A Home Exchange in Vienna
 

Well, I am going to Vienna on a home exchange for about a month next summer. I have only been there once before and it was long enough ago that I stayed at a YOUTH hostel. LOL.

Are there any special events I should know about in the summer? I love concerts, ballet, etc.

Thinking in terms of going to Budapest for a few nights too as I have not been there.

Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks to all.

Go to the links page on my site:
http://austria.starkeconcepts.com/
I have links to a calender of events site which will give you most of the happenings in the city on the dates you are there. Also I have some good places to eat and drink listed. If you are staying a month you will probably wish to shop at the local Billa or Spar markets. You will have a great time! We have been to Vienna many times and still can't get enough. You might want to consider a little biking along the Danube while there, great experience.

Thanks so much. Lots of great links on your site.

I can tell you that I will definitely go to the Marionettenopera at Schoenbrun. I love what Germans and Austrians do with puppets and opera. So, that is a must for me.

Yes, my mother in-law always takes her high school students to that performance. You may get further posts if you re-post your inquiry in the Austria category rather than the Europe section. Since you will be there for a month, make sure you buy the month pass for public transit; a real value that lets you use all of the public transit (U-bahn, S-bahn, Trams, and bus) all totally efficient and very safe.

Thanks again. Do I need photos for the month transit pass? If so, it is fairly easy to get them here and bring them with me.

I will have a car that I can use for day trips. If I go to Budapest, I probably will use the train, but I could drive. I have, of course, asked permission of the home exchange family concerning driving in Hungary.

My goodness - is it an Austrian doing the home exchange or an American in Vienna???

An American outside Washington, DC, is exchanging with an Austrian in Vienna.

What could be simpler?

No photos needed for the transit pass. You can buy them at any U-bahn station from easy to work machines that have instructions in English and take all credit cards. Simply timestamp the ticket at the entrance to one of the U-bahn gates and you are all set. Vienna is the devil to drive in, use the transit, car would be good for a trip to Durnstein and the Wachau valley. I think I would take the train to Budapest, no worrys that way about parking, translating signs, etc. Where in Vienna is the house?

The address of the house is

Sechshauserstraße [house number omitted to preserve the swappers' privacy], 1150 Wien (Vienna), Austria

Can you tell me about the neighborhood? Your responses to my posts have just been great and I love your site with all the links--very helpful.

Go to:
http://tinyurl.com/2c95h3
And enter the address and house number and it will display a map. You are in district 15, which is out past the Westbahnhof...have not been there much, however it should be fine for you. You will be approx. 10-15 min from city center on the U-bahn. Probably a lot of nice local places to eat and drink in your neighborhood minus the tourists...always a great thing in my book! If you have any more questions you can e-mail me direct from my website...we are happy to help!

Thanks for all your help. With exchanges you are never downtown near the big hotels. You are always where people live and you do get a taste of the local life in addition to seeing the sites. You always have to "commute" to the sites.

I think I probably will take the train to Budapest. When you mentioned translating road sides I though "uh oh". Hungarian is not one of those languages I even know "left" from "right" in. So, I think taking the train is probably best.

If I go to Budapest, I will not go to any other large cities. I generally concentrate on where I am and try to come back to the exchange house each evening. If you start going here and there, you spend too much on hotels. Not doing that is the point of home exchanging.

Thanks again for all your help.

Hi Faux

Could you tell us a little more about the house exchange part of the deal, how you found it, do you screen the people you're exchanging with, I assume there's a contract, do they use your cars, etc?

I have numerous posts about exchanging. If you hit on my name you will find the threads.

Additionally, an enterprising person has set up a new website called knowyourtrade.com to discuss exchanging. Right now there are not a lot of posts but most of them are mine. If you go over to the site, you will find a lot of your questions answered. If they aren't answered, ask there.

By the way, I have no financial connection with the site. The person who set it up saw some posts I had put up and let me know about it. So, that is how I found out about it.

Agree with living the local life. We usually rent apartments out in the 22nd district (Floridsdorf), love shopping at the local Billa, eating in the local cafes, and, especially, getting up in the morning and walking down to the local Anker or Der Mann and getting fresh warm semmel rolls to bring back and enjoy for breakfast. While you are there definitely try and go out to Sievering (near Grinzing) and give the Zimmermann heuriger a try:
http://www.weinhof-zimmermann.at/
Excellent wine, good food, a great view over the vineyards, and no tourists.

I will certainly be looking at everything you suggest before going on my trip. I do want to try the places where people go to drink wine in the country. I also want to go to Mayerling. I know the castle is torn down but I would just like to see it.

For those of you who might read this and wonder "What the heck is Mayerling?" It is the location where Crown Prinz Rudolf and his girlfriend shot themselves. Rudolf was Franz Joseph's son. The castle was torn down and I believe there is a convent there (or was). I was in Vienna over 30 years ago and wanted to see that and never got there. It is such a tragic story.

Go to:
http://www.austria.org/nov95/crime.htm
For info on a recent book done on the tragedy. You can get there pretty easily out of the Westbahn, I think take U6 to Sieberhirten and from there a bus ride. Check the Oebb site for info and connections.

I actually read a recent book in English on the subject. I will look at the website you mentioned.

The Crown Prinz was such a tragic figure. He probably would have made a very bad emperor. In any event, the empire was ending as he died. No one knew it then, of course.

Faux,

I know you will spend time at your exchange home and getting to know the locals, but you will go into the heart of the city as well I assume.

i've been to Vienna many times, but in hotels. I do love the store J. Lohr right onthe main drag and the top floor has sort of a chandelier museum that I love wandering about in. J. Lohr is a wonderful store for gifts ( albeit, it is expensive), but oh what a nice place to browse.

Also, I do love sitting in the coffe shop at the Sacher hotel sipping tea and having myself a big piece of sachertorte.

Budapest is wonderful and the train is a snap. Be sure to vist the Synagogue there; its the most ornate Synagogue I have ever seen.

I definitely want to eat a sacher torte and to visit the synagogue in Budapest. I am 1/4 Hungarian Jewish, so that is of prime interest to me.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am certain I will have a great trip. As with all these exchanges, you do a lot of sightseeing centered in one place and you can relax a little as you are not running from one town to the next. Insofar as I am concerned, it is the best way to travel.

It's great you found a house in Vienna - the Austrians are SO risk averse I'm really surprised.

My husband always jokes that we were responsible for the first Austrian on line transaction when somebody bought us a gift off our internet wedding list last year!