Moving north into Austria the people have become much more pleasant. We really enjoyed our time in Vienna, and I think this is in large part due to the welcoming nature of Austrians.
Our train didn’t arrive in Vienna until 11pm, which in most cities would be kind of sketchy, luckily we found the tram, and made it to our hostel without any problems.
Wombat’s Hostel was one of the best we’ve stayed in. There was a large dining area, a comfortable common area with WiFi access, a full bar in the basement, and the rooms were big and clean. The friendly staff also surprised us; I haven’t seen such great customer service since leaving America.
On our first day in Vienna, we took full advantage of our super hostel situation, and lazed around most of the morning. After a month of non-stop traveling, we were both pretty exhausted, so it was nice to have a few hours to recuperate.
We did manage to drag ourselves outside later in the day. Our hostel was on the main shopping road, so there was a lot to see. They had a few American stores such as Foot Locker and H&M, and a lot of stores that were similar to American stores (they even had a chain similar to Walgreens.)
After wandering around the shops we continued walking towards the city center. Along the way, we found the river that runs through the city. The Viennese have taken full advantage of the water by placing small sand beaches and bars along the river. There was also a lot of graffiti on the river walls, which must be legal because we saw a group of kids painting a wall in broad daylight.
Next we stopped at a housing project that was highlighted on our map. It was a very interesting series of buildings (it reminded me of Gaudi’s work in Barcelona) with very few straight lines and an interesting color scheme. Although people still live in the building, the site has become a big tourist attraction, with a large group of souvenir shops across the street. If only the projects in America could be like the ones in Austria.
The next place we visited was an amusement park. It was easy to find because the Ferris wheel was visible from quite a distance. I was surprised by the size of the park, it was much larger than I expected. Despite the size, it was no Six Flags. The attractions were a mix of small roller coasters and carnival-like theme houses. The most interesting ride we saw was a carrousel made of real ponies. (The ponies didn’t look very happy.) The park was kind of creepy, like something you’d see in a horror movie. We didn’t ride any rides, but we did have an enjoyable dinner of kebab sandwiches.
The next day we visited the gardens surrounding the Hapsburg summer palace. The gardens were huge; it would have been easy to spend the whole day there. In addition to the beautiful flowers, there was a zoo, a labyrinth, and a huge Japanese garden. Unfortunately, due to the high prices of these attractions, we weren’t able to see more than the view from the gates.
After the gardens we decided to rest our weary feet at Starbucks. It was exciting to have access to Starbucks again; Italy is void of the popular American coffee house. We hung out at Starbucks for quite a while because we were both in the middle of some pretty intense books, I was rereading the Da Vinici Code (not as good as the first time around) and Josh was reading The Kite Runner.
Later that night we decided to have a typical Austrian meal. We went to a restaurant that our hostel recommended, and both ordered Wienerschintzel. Wienerschintzel is basically a boneless fried chicken breast, so of course I thought it was really good. The lady at the restaurant was very nice (just like everyone in Vienna), and was really concerned with the quality of her service. She didn’t think we got our food fast enough (although it was the fastest I’ve been served in Europe), so she brought us some hazelnut liquor as an apology. All in all it was a great dinner, and I’ll be happy to eat Wienschintzel again someday.
On our third day in Vienna we visited the Sigmund Freud museum. Freud is a famous psychologist from Vienna. The museum was located in his former apartment/office. The waiting room was set up with the original furniture, which was really cool to see. Did you know that Freud was an avid collector of Egyptian art? The rest of the museum contained a collection of pictures, publications, and writings that pertained to Freud’s life. I was amused to find out that Freud experimented, on his patients and himself, with cocaine.
Next, after a quick bratwurst at a roadside stand, we headed to the Spanish riding school. The Spanish riding school has been around since the time of King Ferdinand, and still has the same regal atmosphere that it did many years ago. We had a guided tour through the stables, the Winter riding arena, and the Summer riding arena. The horses are thoroughbreds – the same family lines have existed for hundreds of years. All of the performing horses are white stallions. The tour guide was very knowledgeable, and I learned not only about the riding school, but also a great deal about horses in general.
We liked the Spanish riding school so much, that the next day before catching our train to Prague, we returned to watch the training session. The training session takes place in the Winter Riding Arena, the same location as the performances. It was a really nice atmosphere with classical music playing in the background. It was a fun to see the horses in action.
After leaving the riding school we visited the Volksgarten, or People’s Park. Although it wasn’t planned, we saw another show in the park. There was a large group of people standing around a fountain, so we went to go see what was happening. It turns out that a dog had jumped in the fountain, and couldn’t find a way out. He was swimming, and seemed to be quite tired. A few people offered to jump in after him, but luckily some man pulled the dog out, before anyone else got stuck in the fountain. After the dog was back on his leash, his owner said, in broken English, “We go home now.” It was a really funny site to see. I’m glad the dog is okay.
By this time we had completed almost everything on our Vienna Must Do list, except for one thing, we hadn’t eaten Apple Strudel. We didn’t think this would be a hard thing to find, considering Austria is known for this dessert. We found it much harder than we imagined, but after an awkward café experience, we found some at a corner bakery. It was just as good as expected, and I’m glad that we were able to find it.
Not only were the people nice in Vienna, but the food was good too. I’ll definitely have to revisit Vienna someday.
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