Vienna

Exams successfully came to a close on Wednesday, and I finally have a life I can live outside of my flat. In order to celebrate, and feed my travel addiction, I booked a flight to Vienna. As a way of saving some cash, I booked a 6:50 a.m. departure flight on Thursday, and the 8:40 p.m. return flight on Friday. It's like traveling on steroids.

I didn't set myself up too well for Thursday though as a group of friends and I stayed out on Wednesday night until 2. It was the last chance for me to say good-bye to some, so I didn't want to miss that. We chatted the night away with one of our Swedish friends, who was hard to say good-bye to. The negative result was that I had to wake up two hours later, pack, shower, and take the train to the airport for my flight.

I got into Vienna around 8 a.m., and wandered aimlessly through the city until I finally found my hostel. It started to rain, and I was glad I remembered to pack my umbrella. I wasn't happy though that I forgot to pack my deodorant and a complete change of clothes (I’ll let you guess what I forgot) for the next day. I guess that is what I get for trying to pack with one eye open.

Even though the umbrella kept my head and upper body nice and dry, it didn't prevent my legs and feet from becoming soaked. After about 30 minutes, the insides of my shoes were completely saturated. With every step I could feel the water squish between my toes, and I knew I had about 8 hours left of that feeling.

I didn't really know where to start, but a couple of my friends here in Cologne just said to walk through the city center. That is where all the sites are apparently. So, I took their advice, and that is where I headed. My instant impression of Vienna is that it is a very classy city. Mozart, Beethoven and the rest of the famous musicians bleed from the walls and streets. There are a million cafes, and you can see people drinking either wine or coffee at any given moment.

The architecture is similar to Munich, but a little less playful. Huge Baroque buildings cover the city center, and the immense Hofburg Palace is the centerpiece. I was told before I saw it that it was similar to Versailles, but once I visited it, I thought it was nothing like it. Sure, they are both big palaces, but Versailles is located outside of the city, and is more of a place to go relax and get away from the noise. The different parts of the palace were converted into various museums, none of which really lit my fire. So, I just enjoyed the view from the outside. It did have a couple nice gardens though, one of which had a lovely memorial to Mozart (pictured).

After touring the palace grounds, I walked a block over to get a view of Parliament and then another block over to get a view of Rathaus. I couldn't get a good idea of what the Rathaus actually was, so I had to look it up on Wikipedia when I returned to Cologne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathaus%2C_Vienna. No offense to the govt of Vienna, but when you look at the building, you would think that it seats a much more important body. Rathaus Park is located right across from it though, and that was pretty cool. Rose bushes dominate every corner of the park, and of course, what park in Vienna wouldn't be complete without a memorial to Mozart. Since it was really rainy on Thursday, I returned to it on the somewhat sunny Friday to get a good shot (pictured). A day of rain, and some sun really made the roses blossom!

From Rathaus, I made my way to the Stephansdom, which is an old church smack in the middle of town. It serves as the cultural center of Vienna, complete with all the tourist trap horse and carriage rides, and men dressed up like Mozart wanting to tell you something. I didn't stay there long, as there were a ton of tourists just hanging out.

When I was on the train from the airport to the city center, I noticed this massive cemetery (turns out it is called Zentralfriedhof) along the way. Not thinking anything of it, I quickly found out from my trusty travel book that it holds the graves of a number of famous composers and former patrons of Vienna. Looking to get out of the city center for a while, I jumped on a tram and made the trek out there.

My first impressions were that it was humongous! Apparently it holds over 2.5 million souls. That's a lot of people! The graves are also extremely elaborate, with huge gravestones scattered throughout the grounds. The land had an eerie feeling to it. The grass and trees grew over, under, and around the graves, really giving the place a neat feeling. In fact, I started walking down one of the many paths carved here and there (pictured), and had to turn around really quickly as I started to get a bit freaked out. Especially since I was the only person around.

There is one really interesting part of the cemetery though. The graves of Beethoven (pictured), Brahm, Schubert, and Strauss form a semi-circle around a memorial to Mozart. Apparently Mozart is in an unmarked grave in another cemetery somewhere in Vienna. I haven't seen the movie Amadeus in a while (whether that is historically accurate or not is debatable) but what does it say when you are the cities patron saint and they can't find your grave? Well, a quick review of Wikipedia clued me in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart#Final_illness_and_death. Seems it was normal practice at the time.

After a while hanging out in this eerie yet fantastic historical treasure, I took a tram back to the city center. After some food, I searched for a cafe to have a hot chocolate and warm up. Ironically, the only one I could find near me was a Starbuck's. So, I visited a Starbuck's for the first time in Europe. If you think the prices are high in the US, you should visit one abroad. A little over $6 for a small hot chocolate. Yikes! My body was worn out from all the walking, dreary weather, and lack of sleep, so I headed back to the hostel, and ultimately hit the sack at 9 p.m. and proceeded to sleep for 12 hours.

The weather was a little nicer the next day, and again I just wandered around town with no agenda in mind. I thought that since Vienna seems to be so classy and cultural that I would join in and see how it feels. I read that people like Freud used to sit in Viennese cafes, sipping coffee and politicking. Well, not sure if Freud ever sipped on a warm glass of hot chocolate, but I did, and it was good. I some funky bread with butter, sea salt, and some type of seed on it. Not sure what it was, but it was tasty nonetheless.

From there, I walked to the other side of town, and caught a tram and then a bus to outside of the city. I read that wine taverns, or heurigen as they are called in Vienna, are a fun place to visit. I like wine, so I thought why not? As I approached a recommended place, I was a little unsure whether I was in the right place. I came to find out that these are basically family run businesses literally outside of the home.

The street it was located on your basic suburban (European suburban) street, where normal people live. Unsure what to do, I simply tried opening the front door. It was locked. Ok, I guess I'll walk through the gate on the side of the house. As I passed through the gate, an old man was sitting there alone smoking a cigarette and drinking something out of a glass. He looked like a lone sole waiting outside of the O.K. Corall. Kind of like the calm before the storm. A bit intimidated, our brief conversation went like this.

Nick: Hello, English?
Strange Guy: No - Italiano.
Nick: Hmmm.
Strange Guy: Francais?
Nick: No.
Nick: Espanol?
Strange Guy: No, Italiano
Nick: Heurigen? (Pointing my finger at the ground)
Strange Guy: Huh?!
Nick: Heurigen?
Strange Guy: Yeah (pointing his finger further around to the back yard).

So between us we knew five languages, yet couldn't find one that matched. Luckily for me, a nice older lady greeted me towards the end of my conversation with the strange guy, and guided me around the bushes to the 12 picnic tables spread throughout the back yard. I got there just after it had opened, so there wasn't anyone around. Although the picture doesn't really do it justice, it was a quiet and beautiful spot and a brilliant idea on my part. I drank a couple glasses of red wine, while the old lady (who also didn't know English) did some gardening and her cat prowled around mischievously.

I sat there calmly, looking into the surrounding hills, and soaking up the quiet. As I left, I returned my glass inside, where there was an old guy standing with a cane who looked like he was on the verge of tears. I set the glass down, and quickly said Tchuss (good-bye) to the old lady before the scene with the guy with the cane turned awkward. Near the gate exit were a couple of other fairly old ladies who just stared at me. I began to think that they don't see many people like me (a young male who can't speak their language) in a given day.

As I walked down the street to the bus stop, I just thought to myself....weird but cool. That pattern developed often over my brief visit, and I guess you could say it sums up my stop in Vienna. I will say though that it is one of the cities I have visited abroad where I thought I could live. It had that calm, classy, and sophisticated feel to it that appeals to me.