Upon arriving in central Vienna step one (as always) was figuring out how I would be getting around that weekend. The answer was a 72hr transit pass for 17€. I got from the bus station to my Wombat’s hostel using the U-Bahn. They have the U and S bahn. Easy way to remember: U= underground train and S= street tram.
Directly across from my Wombats hostel was Naschmarkt, a huge outdoor market. There I sampled several candies and nuts from the eager street vendors. I got my lunch to go from a vendor there: a bratwurst dog that in the picture I’m going to post (it looks a little foul but was delicious I promise!). The hotdog placed inside a small baguette and they poured the condiments in first before the hot dog.
At 2pm I went on my favorite activity: the “free” walking tour. Since my friends were coming the next day I didn’t want to actually do any attractions without them but figured this would be a great way to make sure I see things efficiently and orient myself! Notable things I saw were the Mozart statue, Hofburg Imperial Palace, the Austrian National Library, Mozart’s last apartment in Vienna center, Ankeruhr Clock, Prague Column, and St. Stephan’s cathedral. After the tour I found their high street with all the shopping and picked up some post cards and stamps to send! I had a dinner of champions that night (a Gatorade and a chocolate bar oops). At the hostel my roommates this time was a girl from Versailles, a study abroad student in Rome from Orange County, and an older woman from Alaska. The Versailles girl and I really hit it off as she does marketing analytics for fashion brands *swoon*.
The next morning I got up early to go see the Lipizzaner Spanish horses at Michaelerplatz. Their was a long line for tickets but it moved quickly and was totally worth the 15€ admission. The building was beautiful and it was four 30 minute morning exercises. The riding school was pretty psycho about attendees not taking photos but of course I snuck a few at the end. The horses I took pictures of are the younger ones and apparently you know that as they're darker in color. Then I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I found “Schauflergasse” (street) where my mom and uncle have a photo in front of from many years ago so of course I had to flag someone down to take my photo there.
Around 1pm that Saturday I met my London friends at our apartment that we were in for the next few nights! From there we went to Votiv Cafe for lunch where I had a tasty Aperol spritz and chicken burger. After we did something we had planned earlier to do: ice skating in Rathausplatz! This wasn't cheap but lots of fun. The funniest part of the afternoon is that I was probably the strongest skater which is weird since I don’t even know how to stop on the ice. My friends were a mess but it was amusing. We got fun photos and it will be a great memory. Then it was getting dark and we went to see Belvedere Palace. We didn’t go inside as it was closing but got some magnificent pictures of it! That night our dinner of champions was McDonald’s. After we tried to get some alcohol for the evening and had the fun discovery that legitimately every grocery/convenience store not only closes at 6pm in Saturday’s but are also closed on Sundays! We would not be denied obviously so we used our transit pass a few stops to find something open. That night we went on a Vienna Bar Crawl to celebrate my friend Sam’s 21st birthday- it was a blast and the last stop was this really fun club!
Around 1pm that Saturday I met my London friends at our apartment that we were in for the next few nights! From there we went to Votiv Cafe for lunch where I had a tasty Aperol spritz and chicken burger. After we did something we had planned earlier to do: ice skating in Rathausplatz! This wasn't cheap but lots of fun. The funniest part of the afternoon is that I was probably the strongest skater which is weird since I don’t even know how to stop on the ice. My friends were a mess but it was amusing. We got fun photos and it will be a great memory. Then it was getting dark and we went to see Belvedere Palace. We didn’t go inside as it was closing but got some magnificent pictures of it! That night our dinner of champions was McDonald’s. After we tried to get some alcohol for the evening and had the fun discovery that legitimately every grocery/convenience store not only closes at 6pm in Saturday’s but are also closed on Sundays! We would not be denied obviously so we used our transit pass a few stops to find something open. That night we went on a Vienna Bar Crawl to celebrate my friend Sam’s 21st birthday- it was a blast and the last stop was this really fun club!
Sunday morning...ok noon...we got some food at this funky restaurant (I forget the name but it was in Stephansplatz!) and I had these sausage links wrapped in bacon with French fries- yum. After we went into St. Stephan’s cathedral and took the lift to the top for a lovely view of the city and the ornate roof of the cathedral.
Our next item to see that day was Schoenbrunn Palace. Once we got there we went to the famous Cafe Residenz and stuffed ourselves with hot chocolate, Apfelstrudel, Kaiserschmarrn, and Sachertorte. I had been told on my tour that Sachertorte was a very Viennese dessert. It’s a chocolate cake with apricot jam filling and chocolate icing. I didn’t think it was amazing (kinda dry cake that maybe would be good with coffee?) but glad I tried it. Kaiserschmarrn are Austrian pancakes with raisins that you dip in jam and are delicious! After our dessert extravaganza we did an audio tour through Schoenbrunn. Outside the palace wasn’t the most impressive (just a large estate) but inside was where it counted. It was BEAUTIFUL. Pictures also weren’t allowed so I didn’t risk it this time but I highly recommend googling it. On the audio tour I learned all about Maria Theresa who essentially was a badass female ruler. That night we did the last thing on my food bucket list- tried Weinerschnitzel with potato field salad at the famous Figlmüller restaurant. It was delicious. On Monday morning I left the apartment (my friends were leaving later that night as they didn’t have Monday classes) and took a 4€ direct train to the airport for a 9:45am flight to London on Level Airlines. I hadn’t heard of this airline but I highly recommend. We landed about 30 minutes early and I was back in plenty of time for my 2pm class. In conclusion, Vienna was beautiful and I’m still thinking of my Apfelstudel!
Our next item to see that day was Schoenbrunn Palace. Once we got there we went to the famous Cafe Residenz and stuffed ourselves with hot chocolate, Apfelstrudel, Kaiserschmarrn, and Sachertorte. I had been told on my tour that Sachertorte was a very Viennese dessert. It’s a chocolate cake with apricot jam filling and chocolate icing. I didn’t think it was amazing (kinda dry cake that maybe would be good with coffee?) but glad I tried it. Kaiserschmarrn are Austrian pancakes with raisins that you dip in jam and are delicious! After our dessert extravaganza we did an audio tour through Schoenbrunn. Outside the palace wasn’t the most impressive (just a large estate) but inside was where it counted. It was BEAUTIFUL. Pictures also weren’t allowed so I didn’t risk it this time but I highly recommend googling it. On the audio tour I learned all about Maria Theresa who essentially was a badass female ruler. That night we did the last thing on my food bucket list- tried Weinerschnitzel with potato field salad at the famous Figlmüller restaurant. It was delicious. On Monday morning I left the apartment (my friends were leaving later that night as they didn’t have Monday classes) and took a 4€ direct train to the airport for a 9:45am flight to London on Level Airlines. I hadn’t heard of this airline but I highly recommend. We landed about 30 minutes early and I was back in plenty of time for my 2pm class. In conclusion, Vienna was beautiful and I’m still thinking of my Apfelstudel!
hostel
Naschmarkt
bratwurst dog
Mozart statue
where Maria Theresa lived
Mozart's last apartment
oldest church in Vienna
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