A day in Vienna

A day in Vienna

Hello again, everyone! Today I am bringing you a bit of a different post; since I want to tell you what can consist of an average day for me from the many times that I have visited Vienna. As I have told you before, Vienna is only an hours bus journey away from Bratislava, which means it is a must-visit location from time to time due to its big cultural offering. The first few times that I visited the Austrian capital was for general tourism. I went through the gardens of the famous palaces, the opera, the town hall square, Mozart's house, etc. Little by little, I realised that the best things about Vienna are the places which are really original and have lots of personality. For me, going to Vienna is a day of disconnecting completely from Bratislava, seeing new places or discovering restaurants. All this is always appreciated so that just for these reasons, I have a special fondness for Vienna. Today, I want to show you some places that, in my opinion, deserve a visit. Let's go!

Burggasse 24

This is a very original cafe, situated in the middle of the Town Hall square, so it is in the centre of the city. The cafe's decoration is super vintage, really relaxed. The special thing about Burggasse 24 is that it is a second-hand vintage clothes shops. It is a kind of 2 in 1: good coffee and old clothes, but that are never out of fashion. Here, I will leave you some pictures of the cafe. The truth is that it gives a sensation of total welcome, as if you were in your own living room at home. It also has a terrace so that when it is sunny, it is really cool.

Also, they have a breakfast and brunch menu with bowls of muesli and fruit, they aren't particularly cheap but they are generous portions. In terms of coffee, I have to say that that isn't cheap either, but we are in Vienna, in the centre, you can't ask for much more. To sum up, if you fancy going to a different cafe which has personality, you can go here.

Setagaya park

Situated in the suburbs, it is better to take public transport to get there, if you don't want to want to kill yourselves trying. It is a Japanese style garden. We visited it in Spring, which is the perfect season because as you can see in the photos, the trees are in flower so it has even more charm. It is really well taken care of and in it you can find the most typical components of a Japanese garden: a lake, a tea-house, a pagoda...

There is also an area with a mini waterfall, surrounded by beautiful plants and different kinds of trees. It is a really tranquil place. In fact, just to the side there a residential complex for senior citizens. You could see how the old people who lived there came to the garden in their pyjamas to be able to enjoy the sunshine that day, Honestly, there was a feeling of immense peace there. We were there for a good amount of time, snacking on a bank and chatting. Another positive is that it is free to access. Do you need more incentive to visit this garden?

Kunst Haus

Despite the fact that there are two Hundertwasser Haus in Vienna, the one that I am going to show you is the less well-known one, but in reality, the one that deserves to be more famous. The first few times that I went to Vienna I visited Hundertwasserhaus, but the one that I am going to show you know is called Kunsthaus, whose name can be translated into "house of art" from the German language. BY the same designer, it follows the same scheme as Hundertwasserhaus but in my opinion, it is a lot more special and is in better condition. It is a work of art by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who was an expert in architecture, painting and sculpture. He is famous because his works of art are very colourful, different, and extravagant.

This building was designed because he wanted to represent the union between nature and architecture. It's incredible, on the outside as well as on the inside. For me, it is a building that breaks up the monotony of Vienna. At the end, Vienna can turn out to be overwhelming before so much flashiness from its different monuments, which are all different but the same. However, Kunsthaus breaks free from the scheme. The lack of straight lines, the apparently arbitrary choice of colours, and the incorporation of nature through the whole building makes it worth a visit. Here, I'll show you some photos that I took that day. I love them. Also, on the ground floor, you can have a coffee outside on the terrace to relax.

Something that surprised me a lot, and will probably surprise the readers of this blog as well, is that this sculptor and architect said that he didn't understand why humans urinate and defecate separately, because at the end when we go to the toilet, we deposit both things in the same place, finally flushing the chain and sending everything down the same place. This can seem a bit outrageous, but the truth is that, as they explained in the museum, thanks to his idea there are new designs of toilets where the urine goes down one bit and the faeces down another. In this way, they can make the most of the benefits of urine, though a purifying and filter system. These toilets, according to what they told us, are already used in some African countries where there is a gross lack of water. As you can see, this place does not stop surprising you.

Karlsplatz

Although this square is quite well-known, the other times that I visited Vienna I didn't see it, so I decided to go there. Why not? I discovered that just next to it was the Cervantes Institute of Vienna, coolly situated in the capital. The main element of the square is the Karlskirche, the most eye-catching feature. Here, I will leave you a photo that I took. We were lucky that the pond that was just in front was full up to the top with water, so the monuments were reflected in it. The interesting thing about this church is that it combines several styles: the front is Greek and the columns are Baroque style.

The church is dedicated to the archbishop of Milan called Carlos Borromeo, as he carried out several acts of charity against the plague. Thus, when the plague affected Vienna, with a death toll of 8, 000, Carlos VI promised that when the epidemic ended, he would build a church dedicated to this archbishop.

In front there is a green area, with gardens to sit down in and relax. In addition to that, really near to here is the famous Belvedere palace, which is a must-visit attraction in this Austrian capital. I also recommend it.

Pizza Mari

Finally, I couldn't leave without recommending you this restaurant. It isn't very far away from the centre, I remember that the street was called Leopoldstrasse. We went to it by foot as we fancied a walk. Also, you already know that walking is the best way to get to know a city, instead of taking the metro. Well, we discovered this restaurant one day reading an article called "the 50 best Italian restaurants in Europe. In Bratislava, we found Basilico, which we had already come across plenty of times, and on number 15, more or less, of the list was Pizza Mari. As we didn't have a plan for that weekend, we decided to go to Vienna to try and rate it for ourselves. The truth is that the restaurant is an authentic Italian one. The waiters and I spoke in Italian, you can imagine. The pizzas are super good. It had been a long time since I had tried mozzarella as good and as fresh as that one. The dessert: pistachio pannacotta. If you don't know where to eat in Vienna, Pizza Mari is a good option. The service is good, as well as the food, and we didn't have to wait to get a seat.

And that is the post for today. I hope that you have enjoyed these places (with my photos included) I believe that they aren't so well known in Vienna and it is worth taking a look at them or sinking your teeth into them. Thank you for reading this post, and I'll see you for the next one with a lot more content. Best wishes!

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