You know that city – the one that boasts musical geniuses
and princes called Franz? Yep that was our next stop on this quick little trip
around Eastern Europe.
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| Belvedere Palace - Vienna |
Having arrived on the train from Bratislava and having made
a lucky guess which station to get off at (we followed a group of people who
looked like they knew what they were doing) and there we were surrounded by a
mixture of old and new architecture and it was breath-taking.
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| Mozart |
I have only ever been to Austria once before and that was to
a place called Zurs, for skiing and thus was a very different trip from the one
I am having now. Apart from scattered history lessons here and there I don’t know
much about the history of Austria and couldn’t wait to get started. First place
to go – well a Museum of course. Instead of following the hordes of tourists
heading over to the Hofburg (home of the infamous Hasburg’s when they had their
Empire) I opted for a much smaller museum called the Sisi Museum. And I am so
glad I did, dedicated to Princess Sisi, an empress who lived a very troubled
life the museum does an incredible job of making you understand the heritage
and culture of Austria and how it’s changed over the years. Now the reason I went
to this museum was quite a personal one, as a child my sister and I had a video
game called princess sisi which we played religiously and when I found out that
she was actually a real person, I could barely contain my excitement.
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| Outside the Sisi Museum |
That done we set off to explore the rest of the city,
getting lost in the Museums Quarter and wandering from bar to bar. Luckily for
us we know people who live there and thus getting a good guide to show us where
to go was easy. We walked for hours around the city exploring old churches and
gorgeous buildings and filling ourselves with snitzel, apple strudel and of
course Austrian beer (it was here that I discovered amazing non-alcoholic beer
which tastes almost identical to normal beer – I don’t know what it is but
England needs to up their game!)
Now what better way to work off all those beer calories than
climbing up 343 steps? Yep we climbed up the Stephansdom Tower (St Stephen’s
tower, located in the heart of the city). What I love about it is that it’s got
one of those really narrow staircases that you only get in buildings of a
certain era, for some reason I quite like the idea that it’s exactly how it
used to be and that two people can’t pass each other on the stairs. By the way
if you suffer from claustrophobia then best to give this a miss.
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| View from the top of the Stephansdom |
And as much as a church is beautiful by day, it’s nothing
compared to how majestic it looks at night. At least that is how I felt after
stumbling across St. Peter’s Church in the early hours of the morning, dragging
my travelling companion with me who by that point had made himself quite at
home with the Austrian beer and was shouting out the few words he knew in
German to every passer-by. Anyway I digress, there was something amazing about
looking at the church by night and its definitely something I would recommend.
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| St Peter's Church |
Unfortunately on this trip I didn’t have the chance to go
inside but it’s definitely something that we are going to be doing next time
and yes there will definitely be a next time because I feel as if I have only
just got to know this city. If Vienna is not on your travel list – add it. It’s
a beautiful city which has so much to offer, whether you are looking for a
drink in the infamous Bermuda Triangle, a wonder around the countless museums
and palaces, or are just interested in finding little gems down every street
corner. It’s a shame that our time there was so short lived, however – next stop Budapest!
x
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