Upon arriving to Vienna, our host was kind enough to take us on a nighttime tour...of the entirety of Vienna. The city is oriented circularly like a snail. The roads wind out in a spiral. You can walk and walk and you will end up at the same few main squares without fail. Andreas (our host) was extremely knowledgable about Vienna and was able to pair a story to almost every monument and building we encountered. He took us to a classic Viennese coffeehouse that served chicken noodle soup. It was the perfect thing to warm us up after walking for over an hour. We saw parliament, the imperial palace, the museum quarter,the Russian monument, almost anything you can think of, we saw it. The city park is even safe enough to venture to at night. Yes, homeless people line the benches sleeping under tarps and sleeping bags, but not once did we feel uncomfortable and it was by far the safest city we've visited. (Not to imply the others aren't safe, but like most cities they have their safe and unsafe districts. You just didn't get that feeling in Vienna). All things considering, Alexis and I held up pretty well. But by the time it hit 11:30 and we were still strolling around after a day of traveling, we were both beat. It must have been obvious because Andreas shepherded us home.
We had the unfortunate experience of having to wake up at 7:30am to be out of the house by 8:30. It was quite hellish in fact and we really struggled with it. Both mornings when we trudged out into the cold, we had to park it in a cafe until 10 or 11 before we were even able to function. Our first morning in Vienna was foggy and cold. We had wanted to visit the grounds of Schonbrunn palace, considered one of the most important cultural monuments in the country, but we wanted to go when it was warm and sunny so we could stroll the grounds. Instead we decided to visit Belvedere, the city palace, which had been said to have quarters worth paying to get into. Little did we know that the "quarters" were just art galleries. Not that we don't love art, but spending $10+ in every city we go to, to see paintings by the same artists just isn't going to agree with our budget so we have to pick and choose. We chose not to, but it was nice to see from the outside nonetheless.
By this time, the sun had come out and it was warm enough to lose our jackets. Hopeful that the weather would continue, we headed to Schonbrunn. The grounds at this place were incredible. Every tree is perfectly manicured to form rows of arches all down the sides of the walkways. Pair that with the mixed array of colors from the changing leaves and what you had was truly breathtaking. The precision of the gardening! Each tree in itself is not so impressive, but together it was quite formidable. Dotted along the paths were various statues and monuments. We only saw a small portion of the grounds and it still took us a few hours! And then there was the palace. It is surprisingly simple from the outside, but the sun on the yellow paint made it quite radiant. We wandered back to the arched pathways to have a sort of picnic lunch. To see the trees alternating from green to yellow to orange was so picturesque and for the first time I realized that it really was fall. We were so beat from our early day that when we met up with Andreas at 5pm it was all we could do to cook dinner and have a quiet night in. I must admit I was asleep by 9.
The next day started cold and dreary again. Only this time it just got progressively colder. We started the day at the Succession, a museum housing an unique Klimpt that is painted on one of the walls. Upon investigation, I decided to pass on the exhibit and decided to wander the streets while Alexis enjoyed it. Boy was I glad I did. I walked to the Opera house hoping to get a look inside. It was locked but there were people dressed in capes selling tickets for a Mozart/Strauss concert. We had talked to one of them yesterday so when one approached me I said "I know the concert tickets, and I want to go so badly but even the student tickets I can't afford." Well my desperateness must have been written all over my face because he said he'd see what he could do. He was able to offer my 2 tickets for the price of 1. This cut down the price to €20 each. I wanted to go so badly that I accepted his offer and nearly skipped back down the street to tell Alexis. Luckily she shared my enthusiasm so rushed with the high of the upcoming concert and the just-seen exhibit, we headed off to find bubble tea.
The search led us to the middle of the park where thee was no tea in sight. We wandered around in circles about the park before realizing that the store was located in the metro station. It didn't even look good so we went back to one we'd passed along the way. Bubble tea is awesome and they had the traditional milk tea that I drank in a lime and fuchsia colored room.
From there we headed to the Sacher for tea. I stayed at the Sacher seven years ago when I came to Vienna and it is one of the only things I remember. The view outside of the opera house, the red walled cafe, the blue bar, the lobby, most of my memories from that trip we there so it was exhilarating to go back. We felt pretty haggard going into such a fancy establishments where the waitresses are dressed as French maids, but we needed to try the original Sacher torte and this was the place to get it. Really. The only place that can legally say it serves the "original" Sacher torte is here. It was a delicious torte. The frosting was dark chocolate and melted in your mouth and the thin apricot layer cut the bitterness of the dark chocolate without being overwhelmingly sweet. The most interesting thing however, was how many stages of tastes you experienced when you took one bite. The flavor as it hit your tongue and the flavor as you swallowed we're completely different! I don't know how they did it but it was lovely. We went home for a quick dinner before heading out for the concert.
The hall that we attended was the hall where Mozart and his sister played concerts and was behind the imperial palace. It wasn't a necessarily gaudy place and we sat in ordinary chairs but the music was a fantastic and like I said, Mozart played there. Pieces from The Marriage of Figaro, the Magic Flute, the Turkish March and the Blue Danube along with many other fabulous pieces were played. There were four violinists, a flutist, a pianist, an opera singer and two ballet dancers. We had such a good time and what a better place to listen to Mozart and Strauss than in their home country!
Cheers,
Liz
No comments:
Post a Comment