Shopping street

Is there anything better than walking on the main shopping street of Wien? Of course it is – walking on the main shopping street of Wien in Christmas time, knowing that you can spend that money you just got as a Christmas present from your grandparents!

There are many points of interest along this street, but the main reason why am writing this entry, are the shops, so I will write separate entries for sightseeing spots along the street. So let's see some of the shops that you can find there:

• Souvenir shops: as a tourist in Wien, I tried to check out as many of the souvenir shops as possible. When doing it, I found out two things: everything is ridiculously expensive, and almost every item contains something, related to Mozart. There are also three Mozart shops along this street, and I am sure there are more of them at other places in the city. There is a funny thing that the tour guide told us – Mozartkugeln. I am sure you heard about them before – it is a special sweet, which is famous in Austria. What is funny about them is, that they are selling them in Wien as the original ones, but they are actually fake, because the original ones are being sold in Salzburg.
• Open – air Christmas tree markets: all along this street, you will find (undecorated, of course) Christmas trees. If you look closely to see the price of them, you will definitely be very surprised – the price of a small one is about one hundred Euros, and if you wand a bigger one, you will pay one hundred and fifty Euros. I know that Austria is an expensive country, but this was too much for me.

  

• Shops like H&M, Mango, New Yorker and others. You can find them basically everywhere you go, and Wien is not an exception. You will notice several New Yorkers and other ones along the street, and they usually have four floors or more. I am not sure how many people is there during the year, but on Christmas time, everything was pretty crowded there.
• Luxury shops: just when you think that Wien can not be more expensive, you arrive to the part of the street with those high – fashion brands. It is so great to walk by stores, such as Tiffany & Co, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, to list only some of them. There are security guards at the doors of these shops, so we were somehow afraid to go inside in 'ordinary' clothes, but then we did it. the staff was not just friendly – it was ridiculously friendly, and they were speaking perfect English. Of course, as soon as they found out that we have no intention on buying anything, they became a bit less friendly, so we left.
• Expensive shops with watches: as an addition to these expensive clothing shops, you will probably notice several stores with watches. They may look ordinary from the distance, but when you get closer and see the price, you will definitely ask yourself how can someone possibly wear one of those watches and not be afraid to lose it. They literally cost a fortune. The first shop we checked out, had watches that 'only' cost approximately twenty thousand Euros. Then, we did a competition with other people on this trip – whoever finds the most expensive watch, wins. But you have to bring a photo proof. I found one for thirty – five thousand Euros, but this was only the second most expensive watch. The winner was the one that cost, believe it or not, forty thousand Euros. This game can be funny also for finding the most expensive piece of clothing.
• And the best one for the end: Forever 21. You probably heard about this shop before, since it is very famous in America and everywhere else. We do not have it in Slovenia, and this was my first store of this brand, that I have ever visited. But definitely not the last one! Even though there was a huge amount of people inside, the staff was very professional, and they were speaking English, too. For those of you who do not know what this store is about – clothes of course. But what makes it different, is a very unique style and vivid colours, and, believe it or not, very low prices. So if you are a student and want to save some money while still wearing high – quality clothes from a brand with high reputation, then you should definitely check the shop Forever 21 out. And if you are an Erasmus student in Wien, I am just a bit jealous because you have this great shop so close to you!

There were a lot of people walking along this street, and it is guaranteed that someone will bump into you sooner or later. Or maybe you will do so, because you will be admiring a cool Christmas decoration above your head. It is true that during the day, this street looks just like any other street with many shops in an average city, but when they turned those lights on, it was really fabulous.

Another thing I liked there, was that no one was offering us drugs. In almost every other city I went to, there was somebody that offered me either weed or other drugs. I am not saying that this does never happen in Wien, but I did not have this experience.

If you do not like shopping in such a crowd, you can sit in one of many bars and watch people. In the evening, it can get quite cold outside, so going into a bar for a drink or two can be a good idea.

If you are studying in Slovenia, you have an opportunity to see this shopping street with your own eyes. Erasmus organisations in Slovenian cities each year organise a daily trip to Wien for ten Euros per person, but there needs to be enough people for the trip to be realized. I am sure that Erasmus organisations in other countries also organise daily trips to Wien in Christmas time.