The red-eye reducer gave me crazy eyes, but it's still a good picture. In 1516, a fabulous bar in Vienna with a good American vibe.Right before Christmas break (and right after Jäger left) Kaci and Meredith joined me in Salzburg for a few days. While I was at work, they toured the Christmas markets and braved the bitter cold that swept in just as they got here. After work on Friday we grabbed our things and headed off to Vienna.
Meredith studied abroad in Vienna, so she was excited to show off all of her favorite things. And since we were in the middle of the Advent season, many of those favorite things were Christmas markets - Vienna has 30-something of them scattered around the city, each with their own mugs and characters. Our plan: let Meredith play tour guide and visit as many of the Christmas markets as we could!
We started the first night. After settling into the hostel (which involved some entertaining maneuvers for putting sheets on the top bunks) we headed off to one of Meredith's favorite restaurants 1516. There I enjoyed my first Austrian cheeseburger. The restaurant had quite an American atmosphere, complete with baseball memorabilia on the walls. I felt right at home!
After our fabulous dinner we wandered over to see a few sights, including our first Christmas Market of the trip! Then we headed back to the hostel for a quick round of pool and a good night's sleep before the full day ahead of us.
On Saturday we got a fairly early start and headed away from the city toward Schönbrunn and its famous market. Unfortunately the weather was awful. Beyond awful, actually. As soon as we got there it started sleeting, and of course none of us had our umbrellas. The worst part, though, was the fact that our feet were getting soaked. Kaci had the foresight to wear waterproof shoes; Meredith and I weren't doing quite as well. Luckily, Meredith had the genius idea of wrapping her feet in plastic bags to keep them dry. And while it may not have been the most attractive of solutions (or quiet - we crinkled when we walked), it kept our feet from being soaked.
On the way back into town we had the opportunity to walk directly past Meredith's old dorm from her time abroad. I wish I'd taken pictures to show how different her living situation was from mine! Where I lived with 5 Germans, Meredith was put into a house full of Americans; where mine was a new building, hers was older with more character; where mine was a dormitory, hers was an apartment with real neighbors; and where I had a single room, she had roommates. It was actually quite interesting to see how different the two IES programs were.
Anyway, after our detour through Meredith's old apartment, we made a beeline for food. Delicious food. In Austria and Germany there is a large Turkish population, and the Turkish fast food is called Kebab. At this particular place in Austria, they serve an especially creative concoction called a Kebab box. Imagine if you took all of the contents of a Döner Kebab (the Turkish version of a Gyro), dumped them into a Chinese takeout box on top of potato wedges, covered them with sour cream and spicy sauce, and ate it all with a fork. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
After lunch came a few more Christmas markets, each of which involved a little glühwein and a lot of pushing people out of the way. We wandered around Vienna, though didn't go into anything. Instead, we saved our energy for the grand finale: the Opera. That night was the premiere of Don Giovanni at the Staatsoper. To see it, we had to wait in line for an hour and a half for tickets. Then we were herded up to our seats (Europeans do NOT know how to line up properly - I will share a funny anecdote about this in an upcoming post). And by seats I actually mean standing places.
The opera ended up being really well done, and fairly easy to understand (especially since we had the lyrics right in front of us on high-tech screens). Unfortunately, it was super long. And we were exhausted from wandering around all day. But it's one of those things that we had to do, and I'm so glad we got a chance to!
The next morning Meredith had to catch a plane back to northern Germany at some ungodly hour, and Kaci and I departed not long after. It was a fabulous time all around - so fabulous, in fact, that we made a pact to have another European reunion in another seven years (seven because that's how long it's been since our last European tour together - the trip with Doc to Lindau during our sophomore summer)!
Meredith studied abroad in Vienna, so she was excited to show off all of her favorite things. And since we were in the middle of the Advent season, many of those favorite things were Christmas markets - Vienna has 30-something of them scattered around the city, each with their own mugs and characters. Our plan: let Meredith play tour guide and visit as many of the Christmas markets as we could!
We started the first night. After settling into the hostel (which involved some entertaining maneuvers for putting sheets on the top bunks) we headed off to one of Meredith's favorite restaurants 1516. There I enjoyed my first Austrian cheeseburger. The restaurant had quite an American atmosphere, complete with baseball memorabilia on the walls. I felt right at home!
After our fabulous dinner we wandered over to see a few sights, including our first Christmas Market of the trip! Then we headed back to the hostel for a quick round of pool and a good night's sleep before the full day ahead of us.
On Saturday we got a fairly early start and headed away from the city toward Schönbrunn and its famous market. Unfortunately the weather was awful. Beyond awful, actually. As soon as we got there it started sleeting, and of course none of us had our umbrellas. The worst part, though, was the fact that our feet were getting soaked. Kaci had the foresight to wear waterproof shoes; Meredith and I weren't doing quite as well. Luckily, Meredith had the genius idea of wrapping her feet in plastic bags to keep them dry. And while it may not have been the most attractive of solutions (or quiet - we crinkled when we walked), it kept our feet from being soaked.
On the way back into town we had the opportunity to walk directly past Meredith's old dorm from her time abroad. I wish I'd taken pictures to show how different her living situation was from mine! Where I lived with 5 Germans, Meredith was put into a house full of Americans; where mine was a new building, hers was older with more character; where mine was a dormitory, hers was an apartment with real neighbors; and where I had a single room, she had roommates. It was actually quite interesting to see how different the two IES programs were.
Anyway, after our detour through Meredith's old apartment, we made a beeline for food. Delicious food. In Austria and Germany there is a large Turkish population, and the Turkish fast food is called Kebab. At this particular place in Austria, they serve an especially creative concoction called a Kebab box. Imagine if you took all of the contents of a Döner Kebab (the Turkish version of a Gyro), dumped them into a Chinese takeout box on top of potato wedges, covered them with sour cream and spicy sauce, and ate it all with a fork. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
After lunch came a few more Christmas markets, each of which involved a little glühwein and a lot of pushing people out of the way. We wandered around Vienna, though didn't go into anything. Instead, we saved our energy for the grand finale: the Opera. That night was the premiere of Don Giovanni at the Staatsoper. To see it, we had to wait in line for an hour and a half for tickets. Then we were herded up to our seats (Europeans do NOT know how to line up properly - I will share a funny anecdote about this in an upcoming post). And by seats I actually mean standing places.
The opera ended up being really well done, and fairly easy to understand (especially since we had the lyrics right in front of us on high-tech screens). Unfortunately, it was super long. And we were exhausted from wandering around all day. But it's one of those things that we had to do, and I'm so glad we got a chance to!
The next morning Meredith had to catch a plane back to northern Germany at some ungodly hour, and Kaci and I departed not long after. It was a fabulous time all around - so fabulous, in fact, that we made a pact to have another European reunion in another seven years (seven because that's how long it's been since our last European tour together - the trip with Doc to Lindau during our sophomore summer)!
The first of many Christmas Markets
Meredith and Kaci with our Glühwein. Again, red-eye corrector is not what it should be. *Sigh*
Schönbrunn! And the masses of tourists heading toward the Christmas Market
Our fabulous Schönbrunn Punsch in our fabulous Schönbrunn mugs
Unprepared.
Toasting (or Prosting auf Deutsch) to our promise to have another trip together in seven years
The castle grounds
St. Stephen's Cathedral
The most giant advent wreath I've ever seen
Wandering around Vienna
Mmm, Kebab boxes.
Kaci and Meredith, checking out the building.
Believe it or not, I was not the first person to kiss the statue. The cheek was covered with lipstick marks. Kind of gross now that I'm thinking about it.
Look! A hint of blue sky!
The oldest door in Vienna
Roman ruins in the middle of the city
See that sign in the distance - Donuts and Krapfen? It was a beacon that sucked us in like moths to a flame.
Meredith enjoying her Krapfen - the incredible Austrian donut, filled with jelly, chocolate, or anything else you can think of.
The Rathaus Christmas Market was out of control. There was so much going on! I literally fought some very large Viennese women for my place in line at a Glühwein stand
Monument to the Bubonic Plague
Angels, wandering around the city
Waiting in line for standing room tickets to the opera
Don Giovanni on opening night!!
Our standing room spots (aka the Nosbleeds)
The Staatsopfer
Opera glasses!
No comments:
Post a Comment