Vienna

The second stop on my mid-term break was Vienna.

After the train trip from Prague, we arrived in Vienna, tired, cold and grumpy. But some coffee that came in a bowl- literally- and some nutella, we felt a lot better. Once again, we were staying in a great hostel called "Wombats Naasctmarket" in a very central area in Vienna. We had a good room, and there was a great bar there too, full of travelers from all over- even some other South Africans!

We started with a walk around the area, which had a market selling lots of random scarfs and hats, as well as lovely food- falafels, cheese, olives among others. It reminded me of the early morning famers market in Shogweni in KZN- one of my favourite places! After roaming around there, we moved to the old town. Vienna's main sites are the old town, the centre and the palace. So, on day one, we did the old town- looking at the Opera house, state offices and other old building we did not really know. We stopped for some beer and french fries, then added a pretzel to that because everyone loves pretzels!







We wandered into the centre to find this famous cake shop where they supposably have the best cake and hot chocolate in Vienna. We weren't that impressed but it was still good. Vienna is known for its cake shops!





We went back to the hostel once darkness hit (at like 4pm!), took a much needed nap and then headed to the bar where we made friends with some spanish people studying abroad in poland. They introduced us to a toxic drink- pouring shots of vodka into beer...sounded like a good idea at the time but we paid for it the next day! We went out to the 'party place' in Vienna but were there too early for things to get started and were too tired to stay later, so headed home, and got some sleep.

The next day, we headed to the Schroonburg Palace and gardens. We decided against going into the palace because once you have been into Versaille, nothing will really compare. We took a walk through the gardens, which are amazing! The trees are orange, leaves falling everywhere. It is the perfect vision of fall! We walked through the gardens which are spectacular and then headed for the zoo. The zoo boasts holding Pandas, Polar Beers and Koala's among others. It is also supposed to be one of the oldest zoos in existence. It was exciting, we saw some animals but a lot of them i had seem before since i am from Africa.

We then headed to starbucks to de-thaw because it was COLD! And then walked around the centre again. After looking at some shops, we went to find the XXL Schnitzel which is supposed to be the biggest schnitzel in Vienna and man oh man was it BIG! I am amazed we finished them! It was reallllly good too! We decided to get an early night that night because Abi had to be up at 3am to get a flight home. On the way back to the hostel, we stumbled upon another really nice area- very alternative and studenty with nice shops and coffee shops, and stopped into a very intellectual cafe for some amazing hot chocolate!

The last day we were there, we took it easy. Abi has gone back to Paris to meet her aunt, so Katie and I wandered around and the visited the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum. Vienna has a whole museum quartier, full of unique and interesting places!

That evening we caught the train to our last stop- Krakow! It was an...interesting train ride, which i will write about in my next post!

Vienna is a beautiful city but not my favourite. I could live there and definitely study there but as a tourist place, there is not too much to see. It would be great if we had a guide book or something, but on your own, it is hard to know what is what. Nevertheless, i have never seen parks that beautiful and the leaves are just unbelievable. I am very glad i went and will always look back fondly on it!