So, Wien. For those of you 'out of the loop', Wien is the proper name for the city known as "Vienna" in our sadly uncultured English tongue. Wien is a really awesome city, and probably my favorite of the three cities I visited over April break. We arrived in Wien after a hectic 12 hours spent back home in Regensburg, taking a morning train direct from Regensburg to Wien and arriving at about 1.00. We went immediately to our hostel, which might be the nicest of the three hostels we stayed in. It was called the Meninger Hotel/Hostel, and was clean, quiet, and secure. We also had bathrooms/showers in the room itself, as opposed to walking down a hall in Frankfurt or down a hall, down two flights of stairs, through the bar, through an outdoor courtyard, and back upstairs in a different building in Brugge.
So first thing we did was drop our stuff off and get some lunch at a nearby sausage stand. It felt wonderful to be back in a German speaking nation, as we both had felt rather awkward ordering food and talking to people in English in Bruges. I got this delicious cheese filled sausage that is apparently some kind of Wiener specialty. Our plan for that day (after eating sausage, of course) was to walk around the city and get our bearings. Unfortunately, Wien is significantly larger than both the other cities we visited - this means that we had to make use of the U-Bahn (subway). Still, the Altstadt is fairly walkable and there is a very convenient 'Ringstrasse' (Ring street) that circles the Altstadt and dead ends on the Donau on either side. We basically went and walked in a circle around the Altstadt.
The weather for this third of our trip was somewhat less cooperative than it was in Frankfurt and Bruges. It was mostly cold and rainy the first few days, and really only cleared up on our last full day in Wien. So long story short, we were cold and wet while walking around the city that first afternoon, so what did we do in a city full of coffee houses? Why, visit ein Kaffeehaus, naturlich! I tried a delicious Wiener Kaffee called 'Melange' which is basically a cappuccino, but I was drawn to it by the name. Anyone read Dune, by Frank Herbert? If not, you should. Its excellent, and you'll get my reference and why I find it humorous immediately.
In the evening we had some rather delicious Asian food and browsed around a bookstore that we came across in our wanderings. We then decided to make an early night of it, and headed back to the hostel.
Our second day in Wien dawned overcast and cold - a perfect day for touring museums, which was our plan. It was a rather ambitious plan, in retrospect, but we accomplished it. First we were in line at the Kunsthistorisches Museum when it opened at 10. The Kunsthistorisches Museum is a world class art museum with classical galleries similar to the Louvre, but on a smaller scale. The building itself was a work of art, as it was built specifically to house the art collection of the Imperial Austrian Court in the late 19th century. It also had a really cool exhibit on coins and mythological creatures in art. Overall an excellent museum, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone travelling to Wien.
Next on our list was the Neue Burg, a giant museum housing really 3 separate museums in the Hofburg complex, which used to be the winter palace of the Hapsburg empire. We visited the Musical instrument museum followed by the Arms and Armor museum - both were fascinating. The musical instrument museum shed light on some of the most famous Viennese composers/musicians as well as some interesting medieval/baroque/otherwise forgotten about instruments that nobody ever plays anymore. The Arms and Armor museum is exactly what it sounds like: COOL. It consisted of hundreds of suits of armor, for men and horses, as well as the accompanying weapons. It also had collections of antique guns belonging to the Hapsburgs, and arms and armor from other cultures that the Hapsburgs had somehow acquired over the centuries.
Rounding out our list of museums for the day was the Schatzkammer, or Imperial Treasury. It housed the collection of royal treasures from the Holy Roman Empire, Hapsburg Dynasty, and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was all very impressive, and worthy of many pictures that I took. Highlights included the crown of Charlemagne and the Holy Lance, which supposedly is the spear that stabbed Jesus on the cross. Why it is holy, I don't know - personally, if someone had stabbed the guy I worshiped I would not transfer my worship to the instrument of his injuring. Oh well - who can say if it really stabbed Jesus, but it was a pretty cool looking weapon all the same.
By this time, I was starting to feel rather less than 100% - in retrospect, I think it was some kind of minor stomach bug or food poisoning or something non-contagious. But regardless of what it was, I was starting to feel sick so we headed back to the hostel to take it easy before dinner. Dinner that night was actually really good. We wandered around the area around the hostel until we found some kind of Austro-German Biergarten/restaurant, and had some very tasty food. Then, it was back to the hostel for an early night (if you haven't noticed reading my blog posts, I'm not much for nightlife).
The third day dawned badly. I woke up running a medium fever and entirely unable to leave the hostel as planned for a morning at the Military History Museum. Instead, Kenna continued on to the museum by herself and I remained at the hostel in bed. By early afternoon I was starting to feel better (Ibuprofen is a miracle drug), and when Kenna returned from the museum we both headed out for the afternoon and evening. The plan for this day was to walk around the Hofburg, Austrian Parliament building, and Rathaus and take pictures that we did not take on the first day due to bad weather. We also spent some time in the Schmetterling (butterfly) house on the grounds of the palace and in the parks attached to the Hofburg grounds.
It was a really pretty afternoon, very suitable for wandering and taking pictures and hanging out in parks next to fountains. There really isn't much special to tell about this day, as we didn't do all that much in the way of touristy things other than take pictures. For dinner, we wandered along the Ringstrasse in the direction of where we had to go that evening and found a nice little Italian place that was most tasty.
After dinner, we actually had plans! Shock! Gasp! Not going back to sleep?? I know, astonishing. Instead of making our way back to the hostel, we meandered on down to Karlskirche, a pretty, old church with a giant dome. There we attended a performance of Mozart's Requiem by some small chamber orchestra/choir. It was really rather incredible, and the acoustics inside the church were wonderful. I also took some pretty cool pictures of the church while waiting outside. After THAT we made our way back for sleep :P
Our final day in Vienna dawned clear, and I was feeling better though not completely recovered from the day before. Regardless, we had plans that morning: we were going to a performance by the Spanish Riding School, famous horses/riders that have been performing in Wien for centuries. They did dressage, which is basically making the horses do various things while riding them around the hall. Naturally, the horses were all gorgeous. The finale of the performance was a choreographed 'ballet of the white stallion' which was an impressive display of riding prowess by the 8 riders and horses in the hall.
After that, we lunched and made our way to Schloss Schönbrunn, which was the summer residence of the Hapsburgs. It was a really impressive palace, probably my favorite one I've visited since I've been over here. It also had incredible gardens and grounds behind the palace, of course, and after our tour we spent the afternoon hanging out in the gardens (including wandering the hedge maze). We also climbed some sort of structure on the top of a hill behind the palace and were treated to a wonderful panorama view of the city and surrounding mountains.
That evening, our last evening in Wien and indeed our last evening travelling, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at some sort of Viennese restaurant that was very tasty. It being spargal (asparagus) season, the Germans and apparently Austrians too go absolutely CRAZY and make special spargal menus - I enjoyed one of those Hauptspeisen featuring Spargal. After dinner we walked through a nearby park before heading back to the hostel to pack up our things and go to bed.
The final morning in Wien we spent at the Stephansdom, St. Stephans Cathedral in the center of town. Although the church was impressive, it was very touristy. We took required pictures and climbed up the tower to get a nice panorama of the city, but overall both of us were fairly ready to go back to Regensburg. We got a quick bite to eat before heading over to the train station to begin our journey home.
Overall, 'twas a good experience travelling and I thoroughly enjoyed everything I saw. I still have two places in Europe I REALLY want to visit: Tuscany and Prague. I would also really like to visit Normandy, but I don't know if I'm going to get the chance to do so. I will of course keep you faithful (or not so faithful, seeing as my blog posts aren't exactly regular) readers updated on future travelling.
Farewell for now, and look forward to my next post about classes!
