Sometimes you're in the dry land when it comes to ideas for blog posts. It happens quite a lot to me, particularly during term time when my life happens largely in the classroom. Looking from drafts does not help, some of those are far too old and irrelevant to even constitute a starting point. So when everything else fails, there is one person who never does: Mr Magic.
So when are you writing about Vienna? he asked one evening. And then another. And another.
He had a good point. It's been good two weeks since we've had our Viennese adventures and I haven't even made a peep about it here. And there is lots to talk about, because we had the most amazing time.
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My visits to Vienna were so far restricted to West Bahnhof, so I was well excited about actually seeing the city properly. I must say, Vienna is beautiful. It reminds me of Krakow, though obviously Vienna is much bigger. The architecture is wonderful with a plenitude of quirky little places.
Our first breakfast took us to Cafe Havelka. Quite an interesting place. Dim light inside, no menu and a tall waiter in a bow tie. We had best scrambled eggs ever and a chance of observing the locals.
The next stop was Schloss Schonbrunn. The queue for admittance was as long as the one for the Louvre, absolute masses of people with probably two or three hours of waiting time. Since rococo interiors were not of particular interest to either of us, we decided to skip this part of the programme, I managed to grab a nutella crepe (yolo) and we made our way to the top of the hill in the palace park, with an absolutely wonderful view.
I love travelling with Mr Magic, because there's never any pressure to get somewhere and tick the boxes next to all of the main attractions in the travel guide. We always have time to stroll around, to sit in nice places, to talk and to enjoy the moment. We even have time for my headaches and resulting afternoon naps. And a trip to a department store to get me a box of Skip-Bo which I was dreaming off for months now (though I don't have anyone to play with at the moment).
A visit to Vienna would not be complete without a visit to Prater. I must stay that the trip around the wheel was a bit of a disappointment. You can't actually see much from up there anyway, and at any rate, we got there late in the afternoon when the dusk was settling in, so there was only city lights visible. However, one of the rides there was an absolute highlight. Have you ever been on a roller coaster where you lie down? It's a really strange experience and I was absolutely petrified, but actually afterwards I regretted that we didn't have time to get on the ride again. It's so much more pleasant to be in a horizontal position, 360 turns do not make you so sick.
To make the evening even better, we went to Wiener Staatsoper to see ballet Raymonda. It was my idea which came out of an urge to avoid tourist traps in the shape of musicians dressed up in period dress and pretending to be Mozarts. I absolutely loved it: we had seats on the balcony, in the middle, just in a perfect position to see the stage clearly. I could also keep an eye on the tambourine guy in the orchestra. The violins were in tune! A major improvement on my last viewing of a ballet. I was so very pleased with the evening.
This is an exclusive picture featuring Mr Magic actually being awake at the opera. I gave up on him in Act 2.
To make the evening even better (can you imagine?), we've finally made it to the Schmarrn place I had my eye on since the day before. Schmarren are sort of pancakes, although I would rather compare it to a sweet breakfast omelette. Once the pancake has been cooked, it is cut into pieces and served in this way, traditionally with stewed plums. This morning I've attempted to make schmarren at home, the result was not a kitchen disaster (though I've almost managed to burn the thing), it had a distinctly eggy taste, so I need to revise the recipe somehow.
And now we get to the waltzing bit. And, gosh, we got to waltz. Maybe not properly, with a stable frame etc, but it was so much fun. On New Year's Eve the city turns into a party place and one of the stops was dedicated to proper dancing. There was waltz, cha-cha and rumba. The atmosphere was amazing: everything was really orderly, everybody behaved well, you couldn't see disgustingly drunk people around. Really nice, the sort of event I like (to the extent that I can stand mass parties). At midnight, there was more waltzing since the fireworks were accompanied by The Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss II. I absolutely love it, it's so calming. Interestingly Strauss' waltzes were considered kitsch when they were written and only later did they start to become appreciated (so maybe there is hope for a large proportion of pop music of today). Anyway, starting the year with waltzing was amazing.
Being in Austria and not eating an apple strudel is like being in Rome and not seeing the Pope (which we've actually failed to do last spring😛). Finally on New Year's Eve we've made it to Cafe Landtmann, which turned out to be the best place for apple strudel (though the waiting time was at least half an hour) and a rather fancy location as well.
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So, that was Vienna. I definitely want to go back. I've applied for tickets for the New Year's concert. 185538 applications they had so far for next year: the odds of getting the tickets are not great, but one can hope anyway.
Recommendations for your trip to Vienna? Just go with the flow. Vienna is beautiful and simply by strolling around you can see many beautiful places. Take time to explore little cafes and eat delicious food. Embrace the city rather than tick the positions in the tourist guide. And if you get a chance, listen to some proper music.
