Austria, Vienna / Klosterneuburg
This was the best surprise of my trip! I wasn't expecting anything from Austria...but in the end I fell in love with it! And most importantly, its people!
But I had all sorts of problems to go to Austria from Berlin. They changed my train last minute so I couldn't find it on the departure board where the heck I was supposed to go in Berlin Bhf. We had to get in line to ask the information desk why my train is not appearing on the screen. It turns out that the tracks are under construction somewhere between Germany and Czech Republic, so I would have to take the train that goes only until Dresden, and from there go to Czech Republic by bus (WTF!) and then catch another train to Breclav and from there catch yet another train to Vienna. But the train was super delayed, which delayed all the other trains I would have to take after this one.
The whole thing was a mess! It was super hot and there was no AC. And to top it all, I had a cumbersome 20kg suitcase with me and the stations where I had the connections had no escalators nor lifts whatsoever, I was really fucked.
I had a really shitty trip from Berlin to Dresden, I had nowhere to sit and it was hot as hell, but I sucked it up, as you do.
Once I arrived in Breclav and hopped on the Austrian train to Vienna, I felt so damn relieved and happy to be there, as if I had finally gone back to civilization. The train ride was as smooth as it can be, and they had AC! <3
But in the end I found out that my train wasn't going to Wien Westbanhof, where my ticket said it was supposed to be my final destination.
So I had yet another problem.
I had told my Austrian friend to wait for me at Wien Westbanhof but now I had no means to get in touch with him and tell him that I was going to Wien Mitte instead. And I was already super late. Luckily I asked the controller if there was anywhere in Wien Mitte with a wifi hotspot and he told me that there's a mall there where I'd probably find wifi.
And he was right! I was saved! Sent a facebook message to my friend telling him what happened and where I was, so he came to meet me up there.
It was our first encounter in real life and it felt like I knew him long time ago. Which is the case, 'cause we've been friends since 2003, ICQ era! But still, he's so funny and such a sweetheart, I had no awkward moments whatsoever.
Then we went to his town, Klosterneuburg, 20 min. away from Vienna by bus.
The moment I arrived in Klosterneuburg I was already charmed by it. Dropped my shit at my friend's super cool apartment and went out for some drinks. He made me try the Wine Spritzer, really popular over there. People were flabbergasted by the fact that I had never tried nor heard of it before...haha I suppose I'm some sort of aberration in the real world for not being much of a drinker.
Austrian people are hella friendly, I loved it so much! By the end of my first night there I had gotten 3* souvenirs from lovely Austrians :) I felt like hugging everybody 'cause everybody was so damn adorable <3
(Then a few days later I met a bunch of lovely Austrians at my hostel in Paris and I got another lovely souvenir from one of them!)
Plus, I must point out that Austrians have a very firm handshake.
Something about the way Austrian German sounds...I thought it was so charming...different from the German German, which I'm not very fond of. Plus, they have fancy words such as OACHKATZLSCHWOAF! :3
We went to a winery in Klosterneuburg where I tried a nice Austrian white wine suggested by my friend's sweet friend. It's a very nice place, they sell wine but not food. Only snacks that go with wine. But you're also allowed to bring your own snacks, which is really nice.
We had dinner with some of his friends, who of course were nice, one of them was eating Manner Schnitten and told me to try one because it's super typically Austrian. So I tried it and loved it! So unexpectedly he stood up and then bought me one pack!
There was a film festival going on in Klosterneuburg, which gave a wonderful lively vibe to the town. There were tables and chairs all over the square by the city hall, and one night we hung out there 'til the sunrise. I had a blast. It was one of the coolest nights of my trip, me and a bunch of cool Austrians chatting, laughing, drinking and reenacting Leonardo da Vinci's The LastBoozer Supper. Wunderbar!
We went to a bar by the Danube river, it was nice because it seemed like a very Austrian thing to do during summer..just hanging out by the Danube river drinking and listening to music... but people kept speaking mostly in German so I kind of stayed aloof for a while haha I remember feeling bad for not speaking German ...also, there were lots of mosquitoes there but I had no bites in the end :)
We also went tree top climbing!!!!!! There is this brand new super cool tree top adventure park in Kahlenbergerdorf (? don't remember the name of the city! will have to edit this later) and it was super fun. We had an amazing view of Vienna while zip-lining!
We went to the Leopold Museum in Vienna, 'cause I really wanted to see Gustav Klimt's paintings, but there weren't many. Nevertheless, the few ones there made it all worthwhile. Also, I got to see some of Egon Schiele's paintings and it was interesting.
By the Leopold Museum area there are lots of fancing seats for people to just hang out and chill. At some point we just sit by the pond and chatted until late night. There were many people doing that, plus drinking, it was a nice vibe. It was hot still, so people put their feet into the pond to cool down :)
We went to Stephansdom, a gorgeous Romanesque and Gothic cathedral in Vienna. We went to the catacombs, which was located underneath the cathedral, but in the end it was a trap! The guide locks the gate behind us so we cannot run away and he stays by the exit door charging people for the tour, even though they made us believe it was a free tour and that we should just tip.
We walked around the touristic area and then sat down to do some peoplewatching, chill and chat. We did that many times and it was always fun. We had this funny game where we'd try to guess who was Chinese and who was Japanese.
We went to a super amazing interior decoration store called Kare! If I ever rob a casino or a bank, I'd buy a nice house and furnish it with Kare's stuff!!! I ended up buying an adorable little piggy bank and not more because that was all I could afford haha
Did I mention that they smoke a lot there? And that Austria is the most smoking-friendly place I've seen in Europe. No kidding, they have a vending machine specially for cigarettes and it's not even expensive, you can find it everywhere. But here's the funny thing: even though they smoke a lot, they are always smelling good :)
There was a Coca-Cola booth there where you could type your name and they would print it right away to a Coke can.
I had fun listening to the Brazilian girls behind me debating whether my friend and I were Brazilians or not, because of what he wrote on his can lol!!! he wrote Stefan <3 Brazil
And I end this post with a picture of my Coke can which pretty much sums it all up...
But I had all sorts of problems to go to Austria from Berlin. They changed my train last minute so I couldn't find it on the departure board where the heck I was supposed to go in Berlin Bhf. We had to get in line to ask the information desk why my train is not appearing on the screen. It turns out that the tracks are under construction somewhere between Germany and Czech Republic, so I would have to take the train that goes only until Dresden, and from there go to Czech Republic by bus (WTF!) and then catch another train to Breclav and from there catch yet another train to Vienna. But the train was super delayed, which delayed all the other trains I would have to take after this one.
The whole thing was a mess! It was super hot and there was no AC. And to top it all, I had a cumbersome 20kg suitcase with me and the stations where I had the connections had no escalators nor lifts whatsoever, I was really fucked.
I had a really shitty trip from Berlin to Dresden, I had nowhere to sit and it was hot as hell, but I sucked it up, as you do.
Once I arrived in Breclav and hopped on the Austrian train to Vienna, I felt so damn relieved and happy to be there, as if I had finally gone back to civilization. The train ride was as smooth as it can be, and they had AC! <3
But in the end I found out that my train wasn't going to Wien Westbanhof, where my ticket said it was supposed to be my final destination.
So I had yet another problem.
I had told my Austrian friend to wait for me at Wien Westbanhof but now I had no means to get in touch with him and tell him that I was going to Wien Mitte instead. And I was already super late. Luckily I asked the controller if there was anywhere in Wien Mitte with a wifi hotspot and he told me that there's a mall there where I'd probably find wifi.
And he was right! I was saved! Sent a facebook message to my friend telling him what happened and where I was, so he came to meet me up there.
It was our first encounter in real life and it felt like I knew him long time ago. Which is the case, 'cause we've been friends since 2003, ICQ era! But still, he's so funny and such a sweetheart, I had no awkward moments whatsoever.
Then we went to his town, Klosterneuburg, 20 min. away from Vienna by bus.
The moment I arrived in Klosterneuburg I was already charmed by it. Dropped my shit at my friend's super cool apartment and went out for some drinks. He made me try the Wine Spritzer, really popular over there. People were flabbergasted by the fact that I had never tried nor heard of it before...haha I suppose I'm some sort of aberration in the real world for not being much of a drinker.
Austrian people are hella friendly, I loved it so much! By the end of my first night there I had gotten 3* souvenirs from lovely Austrians :) I felt like hugging everybody 'cause everybody was so damn adorable <3
Plus, I must point out that Austrians have a very firm handshake.
Something about the way Austrian German sounds...I thought it was so charming...different from the German German, which I'm not very fond of. Plus, they have fancy words such as OACHKATZLSCHWOAF! :3
We went to a winery in Klosterneuburg where I tried a nice Austrian white wine suggested by my friend's sweet friend. It's a very nice place, they sell wine but not food. Only snacks that go with wine. But you're also allowed to bring your own snacks, which is really nice.
We had dinner with some of his friends, who of course were nice, one of them was eating Manner Schnitten and told me to try one because it's super typically Austrian. So I tried it and loved it! So unexpectedly he stood up and then bought me one pack!
There was a film festival going on in Klosterneuburg, which gave a wonderful lively vibe to the town. There were tables and chairs all over the square by the city hall, and one night we hung out there 'til the sunrise. I had a blast. It was one of the coolest nights of my trip, me and a bunch of cool Austrians chatting, laughing, drinking and reenacting Leonardo da Vinci's The Last
We went to a bar by the Danube river, it was nice because it seemed like a very Austrian thing to do during summer..just hanging out by the Danube river drinking and listening to music... but people kept speaking mostly in German so I kind of stayed aloof for a while haha I remember feeling bad for not speaking German ...also, there were lots of mosquitoes there but I had no bites in the end :)
We also went tree top climbing!!!!!! There is this brand new super cool tree top adventure park in Kahlenbergerdorf (? don't remember the name of the city! will have to edit this later) and it was super fun. We had an amazing view of Vienna while zip-lining!
We went to the Leopold Museum in Vienna, 'cause I really wanted to see Gustav Klimt's paintings, but there weren't many. Nevertheless, the few ones there made it all worthwhile. Also, I got to see some of Egon Schiele's paintings and it was interesting.
By the Leopold Museum area there are lots of fancing seats for people to just hang out and chill. At some point we just sit by the pond and chatted until late night. There were many people doing that, plus drinking, it was a nice vibe. It was hot still, so people put their feet into the pond to cool down :)
We went to Stephansdom, a gorgeous Romanesque and Gothic cathedral in Vienna. We went to the catacombs, which was located underneath the cathedral, but in the end it was a trap! The guide locks the gate behind us so we cannot run away and he stays by the exit door charging people for the tour, even though they made us believe it was a free tour and that we should just tip.
We walked around the touristic area and then sat down to do some peoplewatching, chill and chat. We did that many times and it was always fun. We had this funny game where we'd try to guess who was Chinese and who was Japanese.
We went to a super amazing interior decoration store called Kare! If I ever rob a casino or a bank, I'd buy a nice house and furnish it with Kare's stuff!!! I ended up buying an adorable little piggy bank and not more because that was all I could afford haha
Did I mention that they smoke a lot there? And that Austria is the most smoking-friendly place I've seen in Europe. No kidding, they have a vending machine specially for cigarettes and it's not even expensive, you can find it everywhere. But here's the funny thing: even though they smoke a lot, they are always smelling good :)
There was a Coca-Cola booth there where you could type your name and they would print it right away to a Coke can.
I had fun listening to the Brazilian girls behind me debating whether my friend and I were Brazilians or not, because of what he wrote on his can lol!!! he wrote Stefan <3 Brazil
And I end this post with a picture of my Coke can which pretty much sums it all up...
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