Mariahilferstrasse and Haus des Meeres (25.10.08)

Almost like in Oxford Street and almost under water...

Mariahilferstrasse is famous of the huge number of shops. You’ll find everything here, each brand that has its shops in other places in the city. Very often the street is described as an equivalent of Oxford Street in London. Well, it’s a bit too much, if you ask me, but whatever...
Of course, the shops attract crowds of tourists and the street is especially crowded at weekends and in afternoons. Near Mariahilferstrasse there’s Haus des Meeres (Oceanarium), which is situated in a very strange building. It’s a kind of high tower that was used to protect the city during Nazi times. There were rockets inside, too.

The Oceanarium consists of 11 floors. The top one is a viewing terrace that presents a wonderful panorama of the city. Next 3 floors house an exhibition of security towers in Vienna and then on 8 floor the real Oceanarium begins (well, it begins on ground floor, of course, but it’s recommended to visit the building from top to down and that’s the order in which I describe it). In fact, the decent number of floors doesn’t mean there is a huge number of animals. The floors are quite narrow and, for example, the biggest aquarium stretches through 2 floors. But it’s a home for many various fish. There are sharks, colorful small fish, huge turtle. Other floors are dwelled by colorful birds, butterflies, insects and reptiles. Not very “oceanic” as for an Oceanarium.

But it is worth visiting, even if it’s only to see how the animals approach people. We had a real close encounter with a bird with orange beak and a small monkey that was staring at us for a long time...
And one more interesting thing about shopping. Neubaugasse. It connects Mariahilferstrasse with our neighborhood. And it’s an Indian-Paradise: Indian shops, restaurants... but it lacks temples:) And the real Indian prices:)