Our trip to Vienna didn’t exactly get off to a wonderful start, but after two very turbulent plane rides and a minor car accident in the taxi, we made it to the hostel and we were upgraded from a room to an apartment! This made our stay just that much nicer, though Meg may disagree after having to suffer through my low-budget cooking for a few days!
Our hostel was a ways out of the city, but situated right on a main road that led straight to the center, so we began each morning and ended each evening with an hour long walk along a well populated shopping street, stopping for Starbucks halfway down of course. Our trek ended at the Opera house, where we could take a tour with a guide dressed in traditional garb, from the waistcoat to the white wig, or hop on the bus tour. After such an invigorating walk, we were obviously ready for a little rest, so we bought a 2-day pass on the Vienna sightseeing tour bus and set off on another hop-on hop-off adventure. Our first stop was the Belvedere palace, a stunning old palace converted into an art museum with extensive and well-tended gardens, dotted with fountains. We practically devoured the first floor of the museum, which was an exhibition of modern art ranging from beautiful to bizarre, and still had time to appreciate the famous “Napoleon Crossing The Something or Other” painting before facing the daunting task of walking the length of the gardens. Halfway down and glad I had decided to wear my Keens that morning, we admired a beautiful marble fountain and watched the tanned lawn keepers do their work. While we managed to barrel through this site in one hour (that’s how much time there is between buses and we were nearing the end of the scheduled bus day) we could easily have spent another hour or so in the museum or sipping some tea in the garden café. 
Next stop was an old church square called St. Stephan’s Square. The church is cited as the very center of Vienna and it is one of the most popular tourist attractions. From the outside, it looks largely like any other gothic-style church throughout Europe and I have to admit that my visit to this attraction momentarily began to feel like a duty to see all of Vienna’s sites rather than a genuine interest in the building. However, upon entering the church that feeling immediately subsided and was replaced by an overwhelming sense of awe. Despite it’s mildly cookie-cutter exterior, this church was like no other I’d ever seen before. Towering arches, brilliant stained glass windows and shimmering mosaics aside, the entire interior was lit up with a sort of psychedelic mesh of colored lights such that I found myself not only awed, but momentarily disoriented by the lights and colors swimming before me. After a few minutes of reverent photo snapping, Meg started up a torrent of pleas to climb the north tower, a daunting 343 steps. After a valiant protest spawned from my hatred of steps outweighing my desire for a panoramic photo of the city, I eventually conceded and followed her grudgingly into the narrowest staircase I’ve ever been in. 343 steps later, we were both sweaty, red-faced, and aching in the knees, but even I have to admit that the view was fantastic. A comprehensive view of the city stretched endlessly on all sides, mountains rising imposingly in the far distance. I whined about the climb the whole way up and most of the way down, but the view really was spectacular and I got some great photos. Worth the trek, but requires some serious determination and stamina. 
Every city has its own little unique quirk; Istanbul has park benches better suited as beds in five-star hotels, Rome has overzealously “friendly” pigeons, Tokyo has seemingly no public trashcans anywhere, Copenhagen is known for its “Little Mermaid” statue’s unfortunate decapitation (twice), and Marseille has some really beautiful Metro stations. Vienna is no exception to this rule, and the graffiti along the Danube River is among the coolest I have ever seen. It was all creative, rarely crude, and incredibly well drawn despite the temperamental medium and the risk of incarceration typically associated with vandalism. I didn’t catch a glimpse of these artworks until our last day in Vienna, but they definitely left a lasting impression! Next up on our jet-set adventure? Marseille!
No comments:
Post a Comment