1 – 3 May 2018
On Tuesday I arrived in Vienna by train. Here my friend Max was waiting for me at the station. Max and I know each other from Rotterdam, where he studied at Erasmus. Back then we would often meet in the city or go to another city in the Netherlands. But this time it was his turn to show me around his city. First we went to his place, where he lives with his parents. His parents are originally from China and at home they still speak Chinese. Luckily they also spoke English, since my English is slightly better than my Chinese. After I had dropped off my bag, we returned to the city where Max showed me around some of the highlights of the city.
Vienna is home to many colossal buildings, that display a certain status and authority. When walking around Vienna, you get the feeling that you are in a capital of mayor significance. Unlike a lot other cities in Europe, Vienna has hardly been touched by the Second World War. Since the Austria surrendered to Germany, the Germans left the capital intact. We started our ‘tour’ near the Austrian Parliament Building, a beautiful building that was for the most part hiding behind a screen, since they were doing some renovations. The next building we saw was the beautiful Rathaus (Town Hall), decorated with Austrian flags. Then we continued to the Maria Theresien Platz, where there is a statue dedicated to empress Maria Theresa. The Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Art can be found facing each other from the opposite sides of the square. Both buildings are very impressive and look like palaces. On the other side of the road is the MuseumsQuartier, a cultural center containing nearly ten different museums.
After the MuseumsQuartier we went to the Burggarten, a nice park with a statue of Mozart. The park also has a butterfly house, but we didn’t go inside. Instead, we took a break and sat down in the grass, like many others in the park. After our short break we walked towards the center, passing the State Opera House. We continued down the Kärntner Straße, one of the main shopping streets, towards the impressive St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The cathedral is nicely decorated and has beautifully colored roof tiles. To be honest I think the cathedral is more beautiful on the outside than on the inside, since the inside is not that much different from the other cathedrals I have seen. From the cathedral we walked towards to the Danube or Donau River. Along the river we found a nice terrace where we sat down and had a drink. By then it was already the end of the afternoon, so after our drink we went back home to have dinner.
His parents made a typical Chinese dinner: a bowl of rice and two different bowls of meat and vegetables. I used the chopsticks they gave me and it tasted quite good. I had used chopsticks only a few times before, for example during my flight to Australia. After dinner we watched an interesting movie, named Identity. If you like a tense and mysterious movie with a killer on the loose, this is the movie for you.
The next day we visited Schönbronn Palace; the summer palace from the 18th century. Some of the palace’s most prominent residents were Maria Theresa and Sisi. The palace has the most expansive gardens I have ever seen, even with a zoo and a maze. We walked through the gardens and climbed the hill at the end, from where you have an amazing view over the palace, the gardens and the city. We spent quite some time at the palace and the gardens, since the distances are rather large. After the palace we went to the Donau and walked alongside the river. We stayed on the other side of the river and walked through the more modern part of Vienna, where there is a lot of modern architecture. We visited the Donau Park, where we spent some time relaxing. In the Donau Park you can also find the Donauturm, a large tower from where you can have a great view over the city, as long as the tower isn’t closed for renovation. It is supposed to open during early summer, so that basically means any moment from now. As we were leaving the park and about to enter the metro station, it suddenly began to hail very hard, so we just got to the metro in time.
That night we went to Vapiano for some local Austrian food (for those of you unfamiliar with Vapiano; it’s a chain of Italian restaurants, so we had Italian food). I ordered some penne carbonara, one of my favorites. After our dinner we had some drinks on a terrace outside. There was an insane amount of non-stop lightning in the sky, but without any thunder or rain. So we enjoyed our drinks and the free light show. Unfortunately after a while it began to rain and we went back home. The following day I took the bus to the nearby capital of Slovakia: Bratislava.
Dawn Under 