What do you think of when you think of Vienna? Hmmm… classical music, for sure. Strudel, maybe. Vienna sausages? Those don’t count. I don’t know much about Vienna at all. That’s about to change, though, because we’re going to spend a few days discovering Vienna.
Flying into Flughafen Wien
We landed today at Flughafen Wien, better known to most as Vienna International Airport. (Flughafen means “airport”). We took a taxi into the city. As we came into central Vienna, we were thinking mainly one thing – this place is beautiful!
Everything was clean. There were lots of big trees and pristine green spaces. Stately-looking buildings everywhere. We were impressed.
One reason everything was so green is that Vienna is pretty far north. It’s almost at the same latitude as Seattle. So where is Vienna, anyway? It’s in Austria, of course, but do you know where Austria is, exactly? How many countries bordering Austria can you name?
Germany, for sure. Switzerland, too. How about a few more? Czech Republic? Good job. You only have five more countries to go!
The others are Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, and Liechtenstein. I know. I had no idea, either. It’s Europe, sure, but this is a part of Europe that’s new to me.
Austria borders on so many other countries because of the way it stretches out from east to west. Vienna is located at Austria’s far eastern end.
Settling In
We went straight to our hotel, which seemed to be in the middle of all the action. It was just down the street from the famous Vienna opera house, so if we wanted to catch an opera, we were in luck. Not that either of us are opera buffs. But hey, you never know.
We checked in. A friendly receptionist spoke english with a crisp German accent. The room was nice. We’d made it. Having reached our destination, we were filled with anticipation and excitement to see a new place. There was only one thing to do – take naps!
Two Hours Later…
Huh? Wha? Where are we? Oh yeah, we’re in Vienna, Austria!
Time to get acquainted with our immediate surroundings. We started walking down a wide pedestrian-only street lined with nice-looking shops.
We were entering an area called the “Inner Stadt,” which translates to “Inner Town.” Something like “Centre Ville” in French cities.
So, about the language spoken here… This is not my area of expertise, but from what I’ve read, there is an authentic Austrian language that’s spoken out in the Austrian boonies. But at the risk of offending the Austrians, I’d have to say that the language spoken in Vienna is primarily german.
I’m into languages, but german isn’t one that I’ve tackled. Most of my german comes from watching Hogan’s Heroes back in the day, so now you know where I’m at german-wise.
Haus It Goin’?
That being said, it does seem possible to understand quite a few words. For example, one of the first places we noticed was called “Haus der Musik.” It’s pretty easy to guess what they sell in there. Another place was “Kaffeehaus Frauenhuber.” You can tell this is a coffee house, just from the way it sounds.
Pronunciation is straightforward, too. Just look at a word, then say it the way you’d imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger would say it. After you do it a couple of times, it almost comes naturally. Try it using our two examples…
“Haus der Muzik” – Be sure to get that big “OW” sound. And no “H” sound. Arnold wouldn’t pronounce the “H,” eh?
And now for “Kaffeehaus Frauenhuber.” Be sure to get that big “OW” sound in the “frau” part of “Frauenhuber”. The “h” will be silent again, and the “u” will sound like “oo”. I’m not sure about the “er” at the end, but I think it should be an “ah” sound, as in “General Burrrrrrrrk-ult-ah!”
Fantastic! Hey, this is going to be fun, eh?
To be continued…
