Day at the Zoo

We went to Vienna yesterday with Kája's friends Hana and Alena.

After the 90 minute train to Austria we started the day at Aïda, my favourite Vienna coffee and cake shop.   

Then it was off to a day at the zoo.  Of course I had to check out the the pandas, koalas and penguins.

The pandas, because they are my goddaughter Tünde's favourite.

A few years ago I told Tünde that the English word for "penguin" was "snow chicken."  She knows the real word now but we still call them "snow chickens."

Vienna Travel Adventure

Today is 17 November so it is Struggle for Freedom & Democracy Day in Czechland.  This commemorates the Velvet Revolution which ended Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

I'm taking tomorrow off as a "bridge day" for a long, four-day weekend and headed to Saint Helier, the capital of the Bailiwick of Jersey.  This will be my first time in the Channel Islands.

I've been looking forward to this trip but it has had an interesting start.  So here's what's happened so far.

The plan was to go to Vienna, meet up with Katka at the Hauptbahnhof, grab dinner, then spend the night in Vienna and head to the airport early this morning.

I booked a hotel room, rather than stay with Katka and Steve, because (a) I had an early morning flight and (b) with two kids, I didn't want to disrupt their lives.  Steve was on babysitting duty so that Katka could meet me at the train station.  Easy enough.

Last Wednesday, Katka calls me asking me if my train was delayed because she didn't see me.  She was a week early.  We had a good chuckle about it and she decided to call it a "practice run" for this week.

So yesterday we met up at the train station.  The plan was to drop off my stuff at the hotel and then grab some dinner and get caught up.  On the way to the hotel is when we knew that something wasn't right.  I would only be there for one night so I booked a cheap room, that had decent reviews, close to the Westbahnof station.  

Well as we started walking to the hotel the neighbourhood seemed to get a bit dodgier.  When we got there, there was no one to check me in.  No reception desk, nada.  I called the contact number from Booking.com and I was told that room #1 was mine.  That it was unlocked and that the key was in the room.  Nope.  The door was locked.

The guy on the phone said that he would be there in ten minutes.  Fifteen minutes later he said that he was on the way.  Now while we're waiting, we can hear that some of the other guests were having fun because the walls were thin and the moaning was loud enough that we decided to wait outside.

After 45 minutes, the guy on the phone provided a code to a lock box that contained a master code key.  He said to use it to go into room 1.

Someone else's stuff

Well the bed was unmade and someone else's stuff was in the room.  We called him back and he said o take room 2 instead and that he would drop off the key to the room later.

The guy on the phone tried to tell us that the master key would only work once before being deactivated.  That was a lie because it opened up rooms 1 and 2 multiple times.

No idea whose stuff this is.

Over an hour later he finally showed up and somehow it was my fault that he lives outside of Vienna.  He said that someone must have come in and taken the room which I had already paid for.  The woman who should have been the receptionist wasn't there tonight because she was ill.  

He could not understand why I refused to stay there after there was no way to check in, I had to wait over an hour for him to show up, his story changed multiple times about when he would arrive and about the master key.  I especially wasn't thrilled about master keys floating around.  There was no way that I would stay here so I went on to Booking.com and found a new, much better place, actually less than a ten-minute walk from Katka's flat.  This is where I'll be staying next time.

A block away from the new hotel was a sushi place where we tucked in for dinner.  

I've never had a bad experience on Booking.com so I guess my lucky streak was bound to run out sooner or later.  This wasn't really how I imagined the start of this trip would be but at least we have a good story from the experience.  Now to contact Booking and get a refund.

Anyway, I've got a couple of hours here at London Heathrow before my 35-minute flight to Jersey.  Hopefully the rest of the trip will be no where as adventurous as last night.

My Easter Trip

With Good Friday and Easter Monday, always falling on a Friday and a Monday, it means that we are always guaranteed a four-day weekend every year in Czechland.  We never have to worry about either day falling on a weekend which would cause us to loose it.  For example in December we only get one day off this year for Christmas because the 24th and 25th fall on Saturday and Sunday.

The catch is where to travel to during the four day weekend because most things are closed on Friday and Monday.  I had planned to visit Banja Luka in 2020 because (1) it's been on my list of places to visit for several years and (2) because most people there are Orthodox it means that their Easter isn't until 24 April so everything will be open while I'm here.

I even flew on Ryanair to get here.  Well, sort of.  I flew on Lauda which flies on behalf of its parent company which is Ryanair.  Basically it's the red Ryanair.  I'm still not a fan of Ryanair but the flight from Vienna was just an hour and I can deal with a short flight.

Due to Covid and lockdowns, I haven't seen Katka in about three years.  I caught the train to Vienna and she met me at the main station.  It was so good to see her and to catch up over lunch.  We got caught in some rain on the way back to the station.  It then started to hail which was a surprise.  

Steve and the kids met up with us at the Mitte station.  I can't believe how big they have gotten.  So freaking cute.  Hopefully the whole family will be able to make it to Czechsgiving this year.  

So I'm finally on my Easter trip in Banja Luka.  Just two years later than originally planned.  Now it's time to grab some breakfast and see if the city was worth the wait.

2019 EuroPride

EuroPride is a pan-European gay pride that is hosted each year in a different European city.  The only time EuroPride isn't held is when a European city hosts WorldPride then that counts as the year's EuroPride.

This year Vienna hosted the 26th EuroPride event - a two week long event of parties, sporting events, artistic, cultural, and human rights events.  Yesterday was the parade.

I committed to walk in the parade with other IBMers.  Originally I had planned to go down to Vienna on Friday night and come back on Sunday.  Basically make a whole weekend of it.  But I've been so busy lately that I decided to just go down for the parade on Saturday and come back afterwards.

I was supposed to meet up with everyone in Vienna at 11:30 as the parade would begin at noon.  I missed my train from Brno.  Long story.  So I got a ticket to Břeclav where I would change trains and head to Vienna.  Well my Břeclav train was delayed so I missed the connection in Břeclav.  So I ended up catching a train to Bratislava where I would have a 5-minute window to catch the next train to Vienna.

Vienna subways "We Ride With Pride"

My train to Bratislava was a bit delayed but I managed to make the connection.  Whew!  Then I needed to hit an ATM to get some euros and catch the subway to the parade meeting space.  I had the parade route map so I figured I would just catch up with the group.

I ended up meeting up with the IBM group at 1 pm.  The parade had started late and because there were at least 100 groups marching the IBM group had not even crossed the starting point yet.  So in the end I still made it "on time".  As stressful as all of the train hopping was I'm still glad it happened.  It was 36℃ (97℉) and had I been standing place in the heat for 1,5 hours just waiting for the thing to start then I would have been annoyed as hell.

The parade was great with around 500,000 present.  We had IBMers from Austria, Czechland, Slovakia, Romania, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, and Denmark.  Given the heat, the 5 km (3,2 mile) route on the Ringstraße seemed way, way longer.

Overall it was a really good day, despite the heat.  This was my first EuroPride and my first pride event this year.  I'm also signed up to join the IBM groups this year at Bratislava Pride and Prague Pride.

MacMillan, McGregor, Ashton Ballet

On Saturday night we went to the Vienna State Opera to see a ballet.  The Wiener Staatsoper, obviously located in Vienna, Austria, opened in 1869.

Originally it was the Vienna Court Opera but was renamed in 1920 after the end of the Habsburg Empire.

The State Opera is one of the busiest in the world.  There's always something going on here.  There are usually 50 - 60 operas and 10 ballets every year.

The building is absolutely beautiful.  At some point I need to take one of the guided tours.

Saturday's programme was dedicated to British choreography.

There were three different performances by choreographers Kenneth MacMillan, Wayne McGregor, and Frederick Ashton.

The show was great!  Here's the programme trailer that I found out on YouTube.

©Wiener Staatsoper

České dráhy

České dráhy, Czech Railways, was established in 1993 when Czech Republic became an independent country.  It is the successor of Czechoslovak State Railways.  ČD is the country's primary railway operator for both regional and long-distance travel.  It is among Europe's top five largest railway cargo operators.

Until 2008 it was the biggest employer in Czechia.  Today it is the country's 5th largest employer.

ČD operates lots of different types of trains.

Osobní vlak (Os) are passenger trains.  These are Czech local trains that stop at every station along the way.  These are slow trains that take forever to get from point A to point B because they do stop at every possible along the way.

Spěšný vlak (Sp) are local trains but they are a bit faster because they only stop at selected stations.

Rychlík (R) are "fast" trains.  Well, faster than Os and Sp trains.  But still slow and they normally have old carriages.

Rychlík vyšší kvality (Rx) are high-speed trains.  They are faster than the R trains and they normally have new carriages.

Express (Ex) trains are fast trains that link different regions in Czechland.  They are usually faster and more comfortable than the R trains.

Supercity (SC) trains are high-speed trans that run between Ostrava-Olomouc-Pardubice-Prague.

Eurocity (EC) are international trains that travel through at least two countries.  EC trains must meet 20 mandatory criteria for comfort, speed, cleanliness and food service.  All train cars must be air-conditioned, only stop at major cities and stops last no more than five minutes.  All of the conductors must speak at least two languages and one of the two must be either English, French or German.

Euronight (EN) are EC trains with sleeper cars.

Intercity (IC) trains are pretty much the same as EC trains but only travel within the country.  IC and EC trains usually run every hour or every other hour.

Railjet (RJ) trains are high-speed trains run by ČD and ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways) between Czechia and Austria.  The route is Prague-Brno-Vienna-Graz.  Railjet trains travel up to 230 km/h (143 mph).


ÖBB also operates Railjet from Austria to Germany, Hungary, Switzerland and Italy.

For ČD, you can purchase a 3-year In Karta card with a 25% discount on tickets for 990 Kč.  A 3-year In Karta card with a 50% costs 8,490 Kč.

Student Agency runs trains as well.  They run RegioJet (RJ); not to be confused with Railjet, which is pretty much an EC train that runs in Czechia and Slovakia.  I'm looking forward to trying RegioJet as they have just started regular service between Brno and Vienna.

New Brno Flights

In October, Wizz Air cancelled its Brno-Eindhoven route.  Well now they are leaving Brno completely.  In January they will end the Brno-London Luton route.

In June 2018 they will close the Prague base and only offer flights from Prague to London Luton, Bari, Italy, and Kutaisi, Georgia.

Wizz Air will still fly from Bratislava with flights to Skopje, Kyiv, Warsaw, Sofia, Tuzla, and London Luton.

With Air Berlin gone, Wizz Air is establishing a base, in 2018, in Vienna with 17 new routes.  From April they will have flights to Gdańsk, Tuzla, and Varna.  In June, they will have flights to Bari, Malta, Rome, Valencia, and Tel Aviv.  From November there will be routes to Billund, Bergen, Dortmund, Kutaisi, Larnaca, Nis, Ohrid, Tenerife, and Thessaloniki.  These are some great destinations and several of them are still on my bucket list.

The good news is that we're getting a new airline in Brno.  The Romanian airline Blue Air is establishing a base here.  The Blue Air Moravian Transport will be 35% owned by the the city and 65% owned by Blue Air.

At the end of March 2018, they will offer flights to Milan, Rome, Barcelona, Brussels, and Lviv.  Over the summer there will operate flights to Split and Dubrovnik.

I'm surprised that being a Romanian airline, and given the number of Romanians here in Brno, that there's no flight to Romania.  Perhaps it will come in the future.  I've never flown with Blue Air before but I'll have to give them a try.  So nice that there will be more discount airline flights direct from Brno.  Plus lots of new Wizz Air destinations out of Vienna.  Looks like there will be more travel opportunities in 2018.

Update:  What a complete disappointment!!  Flights were supposed to launch at the end of March but service was delayed due to legal processes.  Now the South Moravian governor announced the end of cooperation with Blue Air so it looks like I'll have to keep flying from Vienna, Bratislava, or Prague.  Too bad because it would be so convenient to be able to fly in and out of Brno.

Vienna Naschmarkt

The Naschmarkt has been around since the 16th century and it is the most popular market in Vienna.  It is at the Wienzeile over the Wien River.







It is made up of about 120 market stands, plus some small restaurants, and stretches about 1,5 km (almost a mile) long.

In 1793 this is where all of the fruits and vegetables were sold in Vienna that had come by cart.

Today you can get spices, fruit, vegetables, cheeses, and other culinary goodies from across the world.

On Saturdays it is also home to a flea market.





The Naschmarket is a great place to go shopping, have a coffee and slice of cake, or to sit back with a glass of wine and just people watch.

In Vienna, a single metro ticket costs €2,40.  Or you can by a 24-hour pass for €8.

I love that public transportation is so much cheaper in Brno.

Another great option in Vienna is to just buy an Einkaufskarte (shopping card).  It costs €6,10 for unlimited rides.  The only catch is that the ticket is only valid from 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Sunday.

British Airways IT Crash

All BA flights cancelled

So yesterday started off fine.  I took the big yellow bus to Vienna Airport.  I was supposed to fly on BA from Vienna to London Heathrow at 14:10 and then on to Dublin.  I should have arrived in Dublin at 19:00.

That's not how it turned out.  By 14:30, we still hadn't boarded the plane.  Eventually, we were told that the flight would be delayed until around 15:30.  Everyone was given a €10 food voucher.  We were then told that the flight was cancelled.  Something about an IT glitch.  We had to go to the airport service desk to sort things out.

I had already gone through security and passed immigration since the UK and Ireland are outside of Schengen.  So I had to get stamped back in to Austria in order to go to the service desk.  The queue was kind of long when I arrived but it didn't take long for it to get even longer.

After a few hours, I finally made it up to the desk.  The solution was I would be put on an Austrian Airlines flight to Venice, Italy.  Then an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin with a 00:30 arrival time.  I was told that my previously checked in bag would be transferred to Austrian and get checked through to Dublin.  The flight to Venice would leave in 35 minutes so I had to rush to get through security again.

Rebooked on Austrian Airlines

In Venice, the gate agent asked me about my baggage.  I explained what had happened and that was the end of it.  Or so I naively thought.


I finally made it to Dublin early Sunday morning.  My bag didn't and there was no one at the Aer Lingus baggage desk.

Staff didn't show up for over 1,5 hours

It took over 1,5 hours before anyone bothered to show up at the baggage desk.  Let's just say that I wasn't a happy camper at 2 AM.

I gave a lost luggage description.  The guy told me that he doubts the bag ever even left Vienna.  He gave me a claim number and a customer service number but the office would be closed until Monday morning.

I finally made it to bed around 3 AM Sunday morning.  I only had my laptop and a baseball cap in my carry on bag so I don't have a change of clothes or toiletries.  Fortunately I'm not in a hotel this trip so I can borrow clothes and my host gave me a spare toothbrush.

Let's hope that I receive my bag soon.  As it is, I had to work from home today because I don't have any work clothes for the office.  Looks like I'll be working from home tomorrow too.

Here's a video about the IT crash that I found on YouTube.

 

©ABC

Vienna Museum of Military History

The last time we went to Vienna right before Christmas we said that the next time we would visit the Military History Museum.  So we went on Friday and to meet up with Katka and Steve to see their new baby.


While we were there, there was a Go Modeling exhibition going on by the International Plastic Modellers Society Austria.  This annual event shows off true scale models of historic military vehicles, aircraft and ships.


The museum is quite interesting and done well.  It was established in 1869 during the Austro-Hungarian Empire and shows the history of Austrian military affairs.  There are eight main exhibition halls showing various weapons, uniforms, flags, paintings, medals, photographs, documents and models.  

Hall I - From the Thirty Years' War to Prince Eugene (16th century - 1700)
Hall II - Spanish War of Succession and Maria Theresa Hall (1701 - 1789)
Hall III - Hall of Revolutions (1789 - 1848)
Hall IV - Field Marshal Radetzky and his era (1848 - 1866)
Hall V - Franz Joseph Hall and Sarajevo (1867 - 1914)

Hall V has a separate bay dedicated to the Assassination at Sarajevo which lit the fuse for WWI.  They even have the car on display in which the Archduke and his wife were murdered in on d28 June 1914.

Hall VI - World War I and the end of the Habsburg Monarchy (1914 - 1918)
Hall VII - Republic and Dictatorship (1918 - 1955)
Hall VIII - Austria as a naval power



The train from Brno to Vienna is only 1,5 hours.  Austria is right next door to Czechland.



Though I'm still not sure why CNN confuses Austria and Australia.


There are no kangaroos in Austria.