Weekend in Vienna

For the last trip of my study abroad semester, I went with my program friends and Czech friend Matěj to Vienna, Austria. One of my goals for the semester was to visit every bordering country of the Czech Republic. I had hit Germany, Poland, and Slovakia, so Austria was the last stop. We took a train from the main station in Prague through the Czech countryside and arrived in my 21st country four hours later. 21 countries in 21 years ain’t bad. 

We found a great hostel with a private room for us all to stay in that was just a few minutes away from the city center. Matěj had been to Vienna before, so he helped plan out our itinerary. First stop: food. We found a delicious Hungarian restaurant and then set out to sightsee. We wandered around for a few hours just taking in the beautiful buildings and variety of architecture. 

Our first full day was jam-packed. We started at the Schönbrunn Palace and explored the beautiful Viennese gardens filled with flowers, arbor arches, and fountains. The small sculptures were nothing compared to the massive Neptune fountain that overlooked the back of the palace. 

After walking for several hours we took a tram back to the city center to grab lunch and some vegan ice cream. In the afternoon, we went to the Habsburg Palace. We learned a lot about the Habsburg family in our Czech history class, so we were all excited to see their extravagant living quarters. It did not disappoint. Their china collection filled room after room after room. There’s no way they used every single silver spoon; they clearly just liked to know they had them. 

In the evening, we met up with one of our study abroad friends who also happened to be in Vienna. It was a Saturday night so the bars were full and the streets were bustling. We finally found a little hole-in-the-wall bar and we all shared a bottle of the house wine while reminiscing about the semester.

Our last morning in Austria was probably my favorite. We found the cutest little café nestled in-between beautiful buildings, a wall of street art, and a farmer’s market. They even had a full vegan breakfast, so I was living my best life. We did as the Viennese do and sat for a few hours, soaking up the sun and sipping our espresso. It was bougie and perfect.