For the third time, I found myself back in Austria. This time in Vienna. I only had two days to spend here, with no real plans so this gave me a lot of freedom.
I spent my time wandering. Christmas decorations were going up in the city streets, and the weather was certainly turning wintery. I was incredibly excited by this! Not so much the cold weather, but we all know I’m an absolute fiend for Christmas. Plus, a winter Christmas is something I’ve only ever seen in the movies. So honestly, I walked around these streets for hours, just browsing, literally in awe of all the decorations.
After having some traditional Viennese schnitzel for lunch (of which I’m not the biggest fan), I met up with a friend who I’d met two weeks prior in Innsbruck, Austria, who happened to be in Vienna at the same time. We saw a few more sights including Votivkirche (cathedral), St Stephen’s Cathedral, Hofburg Imperial Palace, and some gardens. Vienna was certainly more beautiful than I expected but there wasn’t a whole heap to do unless you want to visit all the museums. I also went to an amusement park. Things like this tend to be structured differently over here compared to NZ. Instead of paying entry into the park, and then having access to all the rides, the park is free and open to the public and you pay per ride. With the weather being less than ideal, and it being late October, the park was pretty empty and a lot of the rides were closed, it did give off a bit of an abandoned vibe.
However, the other thing that took place while I was here, was the rugby World Cup final. Obviously, as a kiwi, this was a big event. I rallied my roommates into going out to watch it, and we were met by some more people from the hostel. There were about 12 of us in total, and a variety of Australians, Americans, French, English, and Canadian nationalities. I was the only NZ representative in the group, but the group provided strong support for the All Blacks. We all know how that game went so I won’t re-hash that. Regardless though, it was a fun night out. There’s something about watching your national team play from the other side of the world that instills even more pride than usual. Especially when all these people from other countries have such a respect for your team.
Vienna was a nice stop on my journey back towards the UK, but it was not particularly special or exciting. Overall I really like Austria, and I think it makes for quite a liveable country but the city of Vienna was a bit whatever to me.
~ Nikita’s Nomadic Notes
Nikita’s Nomadic Notes 