Vienna, or, Barely Escaping With My Life

Vienna was a challenge. I mean, it was great, and I liked it a lot, but it tried so hard to kill me that every instant was nerve-wracking. What do I need to worry about next? A car? A muddy spot on the ground? Those god-forsaken, impossible-to-predict, pain in the ass trams? I had to be on my toes just to make it out of there alive. Fortunately, I did, and in between near death experiences I had quite a nice time there. 

Before leaving I asked Oliver for his recommendations about what I should do, and he referred me to a map with a tour outlined and quite a bit of other interesting things highlighted. It was hugely useful! Vienna is filled with lovely gardens and parks, so I wound up spending quite a chunk of time sitting in the shade, reading and relaxing. There are tonnes of palaces, monuments, statues and museums, too, so every time I turned a corner there would be some new sight to marvel at. It's all very densely packed, so it's easy to walk around and see a huge chunk of the coolest stuff in just a morning or so. 

It also had the freshest tap water I've had since Canada, and I was knocking that stuff back by the litre. It was amazing. 

My first morning in Vienna I set off, shokocroissant (basically a pain au chocolat but with Nutella) in hand, to see the sights. I loosely followed the tour itinerary, and wandered down to the first district to look around. 

Statues! Of all the things. No clue what any of em are though. 

A garden with one of the museums visible in the background. 

This is the Austrian Parliament. It makes ours look so unbelievably ugly, doesn't it?

I can't remember what this was, specifically, but there was a film fest on, hence the giant screen obscuring most of it. That's actually why I took the photo - I kind of loved the huge screen in the open air. There were also a whole bunch of food vendors around, and I wound up returning here for some currywurst for lunch. I did look into what was showing but it was (shockingly) all in German, so I didn't catch any movies there. 

The next day, I got up early to go out to Schonnbrun, one of the imperial palaces a little ways out of town. It was huge and incredibly impressive, and it was well worth the visit. Unfortunately, you couldn't take any photos inside, and there far too many people around to get good photos of the exterior, but it was surrounded by gardens that no one else walked through, so there was some cool stuff to be found there. 

That's the castle itself...

And that's the gorgeous fountain at the other end of the garden. It's a maybe 200 metres away from the palace. 

There's also the... Thing I have forgotten the name of higher on the hill.  And see what I mean about the people? 

Fortunately, a two-minute walk away from the main path and I'd have it all to myself. 

While I really like this, it is rather funny: a huge monument made to look like they stumbled upon Roman ruins in the palace grounds. 

Once I was through with the palace, I headed back into the centre of town for a guided tour of the Lipizzaner stallions training facilities and stables - something 12 year old me would have been crazy excited about, and if I'm being honest, 26 year old me was pretty happy too. It was cool, although I forgot to take any photos...

I stayed in the area til dark so I could take some photos of everything lit up for night. Some of it was even more impressive then! 

Parliament again - take notes, Ottawa!

A random statue near the stables. 

One of the palaces, now a museum. Well, like all of them, really. 

The next day, i was off to Bratislava, which couldn't have been quicker or easier. Vienna was a great place to visit, and I'm very glad to have gone. I'm also pretty glad it didn't succeed in killing me, Bratislava wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable then!