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So Vienna exceeded my expectations. I honestly didn’t have high hopes for the city because my friend had visited a few weeks ago and didn’t have rave reviews. Also, I knew a lot of the city had been destroyed in the war, so I figured it wasn’t all that pretty. I was wrong, and I ended up I really liking it.

The town hall

Like Krakow, we all boarded a bus Friday morning with Jana and Z, and headed to Austria. Thankfully, Vienna is a lot closer than Krakow, so the bus ride only took about 5 hours. After checking into the hotel, Z took us on the short 10 minute walk to the city center. After that, we were free for the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. I spent the time walking around the downtown area with some friends, grabbed some sausages from a street vendor and then headed back towards the hotel to a Christmas market.

I loved the Christmas markets. They were decked out in lights and Christmas decorations, and were bustling with people. We all bought a mug of hot punch and walked around trying the foods and looking at all the stands filled with souvenirs and decorations for sale. There were stands of candy canes and chocolates, potato pancakes, crepes, sausages, and more. It was hard not to buy one of everything.

Christmas Market

After the Christmas market, we wanted to check out the nightlife in Vienna. On the bus to the hotel earlier that afternoon, Z had pointed out an area called the Bermuda Triangle where there was a lot of bars and clubs. He had warned us about it, and said it gets pretty wild. Naturally, we wanted to take part in the craziness. When we got there, it was kind of a disappointment because although the bars were all pretty full of people, the streets were pretty empty. We found a bar that had half price drinks, so we stayed for a while.

On Saturday, AIFS arranged a tour of the city center with a professional tour guide. She took us all around and showed us everything: the town hall, Parliament, the Supreme Court of Austria, the Chancellor’s House, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and more. The buildings were all really beautiful. On our tour, our guide pointed out the most famous bakery in Vienna, Demel and she told us about the traditional Sachertorte cake that is baked there. After the tour, a few of us went back to the bakery and tried the cake. It was very chocolatey and delicious. 

On the grounds of Schonbrunn

In the afternoon, Z took us on another tour of the city. One place he took us to was where Mozart died. There is a exhibit in the building that is now located in the place where his apartment once stood. It was really weird though, because the building is now a 6 story department store. On the top floor is a restaurant and bar, and a small exhibit dedicated to Mozart that explains how this was the location of his death. It was so strange to get on an elevator in a department store, go up to the top floor and see this small memorial basically sitting in the hallway leading to a bar. Pretty bizzarre if you ask me.

For dinner, I got the traditional weiner schnitzel, and it was really good. The portions they served were so big that I couldn’t finish my meal on my own. After dinner, we walked around the biggest Christmas market, that is set up right in front of the town hall. The windows of the town hall were made into an Advent Calendar, and it was really cool. I bought some ornaments, drank some punch, and headed to bed early, tired after a long day of being a super tourist.

Sunday morning I went to the Vienna Boy’s Choir performance. They sing at a Roman Catholic mass in a chapel right down in the center of the city. I was excited to see them, but it was pretty disappointing. The choir was on a balcony above us, so we couldn’t even see them. They sounded really good but didn’t sing all that much so it wasn’t really as impressive as I had expected it to be. I figured it probably wasn’t okay to videotape them, considering it was a mass, so here is a youtube clip I found of them singing Little Drummer Boy….

On our way back to Prague, we stopped for a few hours at Schonbrunn Palace, the imperial summer residence. It was gorgeous and had lots to do. There was another Christmas market set up in front of the palace that had huge, delicious baked potatoes. After eating and walking around the market, we walked around the gardens in back of the palace. We found some replica Roman ruins, and walked up the hill behind the palace to find a great view of the whole city.

Alex and I in front of the palace

So it was a good thing our bus didn’t get stopped by the border patrol because I still can’t find my passport, and I would have been stuck at the Austrian border. That would have really sucked. But the weekend was really fun, and really busy. I loved the Christmas markets, and all the holiday spirit. I haven’t stopped listening to Christmas music since I got back to Prague.

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