What a nice streak of days here in lovely Vienna. My gracious local friends did me an amazing favour in taking me around and making me feel so welcome here. The dour Viennese attitude that they warned me about seemed so impossible given them being so utterly kind and generous (and beautiful!).
Day one involved Viener Schnitzel at a fine Stube around the corner from the hostel, followed by some rum + cokes at McDonalds (provided by my excellent friends -- mind you, McDonalds sells beer here!). After meeting some of their friends for a birthday at a swank hotel bar, we went to the hottest club in Vienna, where the light show made us feel like we were on drugs (we were not!). Dancing all night lead us on a quest for breakfast, although our efforts were largely fruitless, until luckily the train station had some places open. I was urged to have a Viennese speciality, essentially a sausage loaf with cheese, which was far more delicious than it looked at first sight. We bumped into Austrian reality-tv star Conchita Wurst, a drag-queen (?) who rocks a trademark beard -- pretty styling in my opinion -- and we did an impromptu photo shoot.
Being so wiped from the late-night festivities (call it an Easter celebration?), I barely made it in time to see Parsifal, and upon making it there on time (3 Euros for a world-class opera, are you serious?), I could only make it to the end of the first act before retreating back to the hostel for laundry and naptime.
Today was another excellent day of sightseeing and cafes with my lovely personal tour guides, who escorted me to the impressive Shonbrunn Palace and gardens, followed by a walk around Stephansplatz. We went to a very fancy coffee-house (coat-check required), where I got to have the Viennese speciality Sachertorte chocolate-apricot cake. After that, with their persuasive charm we managed to go on the crypt tour of Stephansdom Cathedral at a discount, where we saw lots of bones and creepy corridors (not particularly pleasant). I almost wretched when looking into a room stacked full of the bones of 400+ people -- and wondered why we went there... The girls said that there was no smell, but I felt that there was something gross in the air.
For dinner we went to a very nice funky restaurant where I got to have a dish of wild-garlic pasta, which was extremely delicious (and only available in spring). Tomorrow will be a travel day, with a bus to Prague and hopefully a train connection up to Berlin.
Solo travel is hardly travelling alone :)
No comments:
Post a Comment