The Before Sunrise Itinerary - Train To Vienna & Prater Amusement Park

The fourth stop on our Honeymoon Itinerary is the Imperial City of Vienna. The capital and largest city in Austria, Vienna was also the center of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and is known as the "City of Music" due to its enormous musical legacy. A great cultural center in the history of man, Vienna was home to such prodigies as Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert.

* One of the bonuses of this trip, was that we got to recreate a scene from one of my favorite movies of all time, Before Sunrise.

* In this 1995 romantic-philosophical flick, an American guy (Ethan Hawke) and French gal (Julie Delpy) meet on a train from Budapest and disembark in Vienna where they spend a whole night walking and getting to know each other.

* Acclaimed by critics as one of the definitive love stories of our generation, their story is followed by Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013), showing what happens with these two lovebirds after the first movie, in 9 year intervals.

* Here's to riding our own train from Budapest to Vienna, to write our own great love story!

* For two nights, we stayed at the chic Boutique Hotel Stadhalle. While not located within the city center, our hotel was right next to the Westbanhof railway station, which meant all sights were easily accessible. 

* But what was very impressive about the Stadthalle was the fact that it was an ECO hotel which means that they maintain a zero energy balance (everything in the hotel is powered by solar panels and other forms of renewable energy, with no electrical waste), all breakfast selections are organic, and the place is full of plants!

* My wife was very pleased with the hotel, and we spent hours just sitting in the courtyard enjoying the fresh air and relaxing from an activity-filled week so far.

* Walls of plants and flowers. Very cool!

* We got a good laugh at this painting which sort of resembles a younger me with my 16 year old dog, Shaggy.

* The U-Bahn is Vienna's metro system and is known to be one of the best performing public transport systems in the world (as well as one of the cleanest!).

* After enjoying the Hotel Courtyard and getting a much needed rest, we decided to take it easy that night and head to the Prater Amusement Park.

* For dinner, we enjoyed a generous serving of Turkish Shawarma. One of Vienna's biggest minority groups, the Turks brought with them their awesome cuisine which include Kebabs, Hummus, and Souvlakis. Middle Eastern / Greek cuisine is definitely my favorite genre of food.

* Intense bumper cars, featuring members of the Blue Man Group, who were on a night-out!

* The centerpiece of Prater is its HUGE Ferris Wheel, which was also featured in the movie, Before Sunrise (see above).

* Blue Man Group members with a lone guy wearing pink.

* Had to take a photo of the intense LED in Prater's Indoor Roller Coaster.

* Rotating and Revolving at the same time. I got nauseated just looking at this.

* Stopping by the souvenir stall to buy some trinkets and "pasalubong" (giveaways).

* I wanted to go in these Dinosaur - Haunted House attractions but my wife (who scares easily) didn't want to accompany me!

* "Won't you reconsider, sir??"

* Another shot of the Prater Ferris Wheel.

* After the heavy Turkish dinner, we went looking for something sweet!

* And bumped into this stall selling very good dark chocolate treats.

* A great night out with this beautiful lady!

* Heading home via the very convenient U-Bahn.

* Some of the rides at Prater along with the U-Bahn.