The Elegance of Vienna

Pre Departure

I just realized that I have become bit superstitious about the New Year. I wanted to make sure that the last sunset of 2017 and the dawn of 2018 be witnessed with great pleasure, peace and happiness. Well there was no way I could assure it actually, anyhow I decided to spend this particular time in doing what I love the most and; would like to continue doing in this coming new year and in fact forever. Exactly, I decided to travel to a new place, see the beauty of the world and meet some more amazing people.

This time it was Austria waiting for me. Not only that I haven’t been there before, but Vienna also offers a grand New Year eve. So I bought all the tickets and one of my friends helped me finding a very suitable accommodation there. Since it is the high time, it might be bit costly. If you are travelling from Poland, a one way bus ticket can cost around 20 Euros and the cheapest one night stay would be from somewhere 30-40 Euros. Nevertheless, if you make your plan earlier, then you might grab some better offers.

My Journey

After an 8 hour journey from Lodz, I reached Vienna Hauptbahnhof station on the morning of 30th December. It was the first time I travelled with Leo Express and it was a good experience, they have comfortable seats and offer you a bottle of water free of cost. Well I am mentioning it because no other bus company is doing that. However off and on I could feel the smell of beer. No complaints, everyone seems to be getting prepared for the New Year. One strange thing that happened was the swelling of my feet which never happened on even longer journeys before, I noticed it when I was trying to wear my ankle high winter shoes back and my feet were not just fitting in, I touched my feet twice, thrice- they were mine! Anyhow I managed to wear my fancy smart shoes and got off the bus.

The First Few Sites

Instead of going straight to my place of accommodation, I wanted to see the sights close to the station, for example the famous Belvedere was at around 12 minutes’ walking. On my way I also came across the Church of St. Elizabeth which dates back to mid 19th century and sometimes is called Red Church. Worthy for a short visit!

Belvedere the historic building complex which was basically built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene, was very close from there. It consists of grand palaces, gardens, stables and also a museum. I was impressed by the very first look of it. The Belvedere garden between the Upper and Lower Belvedere Palaces reminded me of the Vigeland Park of Oslo. They had very similar architectural designs; the sculptures however cannot be regarded as similar.

I took a walk till the lower Palace.

It was a fine morning and apart from tourists there were numerous people just for jogging there. I took some photos and then walked back to the Upper Side.

If you like gardens like I do, you can give a short visit to the Alpine and the Botanical Gardens just next to Belvedere.

An Experience of Positivity and Kindness:

After that I decided to go take some rest first, just to mention my feet were perfectly fine by then. The place I was going to stay was bit far from there and therefore I decided to take a tram. A woman told me that I can buy tickets inside the tram, but once I was inside the tram, I realized that the machine was only accepting coins; actually I should have guessed it before because that’s how it is inside trams most of the times. I had small notes but not coins, I asked a lady if she could exchange some coins with my note, she didn’t have them either but she took a ticket out of her purse and said “I have a present for you”. I was overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude for this gesture of kindness and love for her. She was an addition in all the amazing people I met this year who inspired me with their positivity, unconditional love and compassion towards other humans. You see these are small deeds but their impact is beyond limits.

Accommodation and a New Friend

Finally I arrived at my place, actually a friend of friend lived there and I was going to meet her for the first time. She was a sweet, hardworking Turkmen girl who was there on her Erasmus. We talked about numerous things, and then she helped me make my bed. I took some rest and then we both had the lunch together. She had made nice pasta. And we got to know more about each other’s experiences during the meal.

Time to Explore Vienna

I then set out for exploring Vienna. I managed to see most of the important and touristic sites of the city and that too on foot. I am going to write them in the sequence in which I visited them, so you can see how I managed it.

My first destination was the Stadtpark-the City Park. I was wondering how beautiful that Park might appear during Spring or Summers. Vienna River, the Danube, divides the Park into two parts.

Apart from the serenity of nature, the quacking and honking of ducks and geese, the Park offers various monuments, such as the Statue of Hans Makart- one of the most important Austrian artists.

Austrian Composer Franz Peter Schubert.

Andreas Zelinka who once served as the mayor of Vienna during the 19th Century.

After the Park, I visited the famous St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The Cathedral dates back to the 12th Century and is built on the ruins of two earlier Churches. The fact itself explains the significance of the Cathedral and how it must have been a witness to Austrian History. Its oldness is well reflected by the colour of its towers and the canopies over its windows. But I felt glad that it was not painted or something, for this could take its royalty and genuineness away perhaps. It was truly majestic inside and out and deserves to be the most recognizable symbol of this grand city. The coloured roof reminded me of the Mathias Church of Budapest.

I then paid a tiny visit to St. Peter’s Churchwithout going inside.

Anker Clock was almost 6 minutes’ walk from the Church and I would highly recommend visiting it. It serves as a large music box and is something very interesting. Its background consists of 12 different symbols representing love, music, art etc and the coat of arms of Vienna in the middle. The most interesting part is the figures which are like thin sculptures of famous historical personalities. Each figure is assigned its own music and hour during which it passes through the clock. They are also 12 in total as it appears quite obvious.

Friedmann Platz was nearby where is, I suppose nothing to see.

State Opera, I am definitely not an opera fan, but I wanted to take a look at the State Opera Hall, after all it is one of the most famous things of Austria. I don’t get why they put big posters over the opera houses, like I can understand that they have to give information about the upcoming shows but can’t they do it in another way, why ruin the grandeur of the architecture.

Albertina, if you are into museums and art, this is something you might not want to miss. With one of the biggest collections of paintings and drawing, old master prints, Impressionist collections, the museum is World renowned. Its structure was no less than a Palace.

I then found all people going to this statue situated behind Hofburg Palace and taking pictures of it. I also went closer and understood at a glimpse why it was so important for everyone. It was a statue of Mozart.

Hofburg is a 13th century Palace situated in the centre of Vienna. It has different wings or parts which are used for different purposes. Currently it also serves as the residence of President of Austria as well as a working place for him. You will also find a statue of Prince Eugene- the French born who later joined Austrian Imperial Army and is undoubtedly considered as one of the most successful commanders of the modern European history. Talking about the building itself, well it was a perfect a specimen of royalty and majestic magnificence. The name itself means a “Royal Castle” and for sure it was one.

Just in front of the palace is located the Heldenplatz- Hero’s Square. It is a public square which is witness to many important events including the Hitler’s announcement of Austria’s annexation into Nazi Germany.

After crossing the square you will find yourself in Volkgarten, a public park which is also a part of Hofburg. There are a few monuments there. But what I liked the most was Theseus Temple- a small replica of some Greek temple in Athens. Its pure white was contrasting well with the darkness of night; this combination added further splendour to its simple yet splendid existence.

Rathaus is my favourite in Vienna. This Neo-Gothic Building is home to the office of the Mayor of Vienna and serves as the City Hall of Vienna. The grace with which it was standing bright in the night amongst all the colourful Christmas and New Year markets and the ice skating rinks; is beyond words. It was prevailing over all it surroundings.

Votivkirche, known as the Votive Church in English is at around 5 minutes’ walking from the Rathaus. The church has a typical style of the Gothic Cathedrals, and has an interesting historical background. It was created in order to thank God for saving the life of Emperor Franz Joseph- an Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; when an attempt of his assassination was failed, and all the people in the empire contributed towards the funds required to built it. You may also be interested in knowing the fact that it was his nephew, whose assassination triggered the World War I.

And last but not the least; I paid a short visit to Maria-Theresien-Platz- another large public square in Vienna. On the two sides of the square, are the two identical buildings of Natural History Museum and the Art History Museum. Unfortunately I couldn’t visit the museums as they were already closed by the time I reached there, however I would strongly recommend visiting Natural History Museum, especially if you are someone like me who loves animals.

At the moment, it was also housing a Christmas and New Year market. I was quite hungry, but finding something which doesn’t contain both alcohol and pork was kind of difficult there.

I then took a bus back to the place I was staying, and that was my first day in Vienna which I would cherish forever!

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