We lived the high life in Vienna. Literally. Penthouse. The first 2 nights Nick and I stayed with my friend Mitzi’s aunt Virginia her husband Peter and their 5 year old daughter Alexandra. The third night the family was gone to Salzburg for the weekend to watch Peter’s regatta (he is 3 time Austrian sailing champ!) so we had the place to ourselves. Caleb joined us and together we all made ourselves dinner, nick and I swam in a lake and before bed we all watched the Shawshank Redemption together. They kept berating me for having not seen newer movies like Gladiator and Lord of the Rings but neither of them had seen Casablanca, Citizen Cane, nor It’s a Wonderful Life. Honestly, what are kids doing these days?!
The first night we arrived they let the 3 of us take their bikes for a ride by the river down to a restraint they suggested called Barbados. There was a wakeboard cable park right off the deck so I automatically liked the place. We got to sit outside and enjoy the night and then came the never-ending string of “wurst” jokes. For those who don’t know sausage in German is referred to as wurst. There was never an hour in Vienna without some sort of wurst joke. “you’re the wurst” “aren’t these lines the wurst?” etc.
During the days we explored. Gorgeous facades of buildings like the Rathaus, the opera, and the palace were everywhere you looked. We went to Mozart’s favorite hangout and a church that looked more like a disco inside than a nave. Colored lights and stained glass led to the most colorful church interior I had ever seen. Add in the organ music and the experience was one of a kind.
We all got along splendidly. For just meeting him, Caleb and I realized we are pretty much the same person. We like to wander down any street that looks interesting. If there was an archway, stairway, or alleyway we would turn simultaneously to head down it disregarding whatever the most efficient route would be to our destination. In my opinion this is the only way to go. I vote get lost and have a look around. When you are tired of that, then whip out the map and figure out where you have ended up. Famous monuments are nice but I have seen enough statues of men on horses to last me a lifetime. Give me a side street or a stair case to who-knows-where any day.
All 3 of us felt classier just for being in Vienna. It was an older scene for sure but everyone regardless of age shows an appreciation for 3 things: classical music, good coffee, and desserts. We did the latter 2 at last twice a day and the former we got really lucky with. Virginia told us about a free classical concert being held outdoors at the palace. We figured it would be fun and she said there would be a few thousand people there. Try 100,000! When we got there we realized that actually it is the largest concert of the summer season. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of a Russian composer was wonderful. Their stage was set with a backdrop of the Gloriet – one of Vienna’s prettiest monuments. The Gloriet and state was alight with colors as the lights show coincided with the music being played. At the end of the show after the ballet dancers had gracefully left the stage the fireworks began at the closing of the last song. Trust Vienna to have the classiest firework I had ever seen. No cacophonous 4th of July fireworks here, instead classy small tasteful fireworks. I have to give it to Vienna. It is one classy city.
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| Home sweet home :) |
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| Penthouse balcony - the curved tan buildings in the background are one of 3 world head quarters for the United Nations. The head cheese ball was in town because all the flags were flying in the courtyard. |
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| The Rathaus - fun to pronounce and a beautiful building - what more could you ask for? |
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| We stumbled across a theme park in Vienna - by far the least classiest thing we did in Vienna but also extremely fun. |
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| Nick and I getting pumped for some classical music! |
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| The people who arrived after us (the palace is in the background) |
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| The stage and the lucky people who arrived before us. We had great views of the big screens they had that projected the action though! |
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| These two are the absolute WURST! Caleb (left) and Nick (right) were the greatest travel companions. We had so much fun together always always always with the wurstel jokes |
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| The large white building on the left was our place. This is the lake it overlooked where Nick and I took a pre-dinner dip. Very pleasant and surprisingly warm! |
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| The disco church! So many colors :) |
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I officially have one week left in Europe and then it will be home sweet home. It's bittersweet as everyone guessed it would be. Part of me wants to continue traveling, it's been the trip of a lifetime, but the other part longs to be home with family and friends I haven't seen in a very long time.
I'll put up the Budapest entry tomorrow evening. I miss and love you all! - At
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