Vienna, I'm coming!

Taking Ceske Drahy train just right after my exam, I still could feel my heartbeat when I reached Hlavni Nadrazi Prague main train station. My mistake was I skipped the reserve seat section in the website so I made myself and my mom looking for places in the whole train. So, please do not ever skip the payment without cheching free seat reservation.  I was really annoyed by myself at that time like how come I did not see that option and we ended seating in front of group of drunk teenagers. I don’t know why they let them be drunk there, it was a good train by the way. But luckily, these youngsters went out at Brno so the train was in a sudden silence until Vienna. 

It was 4 hours of train to Vienna, we arrived at around 21.00. We bought 24h ticket and went directly from Hbf to the metro station near the hotel. Vienna was like a dead city at night, just like most of french cities. 

St. Stephan’s Cathedrale 

It was the 1st place we went and that weekend was surprisingly cold. There was this small little cafe in front of it but.. for the sake of breakfast in front of cathedrale photo taking, we were freezing as our croissants were. 

There was the exhibition of purple stones in the ceiling of it to welcome Easter. This cathedrale has patterned roof of eagles and so many bells. It also has interesting towers. 

Wiener Staatsoper

It was super similar  Narodni Divadlo Prague but it has fountains and the location is not in the random crossing road like in Prague. So what makes it feel more amazing is just because we can see it better as a whole building. There are lot of tourist bus companies in front of it and I found it was kind of contaminating the grace of this opera. And actually the wow effect was when we went out from Karlsplatz metro station this giant already awaited after the darkness. 

Karlskirche 

Looking in google maps, it might look near by foot but I was grateful that we took tram. It was kind of challenging to find the correct tram because the signs and I have to admit that Prague has the best public transport. So, this church has super baroque style and beautiful garden to cross to get into there. All the tulips bloomed in front of it and I was happy that the cashier believed that I was a student (I left my ISIC card at the hotel) so I got half price. The interior was amazing, but what make it more amazing is that there was this enormous mirror ball hung at its ceiling as an exhibition. I have no idea how they managed to put it there. And! We could also went up to its dome by a very fragile elevator which is still in construction. So it was kind of scary. What so special about this church is that it was presented for St. Carolus Borromeus. Along the park it was also surprisingly the technical university and university cafe. 

Schloss Belvedere 

This is the most wonderful one, and the tramway was so nice! We saw many landmarks on our way here. I love going around with tram despite the difficulty to read its uniformed schedule.The entrance is free as long as we do not go inside the museum to see Klimt works. I am his admirer but not so fanatic. We also only had 1 day so I decided not to spend too much time here. 

So we have this lower and upper belvedere garden. It looks like in classical movies where the royal family walk. If it was sunny, I can't imagine the beauty!

In the upper part it was mostly maze garden and there was this old musician playing accordion of Despacito passionately so I just gave him a bit because I love people who really put their hearts on his art and works. 

Hotel Sacher 

We went back to opera place and I wanted to find this famous traditional cake : Die Original Sacher Torte. This cake even has its own day of the year! It consists of apricot jam and dark choco. But... the line was kinda long and I was too tired to go just for the sake of this cake.

Well my opinion is that it is over-rated. It tastes like sponge cake with rum and yes it was special but not for waiting in a long line. I agree that cafe interior was so fancy, fancier and more "european" than cafe louvre in Prague. But really... the queue? 

Naschmarkt

We wanted to have lunch at an asian resto because it was appealing but it was closed and randomly, we found this flea market! So far, this market is the best, most unique and vivid that I found in my trip. Maybe because she didn’t  go to the one in Barcelona. But really, it was not so big, and I mean it is in the middle of this fancy city, which is super contrast. 

We bought interesting souvenirs here. In terms of the price it was not so much different from the official store. The thing is they have interesting food and we finally choose this mix Asian and Austrian dish. We ordered grilled duck and rice, chicken snitchzel and the most delicious french fries ever, well fried. It is perfectly fried with no feel of oil at all. 

Albertina and Hofburg Palace 

I aimed to find a bus to Hofburg but it was under construction. So we walked to Hofburg Palace. Behind the opera is Albertina place, kind of statue place. Hofburg is a complex of Sisi museum and other museums i forgot :( 

"What she was really like, what was so attractive and captivating about her, no sculptor's chisel or artist's brush can render"

That was they said about Elisabeth.

The next day, it was quite tricky to make sure the bus stop for them to Budapest but after asking few locals we were sure it was there. It was ugly, not even like Prague florenc. I felt scared to leave them there. Then i went home with Regiojet train to catch my evening concert.

Overall, Vienna is a fancy city to visit. Too many to see for only a day. So, at least have 2 days to be able to watch a concert in the opera and visit museums. People might choose Mozart museum but my friend, Ana told me she was disappointed with it. So I didn’t go at all.

Please plan to go to Hallstatt for a day trip from Vienna (I read that it would be more expensive for the accommodation there) so perhaps booking 3 nights in Vienna and only go for a day trip is the best choice. I regret not researching about Hallstatt.

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