Austria was a huge surprise, in a very delightful way. I think it’s because I didn’t have high expectations or in fact, any expectations. It was an excursion included with the program so I didn’t have to plan anything for it. And since none of the other people in my program had gone yet, there had been no hype or people talking about it. So it was a new experience for everyone! We left on Friday and came back Saturday and due to sever traffic we weren’t even there 24 hours.
The bus ride over was extremely long but I always enjoy road trips to settle my thoughts, plan for the future, and study.
Traveling by bus/train is my absolute favorite because you get to see the countryside. These rolling hills were filled with hundreds of thousands of yellow colza flowers and windmills.
The entire program got a complimentary bus then walking tour around the city center. We got to see the Neue Holfburg, Burgtheatre, and Parliament. The day alone just had me sold- the weather was warm, people were out running, picnicking, lying in the grass, and siting on garden benches.
Once the tour was over, the rest of the time we got to spend exploring on our own.
When we checked into our hotel, the three friends I went to Ibiza with- Sam, Sidney and Megan and I almost ran to the Schloss Schonbrunn palace to make it in time for the sunset. The palace was gorgeous don’t get me wrong, but the vast garden’s behind it is what really won me over. I could have spent a day in its own walking around. The trees were trimmed perfectly, lush green, and were in various shapes of symmetry. The huge tulips were flourishing. We explored the rows and rows of vines, trees, and fountains imagining what it’d be like to be in 18th century. Maybe invited to the palace’s summer garden ball strolling through the estate in our fancy hat, fanning ourselves and gossiping about the royal drama.
After the sun went down we set off to grab a late bite to eat. We ran into a free Austrian rap concert right in front of the Karlskirche. This was the place to be for the local kids- skateboarding, laying out in the lawn, enjoying beers, or up in the crowd dancing to the music.
It was nearly 22:30 before we sat making a cheers to our first (and only) night there. The meal made it more than 100% worth it. I got Schnitzel chicken cordon blu.
The next day we started early eating a yummy continental breakfast. The four of us started off for the Schloss Belvedre, another phenomenal palace, built in the 18th century just as a summer residence. Inside was the infamous “Kiss” painting by Gustav Klimt. Outside there were more gardens but a little different form the Schonbrunn. This one didn't contain any flowers because the prince wanted the focus to be on art, not nature.
We sat on the palace patio and I had my first ever Aperol, extremely refreshing in the hot sun.
Next we headed to the University of Economics to see the truly head-turning architectural work of Zaha Hadid.
The huge Viennese Prater (amusement park) was going on and we walked through grabbing some currywurst lunch and riding the rollercoaster and high swings. Wahoo!!
We stopped at the absolute cutest Viennese coffee house called Gerstner. They had all sorts of goodies- cake, bons bons, tortes, truffles, strudels, and macaroons. We sat in the comfy cushions drinking sharing rich desserts.
We were able to quickly poke our head up to see the Stephansdom cathedral and walk down the “tourist mile” towards the Wiener Staatsoper Opera house where we met up with the rest of our program to head home.
I picked up a post card at the very end that had a collage of 12 of the biggest Vienna attractions and happily discovered we managed to hit every single one in the two half-days and one night we were there.
I really wanted to extend the trip and check out Salzburg but I only have a week and a half left in Prague. Darn, looks like I have to go back another time ;)