Ok, so we got, maybe, 3-4 hours of on-and-off sleep on the bus to Vienna. Luckily, our arrival at the bus station coincided with the opening hours of a coffee shop in the terminal. We refueled on caffeine and our leftover pizza, then made our way to the hostel we had booked to drop off our large bags before exploring Vienna. With our load lightened, we were pumped to start our itinerary which - thanks to an app called "visitacity" - was expertly laid out for us.
We started our journey at Hofburg Palace, which was actually a tour of three different museums. The first section housed room after room of kitchenware, dinning sets, and other ornate dining decor used by the Royal families throughout the centuries. After that, we made our way through an exhibit all about the former Empress Elisabeth, also known as Sisi. This was absolutely fascinating to me (Aftyn) because, as it turns out, she was actually a very sensitive and sad woman - despite the fact that she was very beautiful and well loved by all her people, and absolutely adored by her husband. She excelled at so many hobbies; from hunting on horseback, to fencing, to painting - but it was her poetry that really captured me, because it gave me a very clear understanding of what it was like for a person with emotional illnesses back before they even knew such things existed. Her life was very lonely because her husband was very busy with all his duties, and full of pressures that we could only imagine. Once we had completed the tour all about her life, we got to walk through the actual Palace rooms where she and the Emperor lived.
By now, our feet were on fire and our lack of sleep was wearing on us, but we still had half the day ahead of us and we didn't want to waste it. The good news is that the rest of our plans for the day took us towards our hostel, and they were outside which gave us a bit of a lift. The first stop was to check out a popular street for shopping called Karntnerstrasse, which had a lot of modern clothing and gift stores mixed in with several cafes and restaurants. On our way there, we happened by a small theater where a man was selling tickets for a classical opera and dance performance at the door. He engaged us by asking if we wanted to see the show that evening, and in fact we had previously talked about how you couldn't come to Vienna and not see a show. After a bit of haggling, we walked away with some relatively inexpensive tickets to what promised to be a great performance.
Once we hit Karntnerstrasse we didn't spend much time walking through it all, because what we really wanted to see was at the end of the street: The Naschmarkt! This was an open-air market place that featured prepared food booths, cheese shops, produce ventors, and crafts-people selling their wares. We took in the stunning displays of dried fruits, nuts, fresh vegetables, cheese wheels, baked goods, candles, soaps, and so much more. It was here that we decided to grab some dinner to go, and got a great tip from one of the vendors to try a place called "Dr. Falaffel" for a highly renowned "falaffel wrap". We were not disappointed! It was the perfect meal for what we needed: fresh, warm, light, easily portable, and best of all, Vegan! For the record, we aren't Vegans, but we are Vegetarians who like to try to eat Vegan as often as possible.
We spent the lovely walk back to our hostel chatting and chowing down on our yummy dinner, both of us in amazing moods. And thennnn.... as it turns out, when I booked the hostel I made a terrible mistake! While I had selected 2 guests at the home screen, when it came time to actually book the room I somehow only indicated 1 guest! In my defense, the app is a little confusing and I don't recommend it for couples as it seems to be mainly designed for solo travelers.
But this is an example of why I believe everything happens for a reason, because we ended up quickly booking a hotel not far from the hostel that was absolutely perfect! It had such a warm, cozy, eclectic vibe and reading about the owner and his vision, it was very clear that we shared a lot of values. The attached restaurant served mostly vegetarian dishes, predominantly dairy-free, and uses ingrediants from local farms. They also have their own bike team called the "Unicorns"! We got cleaned and gussied up for our night at the Opera, which ended up being very entertaining - even if not entirely as we were expecting it to be.
We strolled home from the theater under a nearly full moon, with Tim's arm wraped around my shoulders nearly the entire time. It was a moment to remember. After a long day running on next to no sleep, we were out almost as soon as our heads hit the pillows in our comfy memory foam bed.
Tuesday June 26, 2018
Ahhh, it really makes a difference to have a nice place to sleep! We woke up refreshed and ready for another exciting day exploring the streets of Vienna. We swung by the bus station to stick our big backpacks in a locker for the day, then hopped on the Underground towards our first destination: Belvedere Palace. After spending a lot more money that we considered ideal yesterday, we really didn't feel like shelling out any more Euros today in the name of touring old buildings, so we simply passed the time wandering around the (free) Belvedere Gardens. We still got to view the stunning exterior of the impressive Upper and Lower Belvedere structures, all while taking in the beauty of the long garden connecting them.
Following our stroll through the palace gardens, we grabbed some ice cream and then made our way to check out a place called "Haus der Musik" (House of Music). On our way there, we noticed a large memorial with a fountain, which seemed like a perfect place to take a little rest. We sat by the fountain and enjoyed some leftovers we had gotten from the breakfast buffet at our hotel. After awhile, we completed our journey to the Haus der Musik. Upon arrival, we realized that it really was more for kids, and at 13 Euro per person it just didn't seem worth it. So instead, we walked around aimlessly until we accidentily arrived back at Karntnerstrasse. This worked out really well since we didn't get to see much of it the first time, and we needed to do some souvenier shopping.
And then the rain came...
We hid out for awhile in a little cafe and ate some warm "Apple Pie" that was really more like struessel. After that we went across the street to a grocery store called Bio Mart and picked up some necessities for our bus ride later. Conveniently, the rain had let up by now, so we were able to make our way to our final destination on our itinerary: Stadtpark. This was a georgeous park, featuring statues dedicated to various musicians, artists, and other important people that had made their mark on Vienna. As we walked, we began to hear some tunder in the distance, so we decided it would be wise to wrap our time up and head back to the bus station.
On our way to the Underground station, Tim happened to notice a big sign that said "BONBON" which - much to my suprise - he insisted we stop into. I wasn't about to argue with any idea involving sweets, so we popped into the shop and picked out a few small things to satisfy our sweet-tooth. Of course, the rain had returned while we were in the candy shop, so we had to hustle to the underground.
I'm not sure when the most appropriate time to mention this is, but I had the entire soundtrack to The Sound of Music running through my head the entire time we were in Austria. I also want to point out a couple fun facts about Vienna that we observed: For one, Mozart is everywhere. He did live in the city for a good chunck of his life, so it makes sense they would capitialize on that. This city is fairly obsessed with all things art, including painting, theater, sculpture, and especially music. We think its pretty perfect :-)
Much love from Austria! <3
Checkout all of our photos in our European Adventure 2018 album:
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