Vienna had a much different feeling than Prague does. I felt safer there. It felt more like a family-oriented neighborhood. Prague feels like a big city that is constantly on the go. Vienna felt that way, too, but it was different. I guess it's just a Europe thing.
The hotel in Vienna was pretty great. Sarah and I had our own bathroom, which was a nice change. The rooms are smaller in Vienna than they are in Prague, but I didn't mind. It was cozy, and we were only in there to sleep at night anyway. The curtains were bright white and kind of sheer. The bedding was also a bright white, which was accompanied by light wood furniture. It was like caramel graced with whipped cream. Haha, this travel writing class is making me sound too poetic. The bathroom was nice, but we had a minor issue. The heater was on the entire time, and while the weather was brisk and chilly, the bathroom was very uncomfortable. The heat was coming from this huge square suspended from the wall. It looked like a vertical griddle. It was different, to say the least. Needless to say, we suffered through the heat, but we had the windows open the entire time, so the cool, Vienna air wafted in and out of our bedroom, keeping the temperature around a comfortable 60 degrees.
We did quite a bit while in Vienna. We only had three short days, so we had to make the best of it. I'm confident we did.
We arrived in Vienna around noon on Thursday. We immediately trekked to our hotel/boarding house, dropped off our luggage, and ventured off into the streets of Vienna for our first city tour. I was blown away by the sights. It's utterly breathtaking, just like Prague, but in a different light. We had our umbrellas open, walked through Vienna scoping out places to revisit, and took so many pictures.
The buildings in Vienna are almost dreamlike. It resembled a wonderland, especially because of all of the people walking around with their umbrellas open, too. Horse-drawn buggies were weaving in and out of the streets, passing by castles and City Hall. The horses in Vienna aren't like the ones in New Orleans. We have carriage rides in the French Quarter, yes, but in Vienna, it was much more interesting. My English teacher says that when you do something in a foreign country, it becomes much more interesting than if you performed that same activity at home. I saw a horse and carriage ride today verses I saw a horse and carriage ride in downtown Vienna today. You decide which is more exciting, but I can guarantee it's the latter.
We continued to tour Vienna, and I scoped out the shops and cafés (especially the ones that sold chocolate!). We found some pretty cool places, and the chocolate is amazing, by the way. I spent many a Euro on some goodies to bring back with me to the states. Can't wait to share them! Anyway, after our tour, we had an hour or so to freshen up before we went to dinner. We went to this quaint, Austrian restaurant called Narrischer Kastanienbaum right down the road from our hotel. It was so sweet. It reminded me of an isolated cabin in the forest somewhere. The inside was dimly lit, but far from drab. There were wine bottles everywhere, and people sitting at tables drinking wine and enjoying Austrian cuisine. We made our way to the back of the restaurant, where we had a reserved area for the party of twenty plus. We took our seats at these wooden tables graced with wine glasses and decanters of wine, both white and red. We began drinking while waiting for our food. The wine was delicious. I preferred the red compared to white, but I would have settled for either one.
Our first course was soup, which I didn't really care for. It was beef broth with bread in it. It was kind of like French onion soup, for those of you who have had it. Next came the main course, which to my surprise (not really), was wienerschnitzel. Wienerschnitzel is a deep fried filet of chicken or pork that sits upon a bed of potatoes in some fashion. We had fries. They must have known we were American. They also gave you a tiny slice of lemon to drizzle over the dish, which made it even more appealing to a borderline famished traveler. It was filling. I enjoyed it, even though I'm kind of opposed to indulging in deep-friend foods. But hey, when in Austria, eat as the Austrians do. Dessert, if you'd call it that, was a disappointment. We were told apple strudel, but it clearly was not. It was an apricot crepe covered in honey and powdered sugar, which sounds delectable! It smelled like cat food and tasted like hairspray, and I WISH I was exaggerating. The majority of us bypassed dessert and continued drinking wine. The night got fun from there.
After drinking wine for a couple hours straight, we felt like we reached our quota, that is, until the waiter decided to bring us yet another bottle. This makes bottle number six for the evening. We didn't want to be rude and leave an opened bottle of white wine on the table, so we kind of smuggled it out of the restaurant. Leave it up to Jessica to walk out of a restaurant with a bottle of wine tucked under her arm without getting caught. So anyway, we just went back to her room, sat on the balcony and drank wine, while talking and enjoying the nighttime sky... in Vienna (See? Much more interesting).
The next morning, after breakfast (which consisted of bread and cheese - only), we went on another tour. We went to the Hundertwasser Museum. Hundertwasser was an artist, who thought he was a tree. He was this European hippie guy who created artwork with bright, bold colors in the most abstract of fashions. It was everything that I don't like in art, not to mention his obscure mindset. He spoke words like, "When I die, I wish to be buried under a tree, so I can retreat back to nature and grow with the tree." It was like Secret Window, minus the corn feast at the end. And Johnny Depp, of course. Johnny Depp was definitely not there. It was grueling. Grueling. An upside to this museum was the restaurant on the first floor. It was like these people discovered a meadow, put up a few chairs and tables, and opened for business. They even had little dangly things hanging from the tree limbs that hovered over the tables. Have you ever seen Harriet the Spy? Yes? (If you said no, stop reading my blog.) Remember the part where Gully (Rosie O'Donnell) takes Harriet and her two friends to that mystical, outdoor wonderland? It kind of looked like that. It was really cool. We ordered and ate. It was delicious. I had sausage with mustard. I know, I know... it sounds horrible, and there wasn't a single green item on my plate, which made me feel like a fat ass, but I wanted to try Austrian food. So I did. Not to mention the fact that it was the cheapest thing on the menu, aside from a single slice of bread. Four-ish Euros later, and we're off to another group/city tour. Yay.
Our tour guide, Marietta Rein, was a very lovely woman. She's beautiful, first of all. Most of the people in Vienna were. It made me long for bright blue eyes even more than I did before coming here. Anyway, Marietta was wonderful and intelligent, but damn, she can talk. We toured St. Stephen's cathedral, which was just like any other cathedral that I've seen so far on this trip. What could have been a mere twenty minute tour turned into an hour and a half. It was brutal. I was SO bored, and I very rarely get bored. I was so antsy too. I'm beginning to think I'm developing ADHD.
After that ridiculously long tour, we went to the crypt down the street. How lovely and happy. We got to stare at caskets for another ninety minutes. B-O-R-I-N-G. Is it rude to admit that I was jealous of all of those dead people? I envied them. Not only did they have a place to lay down, but they were also in peace. Silence. That's all I wanted was silence. Sorry, Marietta, but you talk too much sometimes, and I can't follow what you're saying. I was just looking forward to dinner that evening at a winery on the outskirts of Vienna. That's all I wanted. Wine and dinner.
Six o'clock finally rolled around, and we departed from the hotel. One hour of intense travel later (metro, thirty minute tram ride, and walking on cobblestones in wedges), we finally reached Heuringer Welser. This was my first experience at a winery, and I fell in love. We walked through the outside dining area, which sat under a canopy of foliage. It took me awhile to realize that these were actually where they harvested their grapes for their wine. Bundles of grapes dangled from the ceiling. They were bright green and not quite ripe, but still appealing.
We went inside and had a seat at another wooden table. We drank delicious wine out of "wine mugs", which, essentially, are beer mugs that hold wine instead of beer. Or something like that. I preferred the white this time. There were dogs running throughout the restaurant, which, in my opinion, was a nice addition to the overall "coziness" of the winery. We were also serenaded by two of the most precious musicians ever. They were older, but full of vitality. They played songs native to Austria, which were great. As I was eating my dinner (which consisted of a variety of delicious meats), I heard a song that was beyond familiar. Edelweiss. They started playing Edelweiss. I threw down my fork and frantically searched for my camera to record this amazing moment. I ran up to them and recorded them singing one of the most beautiful songs I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. They saw that I was recording and directed their attention to my camera. It was such a special moment. I started tearing up at the remembrance of The Sound of Music. I was overwhelmed with emotion. Here I was at a winery in Vienna, eating an Austrian meal while drinking wine with great friends, and listening to Edelweiss, being sung by two wonderful Austrian people. It was definitely one of the highlights of this trip.
After a few glasses of wine, dinner and dessert (tirimisu) that would blow your socks off, and wonderful entertainment, it was time to leave. I didn't want to leave the winery. I loved how cozy and welcoming it was. Everyone was so merry and friendly too, which was a nice change from the gems that work in the food industry in America.
The journey back towards the hotel was interesting, to say the least. First of all, maneuvering through a city you're completely unfamiliar with is a chore, especially when you're leading a group of six slightly tipsy women. We found the tram stop with ease, got onto the tram, and sat there for fifteen minutes. It was sketchy as hell. Come to find out, the delay was caused by construction workers. Typical.
After getting off at our stop, we decided to stop in this bar close to our hotel. We had a beer and played one game of UNO. I won. No surprise there (note the sarcasm, if you were unable to catch it). We sat around, drank our beer, and talked. It was fun. Sarah wanted to go outside to smoke, so I decided to go with her. We were standing outside, and I spotted a Kodak moment, so I grabbed my camera for a picture. I crossed the street to take a picture of the pub and Sarah. As I went to snap the picture, three guys crossed in front of the camera. This threw me off, so I put the camera down and waited until they were out of my shot (so official). The last guy stopped and jokingly posed for a picture. I laughed and proceeded to tell him that he could be in the picture. "Seriously?" "Yeah, sure!" A picture of a bar in Austria would be much cooler with a REAL Austrian in it! He gathered his buddies, and they all posed around Sarah. I jumped in the picture too.
The new photo bombers took the group picture as an invitation to start a conversation with us. We stood outside and talked with them for awhile. The conversation basically consisted of Sarah asking one of the guys, Mark, how to say phrases in German. It was very funny. I took a video, of course. She learned how to say "tail of a squirrel" in German, for some odd reason. She then turned to one of the guys, Freddy (who looked like the Austrian version of Harry Potter), and said, "You look like a squirrel's tail." They all laughed along with us, especially the third friend, Tom, who was wearing clothes that came straight out of Pac Sun. They were quite the trio. They invited us to walk down to another bar/pool hall with them. We didn't have anything better to do, so we joined them.
This bar was much cooler than the one we previously visited. It was a much younger crowd. It felt like a basement, because of the descending staircase to get inside of the bar. There were three pool tables, foosball tables, and multiple couches and the like. It was really neat. We got situated at the pool table in the back of the bar, ordered a beer, and started pairing off into teams. I got stuck with Feddy (aka Harry), who was beyond wasted. I couldn't understand a single word he said. Not only did he have a thick Austrian accent, but he had a severely heavy I'm-so-freaking-hammered accent. It was quite the process to understand his words. He meant well.
Two beers and multiple games of pool later, we decided to sit down and join some other people at a table. We spent the remainder of the evening/early morning talking and drinking and laughing. It was loads of fun. We were trying to explain to the Austrian guys what New Orleans was like. It was kind of difficult, especially for Freddy, who actually ended up disappearing. We found him later fast asleep on a vacant pool table. Poor guy. When we realized it was 4:00 AM, we decided it was time to leave. We said goodbye to our new friends and walked back to the hotel. After a warm shower and a glass of water, I passed the heck out. "What a night" was all that was running through my mind. And what a night it was.
The next morning was a little rough. I was exhausted. At least we didn't have much of an agenda that day. We were free until 7:15 PM, which was joyous! We were all craving our version of alone time. It's rough being herded around like cattle with everyone for an entire day. It makes you feel like running away. Luckily, I didn't get that extreme. I did, however, engage in some retail therapy: Vienna style. It was glorious. We spent the day wandering around downtown Vienna. I bought some much-needed souvenirs, most of them being edible. Hooray for foreign chocolate and coffee! After we exceeded our limit with shopping, we ended up at City Hall, which was hosting a film festival. It was really cool. They have this gigantic screen set up on a beautiful piece of architecture, that looked like a castle. It was gorgeous and lovely and breathtaking. Because it was still kind of early, there wasn't much going on. So we ordered peach and raspberry daiquiris and enjoyed the sights. There were numerous food booths. Asian food, Austrian food, etc. It all smelled so wonderful, but it was so expensive. So we settled for McDonald's (yes, McDonald's) and headed back to the hotel to start getting ready for the evening.
That evening, we went on a group outing to Karlskirche, which is a cathedral around downtown Vienna. We went there to see a concert dedicated to Mozart. It was very pretty for the first couple of minutes, but after awhile, I felt my ears craving some thrash metal. Too much classical isn't good for the soul, I'm convinced. Or maybe that's my newfound ADHD talking. I had the giggles during this concert. Of course I would. It wasn't only me, though. It was all of the UNO people, including the teachers. Best thing ever. I could overhear them cracking jokes and giggling like children. It made me feel better for acting silly too. Besides, what's life without jokes?
After the twenty minutes of applause ceased, we bolted out of the doors of the beautiful cathedral and became enveloped in the night air of Vienna. It was freezing. I wasn't dressed for the occasion, but my outfit rocked.
I didn't care though. I was in Vienna. The least of my worries were the family of goosebumps permanently residing on my legs and arms, making the five minutes of meticulous shaving I did prior to the concert completely pointless.
We frolicked through the cold and made our way to the tram stop. We caught the number 2 tram to our stop by the hotel, and went back to the pool hall/bar/teeny bopper hangout. We drank more beer, played more pool, and spotted Freddy Potter by the bar hitting on some girl. I hope she could understand him, because he seemed friendly enough. We didn't stay very long. We were all very tired and hungry. We were counting on the food there, but it seemed awful. The loaded nachos were actually just tortilla chips with salsa-flavored ketchup. Thinking about it now makes me queasy. Maybe I'm just getting motion sickness from the train, but I'd much rather blame the glob of gelatinous condiment. Sick. One more bar stop, and then it was off to bed.
I slept hard last night. I also slept until 9:00 AM, which is the latest I've woken up in a few weeks. It was nice. We had breakfast, packed, and walked around town for a short while. It was so cold. Luckily we found an open restaurant (everything is closed on Sundays), ran in and ordered cappucinos. It was mediocre, but the atmosphere was nice. The staff kept laughing at Sarah, Crystal, and I. Maybe it's because we're American, or maybe it was because of the intense laughter radiating from our table. Hey, we like to have a good time.
I think our laughter disrupted the elderly woman sitting at the table behind us. We chilled out for awhile, and my attention drifted from my friends to the older woman. She was very aged. I could tell by her wrinkles and the way she walked, especially. She was having a meal at a table for four, but she was alone. It broke my heart. Of course, I don't know the real reason why she was alone. In my mind, she was all she had. No family, no friends, no pets, despite the dog to human ratio in Vienna (which is 2:1, in case you were wondering). I wanted to sit down with her and talk, but I knew I couldn't. She was speaking German with the waiter, who kept a close eye on her, which made me feel like she was a regular. Maybe it was her Sunday tradition to have lunch at that restaurant. I just hate seeing people alone. I wonder what her story is.
After leaving the restaurant, we got our things together and caught our train back to Prague. It almost feels like I should be going home. Two weeks in Prague, four days in Vienna. Isn't this enough? Back to Prague I go, and in less than two weeks, I'll be on a plane that's heading to New Orleans. Back to reality. Back to the familiar. Back to some routine that I'll have to relearn. I'm getting used to all of this spontaneity. Not knowing what I'll be doing an hour from now. Not knowing what people around me are saying, because I didn't learn Czech or German as a child. I'll miss walking everywhere. Catching trams. Squeezing onto the metro. I'll miss the friendships, because I know they're bound to change once I get back home. In my perfect world, they'd remain the same. But the world is far from perfect.
I miss Vienna already, and I know I'll miss Prague just like I missed home when I left. But I'm growing up. I'm seeing the world and doing things on my own. I'm living and learning and loving every minute of it. I know I still have two weeks, but they will be the shortest two weeks of my life, I can guarantee. I'm not ready to leave. I'm not ready for reality. I like not knowing what comes next, or exactly what I'm eating, or what people are saying.
I'll be on a plane soon. I'll be leaving Prague. I liked it there.
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