..you're only lost if you know where you're going..
Austria
Vienna
3We arrived in Vienna around 2pm after catching a train from Prague. As always when arriving in a new city, our first task was to check-in and drop our backpacks off at the hostel. A quick read of the U-Bahn (metro) map and we dumped all of our loose Euro coins into a ticket machine. The U-Bahn was quick, clean and efficient, and before long we were at Volkstheater station – the closest to our hostel. We exited the station, looked around for street names to find out bearings, and found our hostel about 10 minutes away by foot.
Our hostel was excellent. It was basically a large two bedroom apartment that has been converted into a hostel/share house. We met many people, including a girl from Adelaide of all places, and an American boy who is currently living in Rome and has offered to give us a tour when we visit in a week.
I think I often make my decision on a city within the first day or so of arriving. On the first afternoon after we sorted out our accommodation, we walked past the Volkstheater, Naturhistorisches Museum, Parliament, Wiener Eistraum, and then through some of the streets nearby. It was sunny, and we were both extremely happy. I was in love with Jess and Vienna.
From there we passed through the Volksgarten, which without the support of the Summer months, was perfect. Many plants or areas were covered (presumably to stop the damage of frosts) or fenced off for maintenance, but the walk was still exactly what we needed. Time together, whilst relaxing outdoors.
We continued on to the Hofburg Imperial Palace. Nowadays it has been split up into different government run facilities, such as museums and libraries. Some are aimed at tourists, while others are for the locals. Following the directions of others at our hostel, we walked past the Spanish Riding School to see some Roman Ruins at Michaelerplatz.
By this time it was around 5:30pm and the locals were outside everywhere enjoying the sun. We returned to our hostel via the Burgarten, where there were teenagers playing soccer, families sitting on the grass and so on. It was really nice to see people just having fun.
We realised early in our visit that Vienna has it’s fair share of money. After visiting Poland, the cars in this city amazed me. I think the average family sedan in Vienna is an AMG or a Maserati. Literally in the first half hour of walking through the city I spotted two 4-door Porsches
We spent the next few days looking at the buildings and walking through the parks and shopping malls. As far as history goes, as in just about every city we have visited now, there is plenty. Palaces, churches and gardens are extravagant and really very impressive.
On our last day I was feeling a little under the weather. Travel takes it’s toll if you don’t relax, not to mention the cold taking it’s toll on two Australians. I had suggested to Jess that we visit a place called Donauinsel – Danube Island. She seemed a little reluctant but I managed to convince her. There was a U-Bahn station right on top of the island, so we caught the metro from Volksgarten. Donauinsel is a man-made island for all of the right reasons – it is part of Vienna’s flood protection system, however it is known to most as a recreational island, where locals can walk, ride, canoe, rollerblade, and even bathe at a man made beach. We walked down the Donauinsel and talked, just like we do at home.
Ultimately, I really enjoyed myself in Vienna. Albeit expensive and probably not the best location for a backpacker trying to travel on the cheap, we will be back.
Interlude
4Today we are on the OBB EC 531 train from Wien Meidling (Vienna) to Villach Hbf, which is in Southern Austria.
Before I begin though, I don’t want to detract from what we have done on this trip. The entire thing has been a great experience to date and we have learned a lot about history, geography, and most importantly eachother, and “us” as a couple. With the exception of Langkawi and Singapore (because a lot of time was spent in nature there) we have experienced times that have been boring, disappointing and in some ways depressing.
For sure, I sound like some 25 year old from Australia that has every opportunity in the world and still complains. It’s not like that.. You see, Jess and I aren’t really city people. I mean, we love our home town of Adelaide, but realistically we don’t spend every night sitting in a restaurant, or out on a terrace having a drink. When the weekend rolls around we head for the hills or go for a walk down Linear Park.
Stockholm was fun. Warsaw was exciting because of our friends. Prague was cheap and beautiful. Vienna is amazing and probably my favourite city so far (and one of us will blog about this soon), but as I sit on this train and stare out the window I am finally really excited about where we are at.
As we roll on the beautiful little villages pass by. Forests are everywhere, broken up by green grassy fields. As we climb the mountains, snow begins to litter the forests. We pass through a lot of short tunnels so the mountains must be steep, and every so often we will cross a river on a very picturesque bridge.
Usually a short distance from a village will be a small industrial area, however they aren’t ugly like those next to most railways. Yards are small and tidy. It is interesting, not repulsive.
As we rise higher into the mountains there is the occasional chairlift in the distance – if you look closely you can see people skiing down the slopes. The clouds amongst the snow capped mountain peaks make me imagine just how fresh the air must be out there.
We are on our way to Udine in Italy. By the time I post this we will be there. We alight the train in Villach and catch an Intercitybus from there. Here we will stay with Jess’ family, something we are both really looking forward to.
Like I have said, we are learning. We have realised that even though we are overseas, we still have the same interests. For example, while the museums here are obviously well setup and have a lot to offer, we never go to them in Australia, so why would we be completely amazed about one on the other side of the world?
This may read negatively, it isn’t intended. With just over a month of travelling behind us we have made some really important observations that will help us to enjoy all of our future travels.
From Udine we will explore Italy a little, then fly from Rome to Brussels. It will be a short stay in Brussels (it was the cheapest way to Amsterdam from Rome) and take a bus for a week or so in Amsterdam where we will see one of our favourite bands, Phoenix, in concert.
From here we aren’t 100% sure on how things will go. We will either head to Geneva in Switzerland or Stuttgart in Germany, and then make our way to see more family in a town called Domat/Ems, just outside of Chur in Switzerland. If we head to Geneva first we will probably visit Stuttgart after Domat/Ems, and vice versa. I’m hoping to visit the Porsche museum in Stuttgart but we’ll see how we go. If it’s too hard we won’t bother. Jess is all for it though – just another reason why I married her.
Regardless of what happens after Amsterdam, I think this will be a part of the trip that we will really love. We will get a chance to see some more countryside and some smaller towns – it will be a nice break from the major cities.
I am a little sick, but feel a lot better now than I did two days ago. We have been eating well and avoiding alcohol which has helped a lot. Hopefully in a day or so I’ll be 100% again.
Anyway enough typing for today. Time to stare out the window some more.
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