Eurotrip: Vienna

When Joe and I visited Vienna in December, I fell in love with the city. (Despite the rain and cold, even!) So, I was very excited to come back to Vienna in the springtime. This was a much different trip than my last one, and focused far less on the traditional Vienna touristy things and more on day trips and walking. Thus, my pictures are not very exciting. Sorry!

Upon arriving via an overnight train from Krakow, Angie and I realized we had access to the first class OBB lounge. We decided to stop in on the hope that there was free coffee... and ecstatic to see that there was not only coffee, but breakfast, drinks, comfy chairs, a free bathroom, and free wifi! Since it was only 6:30am, we planted ourselves in the lounge for a few hours. By 8:45, we figured it was time to stop taking advantage of the lounge and head to our hotel, which luckily had a room open for us! This meant we could unpack our backpacks and head next door to the laundromat. By noon, we had clean clothes, plans for Vienna, and a feeling of giant accomplishment!

We grabbed some Austrian food for lunch and took the #1 Tram around the city before getting off to explore on foot. We started at St. Stephens Cathedral (which was the first place Joe & I went!) and I was surprised how different it looked without a Christmas market in front of it. So much sun! And flowers! And no mulled wine!

Next we headed to the Opera to see if we could get cheap tickets for the nights production of "La Boheme." Sadly, we could not. Happily, I still have an item on my bucket list left to accomplish: See an opera at the Vienna Operahouse.

We went to Stephansdom and made our way up the Eagle's Tower to see the gorgeous views of Vienna. One thing that caught our attention was the massive Ferris wheel in the distance. We also met some nice people from Israel and Australia before I showed off how not-scared-of-this-structure I was. For Joe. Who also is not afraid of it. Also, I got to show off that I am finally wearing flip-flops!!!

We walked around the palace, and over to a model Parthenon to see this very cool art exhibit. I wish I had more information on it, but I think I was half delirious at this point and proud just to be standing up straight. (The overnight trains, while convenient, are not the best ways to get a good night of sleep.)

Again, I was so impressed with how gorgeous the city was in Spring! I made a note to look at the Schonbrunn gardens to see if they were as beautiful, but further research said we were still too early. Oh well.

As I said earlier, the main point of this visit to Vienna was to take some day trips. So I don't have many more pictures of the city. Except for the Prather amusement park. Remember when I said the Ferris wheel had caught our attention? Well... after our day trip to Melk/Krems, we went to the park and ended up riding the swings! (We skipped the Ferris wheel. I was more interested in seeing in (especially after seeing it in "The Third Man") than riding it.

Basically, our three days in Vienna unfolded like this: Day One - laundry + city sightseeing; Day Two - day trip to Melk/Krems + Prater; Day Three - day trip to Bratislava; Day Four - head to our next stop: Salzburg!