Vienna...

As promised, here is the account of my short, but sweet, side-trip to Vienna...

Originally, Emily and I had planned to take the 8 AM train to Vienna, but because we were up pretty late the night before, we hit the snooze and slept for another hour. Bernie was nice enough to drive us to the station so that we didn't have to try and navigate our way through the bus line. Thankfully he was with us, because when we got to the train station, Emily and I had to purchase these students cards in order to get a discount on our ticket, and I'm pretty sure the man at the ticket counter only spoke German.

At 9 AM, we were on the train to Vienna. It was about a 2.5 hour journey, which I filled with reading about Vienna, looking out my window at the breath-taking scenery (think snow-covered Alps spotted with pine trees and the cutest ski lodges you ever did see), and attempting to nap. My attempts to nap were far from successful, however, because an adorable toddler boarded the train at our first stop and felt the need to sing Happy Birthday at the top of his lungs all the way to Vienna. He should be thankful he was adorable, otherwise he might not have lived to see another birthday.

We immediately found our way to the Westend City Hostel, conveniently only a five minute walk from the train station. We locked up our bags and started walking toward the city center. We only had a little more than twenty-four hours in this city, so there was no time to waste! Our first stop was an ATM, and then we came across a beautiful Catholic church and decided to pop in. There was a mass going, but Emily and I decided to go in anyway and stand in the back for a few minutes. Although we couldn't understand a word, it was inspiring for me to see believers worship the same God I worship thousands of miles away from home. We then continued down Mariahilfer Strasse to the Museum Quarter of Vienna. The MQ is just across the street from Vienna's first district, the city center. I was blown away by the architecture we found there. All the buildings were enormous! The sheer size of them commanded respect and conveyed the power held by the Austrian empire at the time they were built. It was easy to understand why Vienna was and continues to be a major cultural center in Europe.

Since we were already there, we decided to check out a couple of the art museums in the MQ. We bought a combo ticket for the Leopold Museum and the MUMOK. I mentioned earlier that I did some reading about Vienna on the train ride. One thing I read was that the Viennese are obsessed with death. That obsession was definitely captured in the exhibits at the Leopold Museum. I spent around two hours of my life looking at depressing paintings, drawing, sketches and sculptures. Not exactly my cup of tea. We figured the MUMOK was going to be a lot of the same art we had just seen, so we decided to save that for Monday and instead journeyed into the city center.

First, we walked past the Naturhistor. and the Kunsthistor. Museums, which are also in the MQ. Then we crossed Burgring, walked through a gigantic archway/gate and into the grounds of the Hofburg palace. I still cannot get over how big and stately all of the buildings were! I wonder how long it took to build such huge structures back in the day.

By then, it was about 3 PM and we were hungry, cold and wet. We were also slightly lost and had no idea where to find a cafe or the tourist information center, so we just wandered. We got stopped twice by different ticket salesmen who tried to get us to pay 30 Euro for a symphony/ballet/opera performance. Luckily, Emily had heard from a friend that you can get opera tickets for as cheap at 2 Euro, so we held off. After those encounters, we finally found a cafe, Cafe Palffy, and stopped to get lunch. Emily had some sort of gnocchi with eggs and veggies and I got a spicy goulash dish.

Feeling rejuvinated, we were ready to fight the elements and find the tourist information center. Turns out it was just five more minutes down the street from the cafe. There we found information about a driving bus tour and several performances happening that night. We decided to go to a German Opera called Die Lustigen Nibelungen, and, because the performance started at 7 PM, the standing tickets went on sale at 6 PM and it was already 4:30 PM, we had to hurry to the nearest underground station and get to our hostel to check in.

We did all of this in record time and made it to the Volksoper a few minutes after 6. The standing tickets were the cheapest tickets available, so we bought those even though that meant standing for roughly three hours! We tried to get a table at the cafe across the street so that we could give our feet a break for an hour, but there weren't any seats, so we went back to the opera house and sat on the floor in the back waiting for the opera to start.

The next three hours are kind of a blur. I'm not really sure what the plot was. I do know there was a king who had to fight this warrior woman in order to marry her. There was also a man named Sigfreid who made his first appearance on stage with two pet dragons (little pug dogs dressed in green lizard costumes). That was probably the best part of the entire opera. In the end, Sigfreid ends up married to both his first wife and the warrior woman as well. It was very weird to say the least. The first act was about an hour long and by the end my feet were killing me, especially after walking or standing all day. I almost fell asleep a couple times as well, nearly falling into the head of the man sitting in front of the standing section. The music and the acting were good though. At intermission, Emily and I were both sick of standing and decided to scout out any empty seats that we could sneak into. A couple songs into the second act we found two seats, very good seats actually, right in the middle of the auditorium. My feet were so thankful for that seat, even though we did get a couple glares from the old people in the seats around us. I felt so Viennese after it was all said and done. Attending the opera is just something everyone does in Vienna.

To complete such a cultural evening, Emily and I went back to the cafe after the opera. I ordered my very own slice of Sachertorte with a nice, hot cup of tea with milk (I think that's probably more Irish than Austrian, but oh well!). Emily ordered a mouth-watering dessert consisting of boiled pears, ice cream and whipped cream drizzled with chocolate sauce. While eating, we struck up a conversation with a German couple sitting at the table next to us about the various dialects of French, German and English. They were very nice people and wished us all the best as we walked back to the underground station.

When we returned the hostel, our six roommates were already in bed, so Emily and I had to make our beds in the dark. An older woman who was sleeping in the bunk below Emily's woke up to our noise, and, in a state of being half-awake/half-asleep, she let a bunch of loud farts rip and was making some very strange groaning noises. She then proceeded to get out of bed and start packing up all of her belongings and then she snuck in the bathroom before Emily and I had gone in to brush our teeth. You're probably thinking exactly what I was thinking...Great, she's going to stink it up in there! Fortunately, the only noise we heard was a great big belch. She just saved the farts for when she got back in bed. Other than that disturbing experience, my first stay in a hostel was pleasant.

The next morning, we slept until 8:00, skipped the shower, packed up our belongings, ate the free breakfast, checked out and took the underground to the Shonbrunn Palace. This palace sits on a vast piece of land just outside Vienna. It was the home of the Hasburg Empire, and important people, like Maria-Theresa and Kaiser Franz Joseph and Elisabeth lived there. We did an audio-tour of twenty-two of the majestic rooms in the palace, all of which were decorated in either the Baroque or the Rococco style. My favorite room was the gallery, basically a huge dance hall where balls were held. We also got to see the room where Mozart played for Maria-Theresa when he was just eight years old. After the tour we ventured outside into the gardens. The gardens are more like a park. There we found multiple fountains and pools, a summer ball room and even a zoo! Could you imagine having all of that in your backyard!? I think I'd prefer my warm, cozy house with our small backyard over the extravagant palace and gardens any day.

After our tour of the palace, we took the underground back into the city center. We had a little bit of time to kill before the 1 PM Red Bus City Tour, so we just wandered down one of the main shopping streets, stopping in a few different shops, cafes and bakeries. Oh there were so many tempting treats in those bakeries! I resisted though, knowing that we'd be stopping for a sandwich after the bus tour.

The bus tour drove us past all of the major sights in Vienna, including the Museum Quarter, Hofburg Palace, Parlament, Rathaus, Burgtheater, Borse, Stephansdom, Urania, Kunsthaus, and many more historically and politically important buildings. We also saw some important cultural sights, such as the Sachertorte Cafe, where the delicious cake was created, and the Goulash Museum, where samples of hundreds of different kinds of the Austrian dish are included in the price of admission. We also drove across the Donau river and caught a glimpse of the newest part of Vienna. Our only stop on the tour was in the artsy neighborhood of Vienna. The architect who designed the neighborhood wanted the buildings to be very natural, so there are no straight lines and there are trees growing out of the very colorful buildings. Our stop was only twenty minutes, but Emily and I managed to take pictures, find a cafe and buy fresh sandwiches all during that time. I am so glad we decided to do this tour, because there is no way we could have walked to all of those sights in the short amount of time we had in Vienna.

The only thing left to do after our tour was head back to the MQ's MUMOK, another modern art museum. This museum, although perhaps a bit more happy, was by far more absurd than the first. One of the exhibits was all about self-inflicted abuse. Apparently that's art? By the time we left I had had my fill of nudity, blood and other abstract art. Future travel note for myself: stick to traditional art or history museums.

From the MQ, we went back to our hostel to grab our bags and then to the train station for the 4:20 train back to Salzburg. I couldn't pass up the perfect opportunity to eat a pastry, so I stopped at a bakery and bought a flaky, glazed pastry with strawberries and custard on the top. This was my treat for the train ride home...and what a treat it was!