Three Days in Vienna
When we arrived in Vienna, the weather was finally improving for us and we were feeling good. We had a tease of spring in Prague and were excited to continue that in Austria. The train ride took five hours, so by the time we arrived in Vienna we were able to promptly check into our AirBnb (no waiting around this time!) and drop our bags.
As soon as we walked into the AirBnB, we instantly felt at home. It was spacious and full of light and plants and it was clear that someone actually lived there. Everywhere else we’ve been staying have been full time vacation rentals and it shows, through the bad decor and wonky details (how would a host know that the shower handle is faulty if he has never actually stayed there, ya know?). It was such a relief, we instantly made ourselves at home and decided, maybe exploring could wait until tomorrow. We ordered delivery and watched Chef’s Table and it felt like a normal night at home.
This meant we would have two full days to see Vienna, Thursday and Friday, so Thursday morning we got our butts in gear and headed to breakfast. We had a hearty brunch at Melangerie, where we were asked to show our vaccine proof for the first time all trip. At the airport when we had to check in in-person we had been asked for it, but besides that, no one had verified our vaccine status all trip. We were surprised when she asked but had no problems with our white CDC cards.
The weather was beautiful, sunny and 70, so we walked to the city hall (Rathaus) and hung out at the park nearby. Lots of other people were laying out in the sun and there was a general vibe of happiness and feeling thankful for the respite from the rain and cold. Heading in to the center of town, we discovered that Vienna has an interesting juxtaposition of the new and the old. There were horse drawn carriages on every street and giant beautiful buildings with ornate statues. But around the corner, there would be a line of designer clothing stores, an Apple store, and an H&M. I’m glad that we stayed in a less central part of town, because if this was all I had seen I would have had a weird impression of Vienna. However, because we were able to explore the other parts of town, I think we got a more legit perspective.
Vienna is famous for coffees and its cafes so we had to check one out. We went to Cafe Central. Opened in 1876, this was a frequent hang for many in the Viennese intellectual scene, especially Leon Trotsky. The interior was beautiful, and the case of cakes and pastries even more so. We each picked a treat and I had a Viennese-style coffee while Marcus had an iced tea. Now on a caffeine and sugar high, we went off to balance it out with an apertivo at Campari Bar.
Campari Bar was in the bougie area of the Stephansplatz (area around the gothic cathedral St Stephen’s). Across the street was the Balenciaga store, so you know there was some good people watching. This area had a lot of fashionable people, and luckily we were somewhat dressed up because we had exciting evening plans. We were headed to the opera!
The opera we had tickets to was the premier of Tristan and Isolde, a story that’s been told in different presentations since the 12th century. The show, with 2 intermissions, would be five hours long, so we grabbed a hot dog on the way there so hopefully stave off my ever-lurking hanger. The Vienna State Opera House is famously ornate and draws visitors just to tour it. We had splurged a bit for the tickets (about 100 Euro per person) but I read about the potential for standing-room only rickets for 3 Euro. There was no way I was going to stand for 5 hours.
Even for 100 Euros, our seats were as high as can be, but still the view was good. I rented opera glasses for 2 Euro, partly to get a better view but also to look the part. We were excited to find that each seat had a little screen for subtitles! I would have been so lost without this, as it was in German, but even the German-speakers around us were using the screens. This opera was edgy, with modern sets and costumes and artsy elements like a water-covered stage. At the beginning of the third act when Tristan is more or less hallucinating, they had over 30 fully nude people on stage, which I’m pretty sure was not in the original version. The show was fantastic and didn’t feel like five hours at all. We walked home by the city gate, though the park and past a lot of “young people” going out (haha, besides that one night out in Lisbon I guess I don’t consider myself “young people”).
Day two started as all good days should, with another breakfast! We went to Erich, which was very tasty and had vegan options for your lactose-intolerant author. The weather was somehow even better than the day before, and we rented Lime scooters to zip across town to one of Marcus’s must-see’s: the Sigmund Freud museum. We both found the museum fascinating; it’s built in his former apartment and office where he used to see clients, as well as his daughter Anna. There was a lot of history about the diaspora of the psychology elite from Vienna during the rise of Hitler. It was amazing to learn more about Freud’s impact and legacy while standing in his former office.
We took a nice walk along the Danube as the rain clouds started to roll in. Graffiti artists worked on murals on the riverbanks and under the bridge, not even flinching when the police drove by. We made our way back to St Stephen’s Cathedral where I was eager to check out the catacombs but, oops, it was Good Friday and church was in service so there would be no admission to the Catacombs. Just around the corner was Haas and Haas tea house where we were able to get a table outdoors, under a tent, just as the first raindrops were falling.
I haven’t had an afternoon tea since Hanoi, Vietnam in 2017 with my friend Emily. So I was very excited for this spread! Everything was delicious and I couldn’t think of any way to make it better but then it started POURING rain. I was so grateful to be sitting, sheltered, with warm tea to drink. And then came the thunder! We do not get thunderstorms back home, and I miss them (from growing up in Ohio) so I was elated. You’d think I had never seen a rainstorm before. We waited out the rain before heading over to a brewery where Marcus could get a tasting flight.
The brewery, 1516, was a bustling place to hide out from the rain and play cards but there was nothing remarkable about it. From there we went to IF DOGS RAN FREE bar, a cocktail bar whose name definitely had be interested, where the cocktails were tasty but the ambiance was probably better suited to late night (dark and concrete, minimalist). The final stop on our busy day was for dinner at Restaurant Neubauschneke where we had VERY authentic Viennese food - goulash, schnitzel, and apple strudel. Our server was so nice but in all honesty, I think they kept forgetting we were there and so by the time dinner was over, we had lost all momentum to go out.
An interesting observation we’ve had in most of the places we visited is that service tends to be slow. If we don’t have a full hour for a meal, we won’t sit down, because we’ve had so many meals where it takes 10 minutes to get a menu, another 10 before you can order, and then another 10-20 after you finish eating to get your bill. It’s not my place to say why this is, though I’ve speculated on how tipping culture and the American work-work-work lifestyle might impact the service we get at home.
In the morning on Saturday, we had a train to catch at 10:30, and for the first time yet - I got up in time to go and get myself a breakfast on a travel day. Wow, game changer. While Marcus finished packing, I had a traditional Viennese breakfast of rolls with jam and butter, soft boiled egg, coffee and OJ before heading to the train station. Even as we were running to our train, I wasn’t stressed, so I think the lesson here is that I need to get up early or do whatever it takes to make sure I have time for breakfast and everything else will be easy.
