Week 13: So Many Wieners in Wien

Another great week for the books! In Barcelona, we had a pretty chill week. I tried to fix my sleep schedule a little bit because I’m used to being an early bird but that hasn’t been the case recently. I did some more running and continued with my self-dates. Although time is winding down and there’s still so much to do, I hopefully will have crossed everything off my Barcelona bucket list with these excursions I’m taking myself on.

Self Date of The Week

Gaudi did it again! I took myself to Casa Milà this week, also known as La Pedrera. This is another one of Gaudi’s famous buildings. This was the last private residence that Gaudi designed before devoting his full attention to the Sagrada Familia. This is also known as his most iconic work of civic architecture because he got to include everything that he learned from his past designs in this one. The building is breathtaking, and the tour was done perfectly as well. 

I had purchased the audio tour again, but what I didn’t know was that an entire virtual reality experience was included in that! At the beginning of the tour there is the VR experience that tells about some of the architectural aspects, as well as the history of why it was built and who it was commissioned by, then tells some of the tales of the controversy that followed when the project was completed. Many people thought it was horrific and Barcelona was a city for dinosaurs, but as time has passed there is so much love for Gaudi’s work and this city.

Then the tour goes on with a regular audio tour in which we see the apartment on the top floor, with all of the furniture still in place. The audio is also told from Gaudi’s point of view which is super interesting. After, we go into the attic which is supposed to be modeled after the belly of a large whale. It was used for the servants to hang clothing to dry but also as a ventilation system for the whole building. Later, we went onto the roof which had fences installed since the building became a tourist attraction, but still was pretty and had great views of Barcelona. 

Gaudi’s buildings never fail to amaze me. His style is so unique and it’s interesting learning about his inspirations and how he differs from other architects. 

Vienna

Vienna was such an amazing trip! My favorite part of the city is the imperial architecture. There is also SO much to do there. We didn’t have time to do it all, but still got a lot done. For the first two days, the Big Bus Vienna was our main mode of transportation. This way, we got around while also getting a tour of the city. By the end of the weekend, I was even able to recite some of the audio tour. 

I also experienced my second-ever hostel here with the Wombat’s Hostel Vienna. I really enjoyed it and thought it was interesting to compare my stay here to the hostel that I stayed at in Porto. One thing that I liked was that there were fewer people in a room and each room had its own bathroom. They also had a nice bar and we did some karaoke on the first night. This was my first time doing karaoke and we had a blast singing Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. 

Shrönbrunn Palace

One of the places that we toured was the Shrönbrunn Palace. This was the summer residence of the Habsburg rulers and it was STUNNING. But seriously, every room was so beautiful. The detailing on the walls was magnificent, and each room had a color theme where the walls and the furniture matched. I just thought it was so beautiful. Since we did an audio tour, we also got to learn about the rulers and their lifestyles. The emperor that was mainly talked about was Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elizabeth, also known as Sisi. Learning a little bit about their ruling set us up perfectly for our next stop with……

The Sisi Museum and Hofburg Palace

The Sisi Museum talks all about life as the Emperess of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Elizabeth. Throughout her time as an Emperess, she was hated because of her disengagement and removal from Vienna but after she was assassinated, she turned into a loved public figure. She was married to (her cousin) Franz Joseph when she was only sixteen. While he loved her dearly, she did not return the fondness and felt trapped in her role of Emperess. She escaped Vienna often and was constantly writing about how much she wished she was free. This is a photo of one of the dresses that Sisi wore that I thought was very pretty. 

After learning all about the history of Sisi, we toured the imperial apartments of the Hofburg Palace. They also were extremely beautiful and of a similar style to the imperial apartments of the Shrönbrunn Palace. It’s so crazy to me how big these palaces are. The Hofburg Palace had additions done by each emperor. It consists of 18 wings, 19 courtyards, and 2,900 rooms. The Sisi Museum, Spanish Riding School, National Library, House of Austrian History (which we also went in), Historical Musical Instruments collection, and many more museums are all located within the Hofburg. As you can probably tell, the size of this palace is no joke. 

Christmas Markets

Before coming to Vienna, I had no idea why there was so much hype around these Christmas Markets. But after going to about six of them, I can easily say they’re super fun and worth the talk. They put everyone in the spirit, all have cute mugs that you can either return and get your deposit back or keep as a memento, and have great little shops. The main one in Vienna by the Parliament building even had ice skating, a carousel, and a park all decorated with lights. It’s hard not to find a present for each of my family members, friends, or even myself. We had so much fun exploring all of the markets.

Wieners Galore

One of my favorite parts about Vienna was how we bought most of our food at the Christmas Markets or at stands along the street that sold bratwursts and other typical Vienna foods. It’s less expensive, less time-consuming, and just more fun in my opinion. Plus, they were never disappointing. 

Coffee houses are one of the things that Vienna is known for as well so we did make it to two of those. At Cafe Central, we shared a soup, sandwich, and quinoa tartar as well as traditional Viennese coffee. Everything was so delicious. The sandwich specifically hit the spot for me, but I always love a good panini. We also went to the Gerstner restaurant (which is also a hotel and is extremely beautiful) where I got a chance to try the traditional pancake dish in Vienna called Kaiserschmarrn. I also had another version of this dish at a Christmas Market but it had chocolate sauce instead of peaches so it was more of a desert that time. I won’t lie, it wasn’t my favorite meal either time but I’m happy I got a chance to try it. 

My Overall Thoughts of Vienna

I truly loved Vienna so much. I thought that it was very different than any place that I’ve been so far, the people were all amazing, and the food was exciting. As I said before, the architecture was my favorite part. I thought there was a flow to the entire city because of the matching big buildings and it is so beautiful. I also love that they’re known for their coffee houses and classical music. While we didn’t see any musical shows, we listened to a lot of classical music on the bus. Vienna also inspired me a lot in terms of traveling and even what I want to post about in my blog.

A tip that I would give travelers planning on going to Vienna is to book all of the tours that you want to do ahead of time. They are a little on the pricier side in comparison to the other tours I’ve done while abroad and there are packages that might make them cheaper depending on what you want to do. They are also a little busy so it’s better to reserve a time slot ahead. Lastly, a random fact about Vienna that I think is fun: Traffic lights turn yellow before green and then flash green when the light is about to turn red. If anyone has any ideas for why this might be better for traffic, leave a comment below because I’m curious as to why they do that.