I finally made it to Vienna this past weekend! It was tough trying to find people who hadn’t gone yet since there was a Eurolines 2-for-1 promotion over the past two months and practically everyone from my exchange program had already made the trip. Luckily, I found two friends to travel with me – Anaïs (France) and Charlie (Canada).
After a 4-hour bus ride, we arrived in Vienna at noon and took the metro to our hostel, Do Step Inn (har har, get it?). We were starving, so after asking the receptionist for lunch suggestions we ended up at a neat, Austrian restaurant/café called Centimeter II. I had the blunzengröstel, which is apparently potatoes mixed with pork blood, topped with horseradish and cabbage. I have no idea if this is typical Austrian food, but it was delicious!
After lunch we decided to head toward the city center. Like many cities in Europe, the streets of downtown Vienna don’t follow a grid system and are hard to navigate… luckily, Anaïs speaks German and has a remarkable sense of direction! We walked along the shopping street of Mariahilfer Straße (the ß is pronounced “ss”) to get to MuseumsQuartier, which is… well an area surrounded by museums.
 Mariahilfer Straβe |
 MuseumsQuartier |
Around the Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera), we were approached by several men in red Baroque-style capes who offered cheap tickets to concerts featuring pieces from Mozart and Strauss — you know, the whole “authentic” Viennese experience. These were obvious tourist traps, so we declined. Initially, at least. But more on that later…
In the center of Vienna is Stephansdom, which is one of the tallest cathedrals in the world. I wish I knew because then I would have paid to go up the tower! Unfortunately, the cathedral was under construction. However, the scaffolding was covered by a printed drape, which we thought was interesting and clever.
Downtown was very rowdy with Belgian football fans that Friday as Belgium had beat the Austrian team that afternoon.
Wandering the streets behind Stephansdom, we found a group of people taking a picture of a seemingly plain-looking building. Turns out it was the MozartHaus (Mozart’s residence), which is now a museum!
So you know how I said we’d initially declined the offers to see those concerts? Well turns out that unlike in Prague, where you can see a ballet or opera for 150 CZK, seeing a legit classical music concert in Vienna is hella expensive (55 EUR +), so we eventually gave in and approached one of those guys in red. It can’t be that bad right? Well, for 19 EUR, we got…
You could tell everyone in the room, which had maybe 20 rows of chairs, realized they got ripped off, lol. Having gained some music background from my few years in band, I could tell it wasn’t that great. Poor Anaïs, who is a classical music enthusiast, probably found it even more painful to watch!
After the concert, we went to find the Bermuda Triangle (Vienna’s nightlife scene) in search of some drinks and food. Strangely, we weren’t able to find it, even though we followed our map studiously. We were probably close to the area, but we didn’t even hear any noise even though it was a Friday night… the place was dead quiet! What’s weirder is that the next night, we were able to find the Triangle and it was bustling with partygoers! How ironic and creepy.
Anyway, after failing to find the Triangle, we wandered for a long time before sitting down at a Kosher restaurant at Stephansplatz. Vienna is much more multicultural than Prague or Budapest, which gave us more options when it comes to food. The next day for lunch we also managed to find a decent Asian restaurant 
The next day we got up early to go to the Schönbrunn Palace, which is the summer residence of the Habsburg royalty. The weather in Vienna has been cold up till now, so unfortunately the trees and gardens haven’t started blooming yet, but the palace was beautiful nonetheless with the stunning, extravagant rococo architecture and interiors.
We then made our way to the Hofburg Palace, which was the former imperial residence of the Habsburgs and now where the president of Austria lives. Within the palace there is a cathedral, a chapel where the Vienna Boys Choir sings, a Spanish riding school, the crown jewels, the state apartments, the silver collection, a gallery of graphic arts, and probably much more. The palace was grand, but we didn’t want to pay the hefty admission fees to see everything. So instead, we just admired the epic statues on the outside
Our final day in Vienna was spent at one of the city’s many, many art museums. We decided to go to the Albertina at Hofburg, since they had a good variety of exhibitions featuring Monet, Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Mel Ramos, and the Blue Rider artists including Kandinsky. Also, we got a chance to look at some of the imperial apartments inside the building! I never liked going to museums while travelling, but I am a big fan of art galleries. I could spent hours staring at paintings, not really trying to understand them, but just to appreciate the beauty and composition of the works. We spent a good 4 hours in there. (Pictures weren’t allowed. Boo!)
My friend Stephen is currently studying in Vienna, so after the Albertina we met up with him at a popular café called Oberlaa. It was great to catch up with Stephen and to exchange of experiences of studying abroad in different cities. We also got to enjoy the apple streudel and hot chocolate that Vienna is famous for. It was amazing. Wish we tried the sachertorte too! Why didn’t anyone suggest it to me?!
I left out a lot of stuff in order to make this post shorter. Overall, Vienna is a beautiful and full of culture and it’s not hard to see why it’s one of the most livable cities in the world. I’d really like to go back in the future and I’ve already made a to-do list for when I do:
- Try sachertorte
- See the Schönbrunn Palace in the summer, when flowers are in full bloom
- See a real classical concert
Yesterday was the Canada Nation 2 Nation party, which I must blog about, but for now I have to go to bed so I can wake up early tomorrow for my intensive class on World Economic History. It’s kind of like social studies. More on that, too, later. Ciao!
Here’s a rundown of what happened over the 5 days:
