Travelling solo: Vienna

Austria was the only country in which I made more than one city stop. After a gorgeous time in Salzburg, it was time to head to Vienna. 

I had technically been to Vienna before, on the first night of the Contiki Easter Trail. But that was for only one night, and it was solely in the Prater area of the city, famous for its theme park. While it was a good way to get to know everyone I would be hanging around with on a bus with for the next week, it did not give me the best impression of Vienna itself. I wanted to correct that. 

Getting around: 

The interlinked tram, metro and bus service is pretty decent for getting from A to B. Vienna is a bit more spread out than other cities, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend walking everywhere with this one. Tickets are 14 euros for 48 hours, so extremely good value. 

Attractions: 

Confession time: by the time I got to Vienna, I was really starting to feel tired. In fact, I may have had a nap in my room if the cleaner wasn't in when I arrived. So my first day there was not jam packed exploring as I would have liked. But I did take the opportunity to visit Schönbrunn Palace. Well, correction, the gardens rather than the Palace itself. 

The Palace is pricey, from 20 euros just for having a nosey. Painted yellow (which was the colour signifying wealth in Austria), the Palace from a distance almost doesn't look real. Look at it from the right/wrong angle, and the front of it looks more like a painted backdrop on a film set. It's a really weird illusion. 

However, the Palace Gardens are free to meander around, and with them being open, and the rain holding off, the fresh air did me the world of good. The gardens are huge (so big in fact they also hold the zoo), so take your time meandering round them. And grab an ice cream if you can. 

The highlight of the gardens has to be the Neptunbrunnen, a stunning fountain in the middle of the garden depicting Neptune (or Poseidon if you prefer the Greek) and his chariot pulled by horses. 

My full day in Vienna was a Sunday, so the morning had limited options. I decided to head to one of the International Churches (taking me back to my Turin days) for their service, then joined them for Faith Lunch afterwards. 

After lunch, I headed to the Belvedere Palace, the main art gallery in Vienna. This costed me 19 euros for a timed ticket, but I felt it was more than worth it, as it covered as much of the Palace as you wanted to do, be it the Upper Palace, Lower Palace or Orangery. 

The Upper Palace gallery houses art from the Renaissance all the way to the 1970s, so there is something for everyone here. I skipped bits of the earlier stuff (as you see a lot of that in the National Gallery or the Louvre, and I wanted to look at something different), and went straight to the 1st floor. 

There, you're greeted by three vases depicting the three gorgons from Greek Mythology (one of course being Medusa), and into the Marmosaal (aka Marble Hall). From there I would soak up all on that floor, which is the Baroque period to the start of the 20th century. There is also a hall here focusing on women artists from the time -YAY!

The pride and joy of the Belvedere, of course, is the collection of works by Gustav Klimt; particularly The Kiss. 

I am not normally the type to get captivated by art, but this was an exception. Originally called Lovers, the more I looked at it, the more beautiful it became to me. Having reflected on it in the weeks (now) since I saw it, I think it is the simplicity and softness of it. It's just a peck on the cheek, and Klimt covered an action like that in gold leaf.

I'm no art critic (just a part-time theatre one), but that is just coming off my personal reaction to it. I ended up pushing the boat out and getting a poster of it that I hope to frame and put up in the home I will one day own.  

I'd like to end this with a joke, an annoying bug, and a big win. 

One, if you look around the Klimt collection, The Kiss and many of his other works were painted in square format so he must have already predicted the Instagram formatting 😆😅

Two, I was getting really annoyed at people posting selfies of themselves with the artwork. It irked me a little with the Mona Lisa (but not as much, as it was also really crowded to see that painting) but with this one, the "I was here to see x" mentality was really annoying me. Just appreciate the art people, it's not the time for a selfie!

And finally three, I LOVED how the Belvedere made not just The Kiss, but also some other pieces of art accessible for the visually impaired. They had these boards which not only gave an description of the painting in braille (in German only mind), but also a textured replica of the painting people can touch. Each part of the painting (so example for The Kiss, the man's robe, the field, the woman's dress etc) is a different texture and pattern. WHAT a fantastic idea that I hope other galleries adopt. 

Food: 

Similar to Salzburg, being the same country and all but I need to mention two things: real Wienerschnitzel, and cake. Yes, I know, I know, same stuff as before BUT... 

Big tip though - whatever you have, to keep it Austrian, wash it down with Almdudler, an Austrian herbal pop. It tastes similar to ginger beer, if it had a baby with Red Bull. It is very good and very refreshing on a warm (!!) September/October day. 

If you thought the Wienerschnitzel in Berlin was yummy, actually having it in Vienna was a whole knew board game. Stöckl im Park, down the road from the Belvedere, is an outdoor theatre (similar to Regents Park Open Air Theatre) and Austrian restaurant. I went for the classic Wienerschnitzel and it made the Berlin version feel heavy as in comparison. Even though it was super filling, it still felt really light, especially as it came with a light salad, instead of a stodgy mustardy potato salad. 

Vienna has so much good patisserie too, as you would expect. Wanting to try something different, one that I didn't have in Salzburg, I hopped into the cafe in the Belvedere after my wonderings, and chose a piece of Mozart Torte (again, in Austria, they are obsessed with Mozart). This is a chocolate sponge with cream and covered in pistachio marzipan/fondant - and very good.   

***

This was more of the Vienna I was more familiar with from stories my Dad told me about, even if I didn't get to visit the famous Spanish Riding School. I definitely think this made up for the one night in Prater all that time ago - being able to see Vienna in itself. 

The Monday morning, it was time to leave my Air Bnb and grab my last long train journey (thank the Lord) which would take me out of Austria and into the Czech Republic for my last stop in Prague.