The lovely Vienna

After touring Switzerland for a few days, Andi and I hit the traintracks and headed to his current hometown of Vienna, Austria. The train ride alone was a thrill (my first overnight train ride ever)! On economy class, you can turn down the seats to make little beds, so we converted our car into a pseudo disco lounge for a late night party. We were abruptly awoken at 7 am by a group of giggly teenage girls. Good thing, though, because I was awake to see some beautiful scenery in the morning light!

To state the obvious, the most marvelous thing about Vienna is the jaw-dropping architecture and the complicated history that accompanies it (something I won't attempt to repeat accurately here since history was my worst subject in school....but Andi, if I mess up my facts, please correct me!). Anyways, so Andi took me on the grand tour to the main sites, which were clearly numbered on the outside walls from #1 to a gazillion for the convenience of guided tours. There's no way I could post pictures of every gorgeous site I saw, but here is a taste of the view along with some tidbits of info I still remember (or googled)....

Let's see... There's Town Hall. This was an amusing site since a mini circus was going on right in front of it. Then there's the Hofburg Theatre just across the street from Town Hall. On the left, you can spot one of the new high-tech city trams (old rickety wooden ones are also still in circulation). Oooh, and we went by the State Opera House! We made a weak attempt to sneak in to see the inside, but our efforts were not rewarded. And we walked by the Parliament Building where the Green Party was having a little party of their own out front!

Let us not forget the Hofburg Imperial Palace. This place is much, much more grand and vast than the pictures hint at. There's a reason that this place attracts flocks and flocks of tourists, as you can see. Now serving as the official residence of the President of Austria, the home of the Austrian National Library and a series of museums, there's even more stories to tell of its past. In March 1938, it was from the balcony of this building that Hitler made his famous speech proclaiming the annexation of Austria to Germany. Wow.

Ah! And on several occasions we hung around what is undoubtedly the most famous landmark of Vienna, the St. Stephen's Cathedral. This stunningly gorgeous piece of architecture was apparently first built in 1147, if you can believe it! Unfortunately, as could have been expected, it was being restored so some tasteful scaffolding was partially masking this marvel.

I took the liberty of taking a video of the hustle and bustle of the area by the cathedral. I've alwasy been fascinated by tourist hotspots! The weird sounds you hear are courtesy of a street performer (there are many Mozarts hopping around there!). Notice as well the super modern buildings that are just across the street from the ancient cathedral! I think that this has produced mixed feeling among the community, but I find it fascinating!

Ok, so we did soooooooo much more than look at the architecture! After all, I had a local guide so I had to experience more than the typical touristy stuff! What kind of things did we do, you ask?

I experienced, on several occasions, REAL Viennese coffee (which puts Starbucks to shame) accompanied by a deelish helping of Sachertorte (famous Viennese chocolate cake) or even a Mozart-Würfel (google that one!). We even went to some apparently famous cafes, though I can't for the life of me remember the name of them (like the one seen on the left here)! At this place, our coffee and dessert was served on a silver platter by men in bowties!

Keeping on the food theme here (I personally think one of the highlights of travelling is the eating!), we went out with other kids from Vienna (or surrounding area) that also stayed in Groningen! For some of us, it was a happy reunion :) So the gang thought it would be fun, to my delight, to celebrate by going to a traditional Austrian restaurant, with authentic waiters and music and all (hahaha!). Of course, I ordered the most traditional dish there was, the Wiener Schnitzel, which is a giant slab of tenderized and breaded meat accompanied by pickled veggies. I even dared a shot of the traditional half-way-there wine that is so... um... distinctive tasting that not many at the table were brave enough to try with me! (It reminded me a bit of the Slivovitz I tried in Serbia & Montenegro)

After the Austrian feast, we hit the coolest little bar strip ever! This was located underneath the train line so that the bars were tucked underneath the archways (look closely in the pic!). Talk about efficient use of space! We popped our heads in a place (sorry, can't remember names here) that was apparently recommended by the Lonely Planet so it was brimming with people, spent some quality time at a sophisticated hangout seen on the left, and later into the morning hours, went to an electronica bar where we saw some crazeee japanese djs.

I also got a little bit of culture in me when we visited a quaint little art gallery where Andi's friend works. His friend wasn't there but the display was not too bad! And it was free! Much better than being suffocated in the overwhelming museums and galleries that are ten blocks big!

We also went shopping a couple of times at a couple of famous strips there. We ate hot chestnuts andfries from vending stands and walked around. I did most of my actual shopping when he was in class (for souvenirs, at that!). I was mostly just impressed at how gorgeous and old the buildings were in a place that is the home too so many modern shopping branches!

One day, when Andi had French class, I got a chance to hang out at his university, the Technische Universität Wien. A stunning campus with more awesome architecture! I got to pretend I was a student while doing some work on the computers in the library (the middle pic). Well, I blended in pretty nice until I opened my mouth, that is!

On my last day there, we went to one of my favourite places in Vienna, the Prater amusement park!!! Whoohoo! This is the home of the other famous landmark, the Riesenrad (literally translating into the "giant wheel"). The wheel originally had 30 gondolas but the whole thing was destroyed in the second world war. They rebuilt it, but included only 15 gondolas (replicas of the originals) the second time around. Of course, we paid our 30 bucks to go up the wheel (the package included a nauseating spinning history of Vienna display) and saw some breathtaking views of the city! I also noticed private gondolas designed for romantic dinners for two! How adorable! We also went on a loop-de-loop backwards-and-forwards roller-coaster (look up!), much to my utter delight! It was my first time in years (my sister and I used to brave the craziest roller coasters around the world!) and Andi's first time ever! Unfortunately, I don't think he'll ever go on one (voluntarily) again.... Well, I love that feeling when your stomach is still in the air while the rest of you is plunging down at super speeds! Fantastic! I also tried my hand at games (archery ones since I'm supposed to be a pro!) and walked out with a 3-inch stuffed puppy worth 1/10th of the money I ended up paying for it. Oh well.

Well, enough rambling about Vienna.... This is one loooooong post! If I were to write everything that happened in this one blog entry, I'd have nothing left to tell when I see you in person!

So, finally, I said goodbye to my sweetie and flew back home to Montreal. It was my 27th birthday and the longest birthday I ever had. Literally! I added 6 hours to my day with the time change! Hahahah! Well, the coolest thing was, we had the fortune of following the sunset home while coasting around the globe. That sunset lasted for hours and that view from the plane window was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen... Happy birthday to me!