The greatest assest when traveling: ear plugs. Buy them, pack them, bring them with you wherever you go. When you’re staying in a room of 6+ people, the odds are against you: there will undoubtedly always be at least one snorer in the bunch. Such was the case this weekend in Vienna but luckily I’m slowly becoming a well versed hosteler and I made sure to have a precious pair by my side for the trip.
That being said, I made a trip to Vienna over the weekend! I flew there on Thursday night and flew back on Sunday evening, so I had a good 3 days to explore the city. A friend of mine, Karalee, was there as well. She made the trip to see the Twenty One Pilots concert (a music group from Columbus, Ohio who were performing in Vienna this past weekend). Originally that was my plan as well, but after booking my flight & hostel I was left without a ticket, as they were all sold out. Good planning on my part, huh? More on that later.
Vienna is an unbelievably impressive city. When skyping with my dad this past week before leaving for the trip, he looked up reviews of the city online. A particularly endearing comment read:
Vienna is an unbelievably impressive city. When skyping with my dad this past week before leaving for the trip, he looked up reviews of the city online. A particularly endearing comment read:
“In Vienna you must go with your eyes in the sky in order not to miss the beautiful buildings, which is all around the center of the city!”
And it could not have been truer. Every building was a piece of artwork. The buildings in the US can’t hold a candle to the average apartment complex in Vienna. Walking through the city I found myself constantly wondering how on earth all of these buildings were created and all in such close proximity of one another. A magnificent city through and through. Ex: At one point I was looking for Hofburg Palace and really wasn’t sure if I had found it or not b/c all of the buildings were so striking.
I visited several palaces (Schönbrunn, Belvedere, Hofburg), went to the Sigmund Freud Museum, saw some mesmerizing churches, and of course did some shopping, mostly for food and chocolates! I also stumbled upon a Gustav Klimt exhibit, which was a welcome surprise. If you haven’t seen the film ‘The Woman in Gold,” about recovering a piece of his Klimt's art, I recommend watching it, especially if you’re going to Vienna anytime soon. Mozart Kugeln [aka Mozart Balls, funnier in English] were in every shop window, so I was inclined to try them (finally). I always insisted I wouldn’t like them, but at the end of the day they’re basically chocolate, so who are we kidding, of course they turned out to be delicious.
I visited several palaces (Schönbrunn, Belvedere, Hofburg), went to the Sigmund Freud Museum, saw some mesmerizing churches, and of course did some shopping, mostly for food and chocolates! I also stumbled upon a Gustav Klimt exhibit, which was a welcome surprise. If you haven’t seen the film ‘The Woman in Gold,” about recovering a piece of his Klimt's art, I recommend watching it, especially if you’re going to Vienna anytime soon. Mozart Kugeln [aka Mozart Balls, funnier in English] were in every shop window, so I was inclined to try them (finally). I always insisted I wouldn’t like them, but at the end of the day they’re basically chocolate, so who are we kidding, of course they turned out to be delicious.
I also ended up getting to go to the Twenty One Pilots concert (where I found the Austrian equivalent of Bud Light), which was a highlight of the weekend (the concert, not the beer!). Karalee already had a ticket so she headed to the concert pretty early on Saturday evening. I met up with her there later, hoping to find a scalper selling unwanted tickets. But after about an hour and a half of waiting and no luck, I decided to go to the movie theater next door, since I didn’t really feel like going back to the hostel. I had my ticket in hand, snacks bought, but as I was waiting for the movie to start I decided to check the concert event page on Facebook one more time…. and whad'ya know? Someone had posted just several minutes prior that they were by the venue, and had one more ticket to sell. So with my popcorn in hand I sped walked to the next building, quickly met with the person, and 10 minutes later was at the concert. It was ridiculously last minute but it all came together smoothly -- and somehow even ended up finding Karalee in the mob of people (thanks, Jessica!). Definitely a memorable experience and a great weekend overall!