Vienna…one of the cities I would go back to in a heartbeat.
A surreal experience waking up in a centuries old hotel, looking out the window and gazing at the Opera house across the street, while the city is still slowly waking up.
A breakfast room that exudes a classic old movie-like ambiance. An asian couple maybe in their late 60’s who I thought were someone I would want to see myself in the future. They had this aura around them that seemed calm, stoic and peaceful.
For our first full day in Vienna we Heading off to discover what the city is most known for…art, culture and classical music.
Taking the tram just in front of our hotel we were off to The Belvedere to see one of Vienna’s most known masterpiece, The Kiss.
We went early before the museums opening so we can idle around the gardens. It was still peaceful and quiet. A few people were out having their early morning jog, some were reading on benches, others were waiting to get in for work in the nearby shops and offices.
It was my first time to see Gustav Klimt paintings in real life. They were, for the lack of a better word…beautiful!
And finally I get to see The Kiss. It is mesmerizing.
One other painting that caught my eye was Claude Monet’s The Chef caught my eye. The muted color, the texture and how it captured the character made me stare at it longer.
The rooms housing the art and paintings were filled with beautiful statues, frescoes and The intricate details in the rooms were beautiful that I find myself overwhelmed on where to look and how to capture and remember everything to memory.
I’m still in awe.
Next stop is the Austrian National Library.
The scent of book pages on the shelves covering the entire walls wafting as I slowly walked in.
It is breathtakingly ornate and magical. To be encapsulated in it is a dream.
At one point I was just sitting on one of the chairs under the central dome to take it all in — the magnificence, the history and the craftsmanship that went into building and preserving something like this library.
The Augustinian Church, near the library, holds the hearts of Vienna's past monarchy. Its historical significance compensates for its less ornate architecture.
A moments rest with a smug Beethoven in Beethovenplatz.
Visiting the well-preserved Otto Wagner Station before heading to Johann Strauss’ monument at Stadtpark
Heading to the Ferstel Passage we passed by different small book shops, Kleines Café, and Mozart Haus.
We ate at Beauliee Epicerie Fine & Bistrot and after a quick rest headed off to visit one of the oldest stationery shops in Vienna before they close for the day.
Ate late lunch at Ferstel passage and after having some rest headed off to visit one of the oldest stationery shops in Vienna before they close for the day.
What better way to end our first full day than to listen to live classical music in one of Vienna’s beautiful churches. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Concert in St. Charles Church.
Then we had a very late dinner with a friend and her two daughters in one of the oldest cafe on the Ringstrasse. Ended up sleeping at almost 4 am with an early start for a day trip to Bratislava.
Our first cross country train ride for this trip. We love train rides. It’s part of the fun of exploring the in-betweens –
a breather from exploring one city to the next, a bittersweet realisation of passing through countries, cities, towns, vast lands that we wish we’d get to stop and visit soon,
train rides to catch-up on sleep, to let time pass without any expectations at the moment because we’re (wonderfully) ‘stuck’ in the train, to momentarily blur the world outside and to seeing our dot move on google map.
Bratislava, Slovakia our second country out of six we visited for this trip.
We explored the Old Town walking on narrow streets with extra big and uneven cobbled stones and taking photo ops with their quirky sculptures using them as our guide on where to go.
It’s a charming Old Town
Hopping on a ferry to take us back to Vienna through the Danube river. Saw a castle, interesting fishing huts with large hanging nets, and little towns that dotted the mountains just near the river edge.
It is one of those moments that I was able to take it all in and be grateful to be traveling and seeing these places.
Votivkirche is impressive even if we did not get to see inside as it was late in the afternoon when we arrived from Bratislava.
The intricate carved stonework in every space they can possibly put one in was jaw dropping. It is stunning on how detailed each of the carvings were. Looking at them made me feel so insignificant and small, in a good way — in an awe inspiring kind of way.
Had our favourite snack the Trdelnik before going back to attend mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral for our last full day in Vienna. Then we had dinner at Cafe Mozart.
Our last day in Vienna. We spent our early morning in Schonbrunn Gardens.
We walked up the Gloriette and had breakfast at Cafe Gloriette. It was a fitting last breakfast in Vienna, inside a cafe brimming with history of its imperial past and idyllic regal charm.
Vienna is a beautiful city and there is still much left to discover. It is bittersweet to be leaving but the impermanence and fleeting experiences of travel, especially in a city like Vienna, make visiting it, more special.
But before hopping on a train to Budapest, Hungary, one last stop is at the Original Vienna Snowglobe Factory.
The workshop was filled with antique machines, orginal design sketches, and clips of stories behind the snowglobe. I’m glad we managed to squeeze this in before heading to the train station.
I really did not want to leave just yet but there are more places to explore and more experiences to discover. I would just have to go back to Vienna again.
I hope you enjoyed exploring with me. I’ll see you on the next one.
