed and opted for something less adventurous - a latte. Any coffee then was a bad idea given the caffeine buzz but i didn't feel right coming to such a pretty coffee house and order non-coffee when I'm such a big fan of it. I was extremely stuffed and so had to pass on the cakes, nice as they looked. Now if I had an uncomfortable caffeine buzz before, I now had a full blown caffeine hangover - trust me, it's FAR FAR WORSE than any hangover from alcohol!

Guy Betsy and I then left to have a break back at our respective rooms at the LM (but not before he stocked up on enough macaroons to feed a small army), and I especially needed a lie down to recover from the excessive caffeine intake. That was more coffee than I've ever had in a day, and not as well spaced out either.

Dinner was at an Austrian wine tavern, a heuriger called Wiltschko . It was at a rather suburban location, and for a while GB and myself were quite worried that the taxi driver was lost. It was nice to catch up with jjpb3 again, who'd just got in after severely delayed out of LHR due to fog. phaleesy and Kyo had gone AWOL in the castle and so jhm had decided to stay back at the cafe to look for them - they appeared after a bit so everybody was relieved that they weren't spirited away by supernatural forces in the castle. I had fun sampling the different wines at the heuriger, accompanied by my dinner of deer stew. Austrian reds def have a different character to their Australian/NZ counterparts, I think I prefer the more berry/fruit-driven nature of the latter to the sometimes overpowering mocha flavours of the former.

After dinner drinks was at a v trendy bar at the Raddisson, itself a pretty cool design hotel. I'd performed my promise of shouting everyone first drinks, as it was my bday the following Thursday and I'd had the festivities on either weekend before or after if my bday falls on a weekday. As with any FF event, much tips and tricks as well as interesting industry insider stories were shared. Some of the gang were delighted to find Singapore Sling on the menu but found it to be wanting - there was no pineapple juice in it. The bartender claimed that he was taught to make Slings like that! florianwagner complained of fatigue and illness and left for home with petz and the lurker. The rest of us continued with drinks at the LM which I'd hosted in my room, and jjpb3 had shouted me a glass of champagne from Shambala downstairs - cheers matey!

to be continued...

Apologies for the lack of pics in this update, next update will be much more pic-intensive.

[flo]

dude not another picture of me "stacking" honestly, i always do it without any purpose ... and NOTE my lifted thumb indicating this is not the thing they refer to as "shocker"

[jhm]

The place supposedly serves the biggest schnitzel anywhere in the world. Whilst I've yet to personally verify that claim, the schnitzel I had was definitely big and I could only finish half of it. We also had v yummy potato salad.

And for comparison, here's a picture of the schnitzel from Cafe Dommayer:

[phaleesy]

she enthusiastically attacked the cakes with much impressive vigour.

Keithie, that's not a nice way to describe a girl ! It should read as 'she daintily savoured the cakes with lady-like bites.'

phaleesy and Kyo had gone AWOL in the castle and so jhm had decided to stay back at the cafe to look for them - they appeared after a bit so everybody was relieved that they weren't spirited away by supernatural forces in the castle.

We did not go AWOL! You make us sound like a pair of naughty truants. We were MIA.

We did not even get round to the maze or inside the castle. That would take an extra half-day. We were only pottering about in the grounds.

No supernatural forces either. Only King Neptune.

[jjpb3]

The things I missed because of the ex-LHR flight delays. The potato salad looks yummy.

We gotta do something about flo and his hand gestures.

[HUGE AL]

dude not another picture of me "stacking" honestly, i always do it without any purpose ... and NOTE my lifted thumb indicating this is not the thing they refer to as "shocker"

OH, but we know better!

[StarG]

Keithie, that's not a nice way to describe a girl ! It should read as 'she daintily savoured the cakes with lady-like bites.'

We did not go AWOL! You make us sound like a pair of naughty truants. We were MIA.

We did not even get round to the maze or inside the castle. That would take an extra half-day. We were only pottering about in the grounds.

No supernatural forces either. Only King Neptune.

Those seem like an awful lot of rebuttals for a single post!

[KeithMEL]

Keithie, that's not a nice way to describe a girl ! It should read as 'she daintily savoured the cakes with lady-like bites.'



We did not go AWOL! You make us sound like a pair of naughty truants. We were MIA.

We did not even get round to the maze or inside the castle. That would take an extra half-day. We were only pottering about in the grounds.

No supernatural forces either. Only King Neptune.

Serves you right for not writing your own TR so you can put out your version of the events in dispute.

Those seem like an awful lot of rebuttals for a single post!

I wasn't going to say anything...

[KeithMEL]

Vienna, and SQTalk VIE DO, part 2

Day 3
Almost everyone had flown off in the morning, so it was only myself, jhm and phaleesy left, along with our hosts. I'd met jhm at Cafe Boulevard at the LM whilst we waited for phaleesy who's watching a performance of the Vienna Boys Choir at mass. I felt a tad guilty as despite promising to accompany her, I hadn't organised my tickets in time and in any case it'd have been a challenge to wake up that early. Meanwhile jhm and I settled down to some coffee; and as mentioned earlier this cafe was one of the rare places in Vienna that does soy latte. Again a bit on the weak side but quite fragrant. I made up my mind to try something different and distinctively Austrian for brunch.







phaleesy soon arrived, and was quite fascinated by the pictures hanging on the walls, especially a particularly naughty one...



We then left in search of brunch. The concierge had given us 2 recommendations - Cafe Mozart which serves traditional Austrian cuisine, and another establishment at the Museum Quarters which serves "modern" cuisine. As it was nearer to the hotel, and knowing that the others would prefer the traditional option, Cafe Mozart it was.


Street view outside the LM


Cafe Mozart

On closer inspection, it looked like tourist central. The menu also didn't meet phaleesy's approval. We decided to go back to Demel where we had such a good time the day before.

We passed several interesting sights in the Ring on the way to the cafe.






can't really remember but i think this is a library




The Hofburg

[KeithMEL]

We settled down to a lovely feast at Demel, where I was determined to pig out as for some reason I was ravenous. The v affable waitress greeted us like old friends; I think she'd recognised us from the day before.

Got an email from taipeiflyer at that point, who was supposed to join us for the DO but had gone MIA. Turns out that he was ill and had actually flown on his LH flight to MUC but had missed his connecting flight. I was just glad that he's ok as quite a few of us, both in Vienna and LA, were quite worried about him and his whereabouts.


coke, Sauv Blanc, coffee - guess who had what




jhm and I had scrambled eggs for entree


phaleesy's Chanterelle omelette


I had the goulash of Chanterelles for my main course


jhm had schnitzel

And of course coffee and cakes! petz joined us at this point, but poor florianwagner was struck down by a fever and was reccuperating at home. I tried the melange, which is an Austrian cappucino that is halfway between the Italian/Antipodean cap and a pure shot of espresso. I enjoyed the v nice aromas, however, as the native Austrian amongst us would also concur, the drink was made stronger than usual that day and it felt like about 2 shots of espresso were used.

We settled down to the v delightful selection of cakes they had at the cafe, but not before snapping pics of each other's desserts of course! Pure gluttony! I love how everything's so beautifully presented, which would only befit phaleesy and her (usually) dainty, graceful and stylish lady-like manners.











Feeling extremely full, we had a long and pleasant stroll back to the LM.

[KeithMEL]

The route we chose took us through the Hofburg, a magnificent place but it could really do without the sights and smells of horse poo...











We got a little lost as it wasn't possible to simply walk through some of the buildings to get out of the Ring, and so we'd to walk around them to get back to the LM which made our route a bit more convoluted than we'd anticipated. Hosted mini drinks in my room to farewell jhm and phaleesy who were leaving in a bit, as well as to toast to the end of a v fun-filled weekend.



Finally they'd all left, and I was left to my own devices. I wasn't v hungry but decided to have a snack from a souvlaki place that I'd found near the LM to avoid drinking on an empty stomach. The v charming concierge not only identified some good Friends of Dorothy hangouts for me, in addition to the ones I'd researched, but also advised me on how best to optimise Sunday night in the city. Vienna was surprisingly busy on a Sunday night, those of you from Melbourne - think Love Machine or Club Valve on a Sunday night type busy.

Day 4
Woke up in surprisingly good time for my flight and even had time to have some brekky downstairs.

Next: AY766 VIE-HEL whY; AY57 HEL-PVG whY; The Westin Bund Centre Shanghai; Shanghai Mk 2

[KeithMEL]

Sector - VIE-HEL
Flight number - AY766
Class - Economy
Equipment - A321
Seat - 7C

I took the taxi to the city terminus of the CAT (City Airport Train). This is a rather convenient facility ala the Airport Express in HKG, and if you're departing on Austrian Airlines you could even do in town check in. I'd just missed the last train and consequently had to wait about 30 mins for the next departure. It was a bit nippy that morning, more so than the past few days. So i was relieved when the CAT finally arrived and I could escape into the warmth of the train.

15 mins later I'd arrived at VIE, and walked to T2 where AY flies out from. There was quite a bit of construction going on, and no proper crossing so you'd have to simply jaywalk across the road with your lugggage in toll.

Only 1 person at the Business Class counter unlike the snaking whY queue, and in no time at all I'd been checked in all the way to PVG via HEL with my bags tagged likewise. It was quite a breeze making it airside due this being a flight within the Schengen zone which does away with the need for immigration, and I didn't have to pass through any security as this was done at the gate.

AY uses a 3rd party lounge at VIE, however to my surprise my AA EXP card allowed me entry. The lounge has a v minimalist feel with hard wood floors and IKEA style furniture. Quite a pleasant lounge really, with an adequate selection of food and drink. The entire airport had free wifi.















I had a glass of sparkling wine whilst I checked my emails to relax me for the long journey ahead. There were no boarding calls, and so I decided to proceed to the gate a few mins before the boarding time indicated on my bp. The flight was being boarded when I got to the gate and cleared security, however seeing no aircraft and aerobridges around, and only a bus outside - it was evident that we were to be bussed out on to the tarmac. As one of the last persons to board the bus, I got to be one of the first to get off it when we arrived at the aircraft. *smirk, smirk*

[KeithMEL]

I ascended the stairs, and into the v blue cabin interiors. Welcomed by the rather charming cabin crew. I didn't think the Finnair uniforms were that bad, but they were certainly rather old school in a way - especially the gloves.

Finnair short haul, at least on this aircraft, offers perhaps the most uncomfortable seat I've ever experienced in any class of travel. It was extremely hard and was almost as if I was sitting on stone. Legroom was ok, but less generous than BA.





OTOH, I was impressed by the soft product on this intra Europe flight. We got a hot meal of chicken nuggets which tasted ok, but certainly better than the sandwiches on BA. There was one choice of red and one choice of white - had the red which was an ok-ish South African shiraz. The crew did a few drink runs and had a great cabin presence.





Despite the slightly late departure due to congestion at VIE, we landed in HEL on schedule.

On the whole, I thought Finnair's intra Europe soft product was pretty good - friendly and efficient crew, good catering. However the hard product is a big let down with the extremely uncomfortable seat, and unfortunately the 2hr journey was sufficient to make me feel it.

Next: HEL-PVG AY57 whY; The Westin Bund Centre Shanghai; Shanghai mk 2

[jhm]

AY uses a 3rd party lounge at VIE, however to my surprise my AA EXP card allowed me entry.

Perhaps my expectations are too high but I've always understood that an OW shiny card entitles you access to the relevant lounge used by J or F pax (whether 3rd party or otherwise; and even if it means asking the check-in desk for a lounge invite).

[KeithMEL]

Perhaps my expectations are too high but I've always understood that an OW shiny card entitles you access to the relevant lounge used by J or F pax (whether 3rd party or otherwise; and even if it means asking the check-in desk for a lounge invite).

My understanding is that if the lounge is operated by a OW airline, then you'd be let in with a shiny card with no questions asked (i haven't experienced or heard of anyone being denied on the basis of 'capacity restrictions' even though it's there in the T&Cs). However it gets a bit iffy when it's a 3rd party lounge.

I've been denied access by the BA 3rd party lounge at CDG which insisted on a BA J bp or a BA shiny card. At MLA (during the GB days) I was made to understood that I was let in as a one off exception after the lounge dragon had, similarly, initially insisted on a BA card or J bp.

(OTOH I've been let into the Bellevue lounge at ZRH with my AA status whilst flying BA, though the lounge dragon wasn't sure whether to charge AA or BA for letting me in)

FWIW, here's what it says on the website:

Emerald: When travelling on any of the oneworld member airlines, any customer who has earned Emerald tier status, is welcome (with one guest travelling on a flight operated and marketed by a oneworld airline) at any oneworld airlines' pre-flight lounges, including First Class, Business Class and frequent flyer lounges regardless of the class they are travelling in.

Sapphire: When travelling on any oneworld member airline, any customer with Sapphire tier status is welcome (with one guest travelling on a flight operated and marketed by a oneworld airline) at any oneworld airlines' pre-flight Business Class and frequent flyer lounges regardless of class of travel.

Not the best wording but can be interpreted to mean that access based on OW status only apply when the lounge is actually operated by a OW carrier.

Granted, the plural of anecdote is not necessarily data and the T&Cs aren't the clearest. Just IME I've found that when not flying J/F or holding the shiny card of the airline you're flying with, you might not be allowed entry.