With Billy Joel as our travel guide, my friends and I visited Vienna, Austria for a quick weekend trip from our study abroad program in London. Just as Billy indicated, Vienna was there waiting for us, and there was lots to see and enjoy. 

For my own documentation and the potential enjoyment of you all, I will describe below what we did and saw during our brief stint in Vienna!

Friday, January 19, 2023 

Night in Vienna

Our plane arrived in the evening on Friday, so there is not much to report here! We went to a delicious authentic Austrian restaurant that I can’t remember the name of…but the food and atmosphere was memorable no less! 

Next, we went to NeunDreiviertel (9 and ¾), a Harry Potter themed bar. With cocktails that smoke and bubble being crafted in front of you like a potion and incredible furnishing and decorations, this was a magical experience that left nothing to the imagination.

Lastly, we went to an underground club in the city center that was fun, but assured us that night life in Vienna was not particularly thrilling.

Saturday, January 20, 2023

9 a.m. Stroll about city center

After waking up, Lindsay, Caroline and I took the metro into the center of Vienna to get a light breakfast and walk around. Through walking we were able to admire the Vienna State Opera, walk through the Burggarten park and see the Mozart monument and people skating on a frozen pond, listen to street music and walk outside of the Hofburg, former imperial palace of the Hapsburg dynasty. Apart from the historic sightseeing, we also walked to

Naschmarkt, dubbed the “belly of Vienna” for its centuries-long tradition of authentic Austrian food and drink stalls. My personal favorite was a heaping tower of dates- one of my favorite snacks! While walking through the market, we were filled with the aroma of good food, free cheese samples and (unfortunately) a few American-aimed insults. This was kind of funny, so of course we took it in stride.

1 p.m. Schönbrunn Palace

On our way to Schönbrunn Palace, we ran into Emma, Emma and Mame-Diarra in the metro station on a stroke of luck, so all six of us decided to head over there together! After getting lunch near the palace and walking around the gardens a bit, we entered inside. Formerly the main summer residence of the Hapsburgs, the Schönbrunn Palace boasts beautiful Baroque architecture and Empress Maria Theresa’s original furnishing and decoration selections. The palace was so so beautiful and captivating to walk through with an audio guide. My favorite thing that I found through our perusal of the palace was the stunning painting of the 1760 wedding ceremony of soon-to-be emperor Joseph II to Isabella of Parma. What was interesting about this was that the artist, Martin Van Meytens, painted a young Wolfgang Mozart with his Dad into the crowd per Maria Theresa’s request after Mozart played at Schönbrunn at 6-years-old (2 years after the wedding). I just think this is a great fun fact, and very cute that Maria Theresa thought Mozart and his Dad should be included in the scene, despite them not having actually attended the ceremony. When leaving the palace, we picked up a gigantic salted pretzel and Lindt hot chocolate from a spout in the surrounding streets. 

4 p.m. The Belvedere Museum

The Belvedere Museum was amazing! Formerly the Belvedere Palace, the beautiful architecture was inhabited as a summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Before going inside, we walked around the grounds and caught a beautiful sunset over the palace. Our main inspiration for coming to the museum was for “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt, but we were greeted by so much more. We looked at a lot of Klimt’s work, but “The Kiss” really was incredible! With shimmering gold leaf, silver and platinum beaming, the portrait portrayed a man kissing a woman, the lines of their individual bodies obsolete to portray that they were one. This passionate display of affection drew controversy for being obscene at the time and the painting was even denounced by the Roman Catholic Church and banned in several countries. It was great seeing Klimt’s other work as well. In addition, I personally love Monet and was pleased to see several beautiful landscapes and portrait paintings of his. Beyond Klimt and Monet, I found Edvard Munch’s Men on the Seashore painting to be one of my favorites. Munch created several paintings centered around human mortality and liberation, and I thought Men on the Seashore was particularly interesting because of his decision to paint the men nude. This was something that people were uncomfortable with as female nudity was more commonly showcased in paintings. Munch’s choice to challenge gender conventions through his work here was very interesting and admirable! 

8 p.m. Schönbrunn Palace Classical Concert

After quickly eating dinner in our Hostel’s bar (much better that you may imagine), we rushed out the door to head back to Schönbrunn Palace for a classical concert. This was something that I was really eager to do as I’ve found myself listening to classical music more and more over the years. To our luck, we got an amazing deal (student discount included) for tickets when we bought them inside the palace during our visit earlier in the day. Being that Mozart played in the palace hall that we listened from almost 300 years later, this was an incredibly special and enriching experience. The orchestra was very talented and played a combination of pieces from  Mozart and Johann Strauss, accompanied by two captivating opera singers. With the pairing of the atmosphere, history and talent in the room, I couldn’t help but grin throughout this wonderful experience.

Sunday, January 21, 2023

Auf Wiedersehen, Vienna!

Our Sunday in Vienna was brief! We had a delightful wakeup call at 3:40 a.m. to get on our flight at 6:20 a.m. and bid Vienna goodbye among a beautiful sunrise in the sky

Points worth mentioning…

• J-walking is illegal…and not in the way that it’s illegal in the U.S! Don’t even try it
• Not the friendliest city
• The metro is super easy! I recommend getting the day pass when choosing your ticket if you plan on packing a lot in one day, because it’s easier and will quickly save you money
• Don’t try to piggy back or not buy a metro ticket. There’s nothing stopping you from just walking on the metro with no ticket at first, but we got asked by train employees and police officers for our tickets on multiple occasions, so it’s not worth the risk as you can serve real time there for this
• Itinerize! As I made evident in this post, it is very easy to load Vienna into one day if you plan accordingly. I even think there was room for us to do more than this if we moved around our schedule a bit.

Overall, this trip was great and I think we got the perfect taste of Vienna! What a gift to be able to take part in quick and exciting weekend trips like this 🙂

Click here to read about our tip to Bath, England!