DAY 73, TUESDAY, MARCH 26TH
We arrived safely to our Airbnb in Vienna last night around 9 PM. Today we left around 9:30 and stopped at a cafe to grab a croissant and walked through the Naschmarkt (a popular outdoor market in Vienna) before arriving at St. Stephens Cathedral at 10:30. We stopped in the Cathedral (an important part of Vienna's religious history) which was quite impressive and beautiful. It also had a cool art display hanging in the middle.
Once we finished up inside we met up with my friend from W&M, Abhi, who is studying in Vienna! He took us around the area of the cathedral which is a central part of of the city, past the Hofburg palace, through Maria-Theresien-Platz and eventually towards where Abhi lives so me and Abhi could register for our classes next semester (while my friends wandered around a bit).
Class registration went relatively successfully for both of us! After registration we met back up for lunch at a burger place. Once lunch was over Abhi left us and we went to the Belvedere palace which also doubles as an art museum- we saw the permanent collection which had a good variety including Van Gogh and Klimt, among others.
We spent a couple hours wandering there until we headed to the Schonbrunn palace, a very famous spot in Vienna. Abhi advised us not to pay to go in but just to look around the outside and the gardens in the back. We did that and then around sunset we headed up to the top of a hill behind the palace with a gloriette on top to watch the sunset and have a great view of the city!!
We got a little lost on the way out but that gave us enough time to get a beautiful view of the palace lit up at night.
We ended the night with some pizza as an easy dinner and getting ready for a long day trip tomorrow!!!
DAY 74, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27TH
Today we woke up at, wait-for-it, 5 am (: (: but it’ll be worth it!! We headed to the train station to take a train to Hallstatt, Austria for the day! It is a 4 hour train ride there (we might be crazy for doing this as a day trip but... oh well), but the train ride was filled with absolutely stunning views. Snow-capped mountains, small Austrian towns nestled in the foothills, and lots of lakes and mountains.
We arrived in Hallstatt at about 10:30 AM. A note: the Austrian train system is spectacular, the trains are so nice, the website updates constantly with minute delays and platform numbers. We had tight connections switching from trains but made it seamlessly. Once we got to Hallstatt we were immediately greeted by amazing views, and they just kept getting better. We took a ferry from the train station, on the lake, to the town and got started exploring.
Without much of a breakfast before, we stopped at a bakery to grab a pastry before venturing on a hike. From the very beginning of planning this travel break we knew we wanted to do some sort of nature or hike to break up so much time in cities. We went to the tourist information center to ask for info about hikes and we found out pretty much all of them but 1 are closed for winter so we took our only option and did the “waterfall” hike- and it ended up being perfect! It took about 2.5 hours total and we hiked away from the lake into the alps (wild, the alps!!). It was a moderate climb ended with some beautiful waterfalls, and some snow!
The snow capped alps we saw on our way are by far one of my most favorite views of all-time. After returning from the hike we took the funicular up to the “skywalk” which is a triangular platform that juts out of the mountain giving an amazing view of the lake, the mountains, and the 3 town situations on the lake (including Hallstatt).
There was also some info up there on the history of Hallstatt and it’s importance as a mining town. It actually has Roman-era remains proving to be a pretty old area!! We eventually headed back down (after resisting as long as possible because the views were just so stunning) and ate a very late lunch (linner??) around 4. After eating a decent lunch at a hotel, we walked to the Catholic Church & cemetery in town. Unfortunately the church was closed but the cemetery was pretty neat. There is also a place nearby the church that contains many many skulls- the cemetery is small and full so when they need to bury someone they will dig up an old body to use that space for the new one. But to maintain the identity of the old bones they often paint words, names, and/or pictures on the skulls and they are all stored. Unfortunately this room was also closed when we got there. We finished off the day with some photo-taking and wandering the old town one last time.
We also spent some time just sitting near the water and admiring the views, can’t express how breathtaking it was.
Around 6:15 it was time to take the ferry back to catch our train to begin our long journey home.
Our last train was delayed so we didn’t get home until 12, but it was absolutely worth it. This honestly ranks in the top 10 days of my life- a spectacular location and just the most amazing day in the town, in the mountains, and in the woods.
P.S. I apologize for all the pictures but to be honest I'm just too lazy to go through them right no, so you're getting them all :)
DAY 75, THURSDAY, MARCH 28TH
After a long day yesterday we slept in a bit today and didn’t make it out until 10:30. But the sleep was needed. We walked around a bit to look at the state opera house & the city hall- both impressive buildings.
Then we went to lunch to get our schnitzel, it was delicious but so so much food.
After chowing down on our Schnitzel we headed to Hofburg palace which we walked past the first day but didn’t go into. Today we went in and saw a silver collection (SO MANY plates, settings, silverware, etc. that had been used by the royalty over the years), a museum on Sisi or Empress Elisabeth (wife of Franz Josef I who ruled through the second half of the 1800s), and the imperial apartments or rooms in the palace that the royal couple lived in and used. I found the information on Empress Elisabeth to be the most interesting as she was a pretty controversial/reclusive/mysterious figure during her rule but after her murder Austrians and Viennese became obsessed with her and started to almost worship her.
We spent a couple hours going through all of that so we had to reward ourselves after with a treat! We headed to Cafe Sacher which is the birthplace of the traditional sachertorte (there was actually a legal debate over this). We shared a piece of the famous sachetorte (a chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam in it) and a piece of apple strudel with some hot chocolates! Definitely a little pricey but was delicious!!
After chowing down we headed to the Hundertwasser village (built by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser in the 1990s) which is some pretty neat architecture in the middle of the city.
Then we met back up with my friend Abhi for dinner and ice cream before heading back to the Airbnb to pack up and get ready for another early morning tomorrow.
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