Tuesday:
On Tuesday afternoon I arrived in Vienna and it was cold and rainy. I checked in to my hostel and it was lovely!!! My room is huge and has a small table with stools and a private bathroom. It was a 6-person room, but I was the first in the room to arrive. I decided to walk around the area a bit while the weather was a bit more mellow. Nearby the hostel is whats called the Naschmarkt, Vienna's largest food market, so I walked through that for a bit and smelled all of the wonderful nuts, spices, and desserts being sold. Then I walked by two famously decorated houses called the Majolika Haus, with colorful flowered tiles, and the Wagner Haus, with beautful gold stucco decorations. Down the block I found a cafe called the Cafe Dreschler, where I sat and got a late lunch/early dinner of tea, juice, ham, cheese, bread, jam, and a soft-boiled egg. For some reason, I did not realize how much food this was when I ordered it. But the place was really nice and cute and had free wifi so I was in no rush. Then It started raining again so I went back to the hostel to relax for a bit. Soon after getting back to my hostel my roommates arrived! They were wonderful! 5 girls from the US studying in Barcelona for the semester. One goes to Barnard, and two are in Boston-area schools. We hit it off really quickly, and they invited me to go out to dinner with them. While I had already eaten I did not want to sit alone in the room so I went. They did not know where to go so we ended up back at Cafe Dreschler. This time I got hot chocolate for "dinner" and Vienna's famous apple strudel for dessert.
Wednesday:
Wednesday morning I had breakfast at the hostel with my new friends before meeting a group of other kids for the hostel's free walking tour. The tour left the hostel at 10:30 and we walked through the Naschmarkt, by an artist building called the Succession Building (nicknamed the "Golden Cabbage"... not a term of endearment), through the State Opera House (The Staatsoper), the Albertina Museum, Hofburg Palace (including by the National Library and the Heroes Square where Hitler addressed the people of Vienna in 1938(???)), and eventually to St. Stephen's Cathedral. The tour was like two and a half hours... but very cool and informative! After the tour ended I decided to break off from my new friends and spend the afternoon doing my own thing. I wanted to explore St. Stephen's in more depth so I got a ticket that allowed me all over the church. I walked up the 350 stairs of the south tower for an excellent workout and even better views of Vienna beneath. I then went on a tour of the crypts beneath the church where there were (parts of) the bodies of the Habsburg family (Vienna's long-standing royal family) and mass graves for victims of the Black Plague. When this tour first started, it was in German and I worried I had accidentally snuck on to some private group's tour, but then he also spoke in English and I realized I was probably ok. Then after the cypts I went to the north tower, which is much lower than the south tower as it was never fully completed, and also had an elevator! The views from this side were stunning as well, of course! After the church I decided to walk back by the palace and its gardens. On the way I stopped at one of Vienna's famous sausage stands for lunch... They're not famous for nothing! Delish! However, unfortunately around this time it was beginning to rain, but I managed to find one of the tour busses I had signed up for incase I didn't feel comfortable walking around alone. While I felt plenty fine alone in Vienna, the bus proved useful as a tour in the rain and time to sit. Once the rain let up again I got off the bus where I had picked it up: Heroes Square by the Hofburg Palace. Then I walked around the Palace Gardens including the Volksgarden with its beautiful fountains. Then I walked to the Austrian National Library, which was absolutely stunning. I then walked back by the Albertina Museum and sat at a cafe for some coffee and yet another apple strudel. This place, the Cafe Tirolerhof, is actually famous for their apple strudel, but I'm not sure which I actually prefered between this and the night before! Both amazing. After my "snack" I decided to walk back to my hostel. When I got there my roommates were getting ready to go to dinner and invited me along. Again, while I was not hungry, I decided it was better to go out than to stay in my room, so I went and just got a side salad and some tea. After dinner we went back to the same cafe I had gone to TWICE the day before for some dessert. I just had hot chocolate again and abstained from a second strudel of the day.
Thursday:
Some of the girls from my room and I got up early to get a head start on the day and went to Schonbrunn Palace, which is essentially the Versailles of Vienna. It is an absolutely gorgeous mansion that has housed the royal family including Maria Theresa (and her daughter Marie Antionette) and the famous Princess Elizabath whom the Austrians call Sisi endearingly. The interior is matched only by its spectacular gardens, which includes fountains, classical statues, and even a labyrinth. I think Schonbrunn was by far my favorite thing in Vienna. After this palace we went to Belvedere Palace, which is more of a mansion-turned-museum. In the museum are many famous paintings, the most famous of which is Klimt's "The Kiss." Unlike the underwhelming Mona Lisa in the Louvre, The Kiss was big and beautiful! Outside of the museum was another vast and beautiful garden. After Belvedere Palace, I went with one of my new friends to the Freud Museum, which is his old house and office converted into a museum about his life, work, and escape from Nazi-occupied Austria (cue Sound of Music). Then we went to meet the rest of the group at the Opera House to stand in line for standing-room tickets to an Opera called Parsifal by Wagner. We only made it through the first act before calling it quits but just being inside the stunning Staatsoper was a treat! After the opera we returned to the hostel before going out to dinner to another cafe (a different one this time!). After a yummy dinner of goulash soup and bread I returned to the hostel to back up for tomorrow's next adventure!
Can't believe the last few days went by so fast! Tomorrow I'm off to Budapest! Check back for a new post in a few days!
I'll post some pictures soon!!!!!
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