When in Wien

I have embarked on the most amazing adventure yet. A group of four other daring girls and I took a crazy train, ate cake and streusel, listened to a French opera, ordered street food, drank beer, climbed hills, made friends, and butchered German. Yes, my dear readers and supporters, we went to Vienna, Austria!

Our adventure began in a semi-abnormal way, with a huge bag of food. I had gone to the discount department store, think Walmart but Italy, and dropped about 30 euro on bread, lunch meat, tofu, fruit, peanut butter, limoncello, and various forms of other junk food (including oreos!!! Dead giveaway we were American, but who cares, oreos!). This enormous and heavy bag of foodstuff was to equip us for our 12-hour train ride, which we had acquired tickets for for only 70 euros. We began with dinner of sandwiches and limoncello, then played a never-ending game of BS. Soon, the other girls nodded off, and I watched over the flock as we sailed through the night. I slept great. I got a full forty minutes.

My comrades on this adventure included the ever-faithful Fay, who was excited to bond with the other amazing girls on our trip. Mads, the Broadway baby formerly known as Maddie, is a Minnasotan-gone-Bostonian, and often comes over for dinner during the week. Juhi is a Hindu from Austin, Texas, and is in two of my three classes. Besides bonding over our massive confusion in corporate finance and falling asleep together in marketing, we also both enjoy a good angsty-rock-out session, and telling it like it is. Our final guest appearance was Jill, a sugar-sweet San Diego babe who always had a smile on her face, even when she was out of her comfort zone.

When we arrived in Vienna, two hours later than we were supposed to, the only things on our mind were hostel then coffee. We checked into the Wombat's hostel, one of the highest rated hostels in the world, and locked up or backpacks. Then we hit the street and went into the first coffee shop we could find, oddly named "Coffeeshop Company." Upon entry, we were bewildered at a cafe of nothing but tables and an espresso machine behind the register. Where was the standing bar?? Do we get a service charge? And a cappuccino is more than one euro?! We were clearly not in Italy anymore.

After a shot of caffeine, we immediately got lost in the backstreets of the city to find a recommended lunch spot. Fay and Maddie's combined killer sense of direction led us to a restaurant called 7 Stern Bräu, which is known for brewing seven types of beer in-house. A round of Viener Schnitzel and Apfelstrudel was ordered all around, and I sampled the blonde brew (naturally). The beer was so good, and it was great to sit down and relax in the basement of a brewhouse, as well as plan out what was in store for us for the weekend.

Jill Photo Cred

Juhi Photo Cred

We decided to invigorate ourselves by climbing to the top of St. Stephen's Cathedral. This cathedral is the centerpiece of Vienna, and towers above all else in the city, which came in handy more than once when I was lost and away from the larger group. The main spire has 434 spiral steps in it, and I led the pack climbing up it, calling upon my long-laid-laden swimming muscles and lung capacity. The view of the city was amazing, and I spent most of the time looking at the top of the church. The colorful roof tiles, which I learned later were placed onto the 86 degree roof by six brave women, were the royal colors of the Hapsburg Family. The breathtaking view was worth the ascend, but going down was a different story, though. The spinning stairway helped me remember that I am a little nervous of heights.

The interior of the cathedral was also amazing. You know, as amazing as any other Gothic cathedral. But this one was different. A modern-art sculpture was installed in the church, in which huge pvc-pipe cubes were stacked two or three high. People from all over the world wrote prayers, wishes, and thanksgivings on little scraps of paper, and tied them to the threads strung across the inside of the cube. Then, the cube stacks were lit with purple lighting, the symbolic color of lent. I appreciated the modern juxtaposition against the Gothic cathedral, and it really set St. Stephen's apart from all the other ones I have seen.

Inside St. Stephen's

Outside St. Stephen's

On top of St. Stephen's

With full bellies and tired legs, we went back to the hostel and quickly crashed. Our room was a four-bed private dorm, with our own bathroom. It was super nice, and exactly what we all needed. When we all woke up a few hours later, we went out in search for cheap street food and more beer. We went to a chain-Chinese food place, and got huhn nudeln (chicken stir-fry noodles). After scarfing it down, we walked back to the hostel and got back into bed.

The next morning, we set off for the Naschmarkt. We were lucky enough to be there on a Saturday, where the flea market, as well as the food market, was taking place. Colors and noise swirled around us, and it was hard to take in all the sights of this market. Silver and glassware covered one table, while old musical instruments covered a blanket the next booth over. I looked at a few rings, but was not impressed. After wandering to food sections for a while, and being bombarded with "pretty girls come here where you from try try try," we settled on a cute bread stall with a tall blonde German girl working behind the booth. Out of her mouth came perfect english, and we sampled the walnut-cinnamon scone before dropping a whopping 1.20 euro on our breakfast.

We dashed back through the market to find the second location of our apparently-chain hostel, where the free walking tour was just about to take off. We were led by a stout and potty-mouthed man named Charles, who took us to various museums and palaces, giving us insider-information about the city along the way. The most interesting aspect of this tour, besides everything we saw, was the fact that Vienna does not try to hide it's history. World War II happened, said Charles, and it was partially our fault. It was the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts that rejected Hitler twice, and instead taught him about anti-semitism. I am interested in what it was, exactly, that caused the whole country to go from following Joseph II's policy of tolerance to falling to Nazism with little resistance.

Juhi Photo Cred - The Street-washing Jew

Our tour ended at the "Plague Column," an interesting statue featuring an Emperor Leopold on one knee, a sight that was never before seen, begging God to end the Great Plague in Vienna. After being led back to St. Stephen's Cathedral, we dragged our tired and undercaffeinated, although enlightened, butts to the Café Schwarzenberg, a fancy coffeehouse on the famous Viennese "ring," that had the best apfelstreusel in the city. We entered into a smoky and sun-lit room with marble floors, buttressed ceilings, and old chandeliers. Glass cases of sweets separated the round and square marble-topped tables, and a red velvet couch ran around the perimeter of the room. The tuxedoed waiters flew about, but the atmosphere was the kind of calm you only feel when you know you can afford to waste the entire day chilling in a coffee shop.

Jill cred

Jill Cred

We ate apfelstreusel and drank a Wiener Melange, a espresso-based coffee drink that is a combination  between a latte and a cappuccio. The milk was served warm, rather than hot, so it could be drunk right away. The espresso was a lungo shot, which is extracted longer than usual in order to have a more mild flavor, as well as more volume, of course. The foam on this particular Melange was wonderful, with stiff peaks of white milk sticking to the back of my spoon. I was quite a happy Sami. Until the 10 euro bill came. I knew at that moment that cake and coffee were going to be my major trip expenses, and therefore I should eat nothing else but cheap street food for the rest of the weekend.

The group split up after we polished off our third round of free water, with Juhi, Fay, and Mads going back the market to buy more falafel, and Jill and I going to the Belvedere Palace. Between Jill and I, we probably have as much sense of direction as a bat whose echolocation is broken. Thankfully, though, Jill can charm the pants off of anyone, and we were given directions by everyone we asked (and we asked a lot). We made it to the palace, where Jill tested her charming abilities on the ticket guy in an attempt to prevent us from paying the eleven euros to get into the museum just to see one painting. It unfortunately didn't work, but seeing the painting was totally worth it.

Jill cred - Belvedere Palace

I can now proudly add Gustav Klimt's The Kiss to the list of amazing masterpieces I have witnessed in person. It was surreal, and beyond gorgeous. I couldn't stop looking at the couple locked in an embrace, even though they never will look back to me. We sat for half an hour in front of this painting, before heart-wrenchingly tearing ourselves away from it. We walked down the hill behind the palace, and from there proceeded to get hopelessly lost, but saw other cool stuff along the way. We decided to look for the Stepehnsplatz metro stop, which we thought would lead us to the Cathedral. Instead, it led us to exactly where we wanted to be. The Wiener Staatsoper, or the State Opera House. We were to meet up with the other girls to buy opera tickets, but were running late.

Luckily though, we snagged some of the last FOUR EURO standing-room tickets, and ran inside to reserve our standing spots. I tied my pink lace hair ribbon around the very end of the sitting-poles, and reserved my spot to stand in the aisle. After we were all safely reunited and reserved, we set off the the coffeehouse across the street to do one of the most touristy-tourist sights in Vienna. We went to the Hotel Sacher to get the world-famous Sachertorte! Sachertorte is a "well-kept secret" chocolate cake with apricot jam in the middle, and served with unsweetened whipped cream, and of course a Melange. After we dropped more than ten euro a piece on cake and coffee for the second time that day, we walked back across the street and went into the opera, one act late.

The opera we were seeing was a French opera titled La Juive, which means "the Jewess." It was about a woman named Rachel, who as a baby, was saved from her burning home by a Jewish man, and was raised Jewish. She fell in love and pursued a relationship with the Catholic Prince of the area, and upon discovering his true identity, called him out in front of the Cardinal, who sentenced her, her father, and the Prince to death. These four main characters were then forced through "man against himself" challenges, as they tried to figure out what was the most righteous path for each of them to take. Rachel chooses to clear her beloved Prince of the accusations so that he may live, saying she made them up and committed treason. (He remains silent - dirtbag move.) The Cardinal's past life comes back to haunt him, as Rachel's father reveals that he knows the whereabouts of his long-lost baby daughter. Finally, Rachel's father is the most conflicted character, and is wracked with guilt as he tries to decide whether to sacrifice his daughter to get revenge on the Cardinal, or submit to the Cardinal's demands and renounce his faith so that they both may live. In the dramatic ending, Rachel goes to the block first, and before her father follows her into death, the Cardinal begs him to tell him if his daughter is alive. Pointing to Rachel, the curtain snapped shut. There was a standing ovation for over fifteen minutes.

Maddie Cred - Opera Cast

Ohmaigoodness it was an incredible opera, with killer technical aspects and plenty of symbolism. The role of Rachel's father was played by Neil Shicoff, a famous American opera singer with some bigtime cred. Look him up! We had no idea what we were going into when we bought these four euro tickets, but we came out with some great conversation and chills when we learned the enormity of what just happened to us. That day in Vienna will forever be one of the best days of my life.

On the final day, we rented city bikes and rode to the Schönbrunn Palace, the baroque and very yellow summer home of Austrian royalty, including Marie-Antoinette's mother, Maria Theresa. The little yellow palace was dwarfed by the huge garden behind it, a fountain large enough to be a swimming pool, and a hill cross-crossed by paths leading up to an overlook. We strolled through and enjoyed the beautiful weather, and I ran into some Boilermakers! This group of students were participating in the GEAR program, and were studying in Germany. And because the world is tiny, one of them went to high school with Schuyler! They added me on Facebook in case they ever hit up Milan.

Jill, Fay, Me, Mads, Juhi

We got more street food, a Wiener-Schnitzel sandwich and fries, before walking about the Museum Quarter and going into the Kunsthistorisches art-history museum. The gallery itself was unimpressive, to me, but the building itself was absolutely stunning! I would have spent eleven euro just to see the interior. 

Sneaky photo by Maddie

Juhi, I think?

Finally, we ended our tour of Vienna with the most famous coffeehouse in the entire city, Cafe Central. This was the think-tank for Sigmund Freud, Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin, and members of the philosophical group called the "logical positivists." We were being logical positivists as we drank our last Melanges and ate a delicious hazelnut cake, and tried to figure out how we could build a society based off of chocolate at the currency. We decided that cars and other vehicles would be banned, forcing everyone to walk or use a bike-sharing service. Also, gyms would be similar to education, and would be provided for free. We were still unsure about how to encourage people to exchange the currency rather than eat it.

From the cafe, we took the tram (illegally) back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff and cleaned up a bit, and got back on the train. We slept much better on the way back. It turns out the seats actually slid all the way down and met in the middle to make little beds; we're clearly not engineers. I curled up with my blanket, and sandwiched between friends, and slept almost the whole way.

This weekend, I am taking it easy (and recovering from a nasty cold) before my big spring break adventure! I am going to Dublin, then Athens, and then meeting my family and my host family in Paris! From Paris, we are going to Toulon and then to Milano. It will be a wonderful time, and I am excited to venture out on my own. After spring break, I have only three more weekends to travel, then two weekends to study for finals, then FINALS, then I come home. I am trying to not think about how this is the beginning of the end; it makes me both happy and sad, and I am unsure which one prevails in my mind.

Thank you all for reading this super long post, I hope you enjoyed hearing about my adventure! Drop me a line to tell me how you liked it, and how you are doing. I miss and love you all!