Archives for September 2011

Keep busy.

My first morning in Vienna I packed up my bags and set off to find the apartment Mike and I would be staying in during our visit. On the way I discovered some fun street art and a metro line on hiatus. That always seems to happen. An attendant pointed me to the proper tram and I found the apartment in no time.

Mike’s flight didn’t arrive until later that evening so I had the full day to keep myself entertained. It wasn’t too hard.

First up was a visit to Schöbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Habsburgs. The palace is one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna which was evidenced by the long line to buy entrance tickets. I didn’t mind waiting since I wasn’t in a rush, but I would recommend buying tickets online if you’re on a tight schedule.

I paid to see 44 of the 1,400 total rooms. Grander tours are available, but 44 seemed like enough to me. It’s always fun to see place settings, bedrooms, and the toilets of very important people… but after awhile the stuffy portraits on the walls tend to look the same.

While I enjoyed peeking inside the palace, the gardens were even lovelier (and free!). You could spend a day sight seeing in just the gardens alone.

From the palace I headed to Zentralfriedhof, Vienna’s most famous cemetery. I entered through the wrong gate which resulted in a long walk through neglected headstones. It was nice and shady so I didn’t mind too much until I stumbled upon a procession. Thank goodness the hearse turned down the row ahead of where I was walking so I didn’t crash the party.

The diagrams posted in the “popular” part of the cemetery were only in German but I was able to find these two important composers before heading back to the apartment.

Mike’s flight landed and finally, it was time for the slow-motion-running-towards-each-other moment. Except, it was more like speed-walking-with-a-shy-smile because neither one of us had our glasses on and the lighting on the street was pretty dim. I didn’t want to be running up to a stranger and have Mike come around the corner at that exact moment. Oops.

sleepy Mike?

xo, jill

Arrive in Vienna.

When I landed in Vienna, I was completely exhausted. I successfully caught the correct bus from the airport and found my hostel without too much trouble. Then I fell asleep. After about 3 hours of dozing in a warm room, I forced myself up to check out the city.

I didn’t know exactly where I wanted to go so I figured the center of town was probably a good start. It was a pretty smart choice considering that the center of town is also the site of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Supposedly, one day Beethoven looked up at the bell tower at St. Stephen’s. He saw birds flying from the loud clanging of the bells, but didn’t hear a sound. This is when he realized he was deaf.

After visiting the cathedral I continued walking to Stadtpark. I had a little rest and my first meal of the trip: felafel.

Determined to keep myself awake until at least 9:00pm, I returned to my hostel and had a chat with an Australian who had recently visited Dubai. Depsite claiming that she was sleepy too, her chattiness kept me up until nearly 10:30pm. I was wiped out.

xo, jill