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Travel Blog
II: Vienna
Following a
weekend in Venice (see previous two posts) I went to Vienna for three
nights (two whole days). This is the only part of my adventure where
I’m actually on my own – in Venice I was hosted and there was an
event, and in the next two places I’m staying with friends. I guess
when I get to Bonn I’ll be on my own there, but that doesn’t really
count. Anyway..
I arrived into
Vienna at about 1900, headed down to underground and grabbed a city
map. In my preparation (can’t do too much, stops it being an
adventure!) the only information I had with me for my hostel was
“
Wombat – Naschmarkt – 35 Rechte Wienzeile
”. I
searched the map for about five minutes to look for the Naschmarkt –
which I had thought was a district of the city but was actually
pretty small – before asking at the information office. As I asked
in German, they gave me directions for U-bahn stops, but thankfully
they then showed me on the map too.
The hostel
turned out to be huge and full of Australians. I think it probably
had around 250 people in it, but there was a coach tour company which
did an organised trip round seven European cities which stayed in
this hostel and seemed to only have Australians in it. I guess it
makes sense as school/university term has restarted in England and
Europe, but the Australians are in the middle of their winter
holiday, so the timing works for them. I checked in (in German) and
headed up to my room, a dorm with 4 beds. I was quite lucky as I
found a friend there: an Australian guy (Peter) had arrived the same
time as I had, so we headed down to the bar together. It would
otherwise have been trickier to be sociable, as the bar was full of
Australians who were on the tour together and already knew each
other. Peter was travelling with a friend and the three of us chatted
in the bar before heading out to get some food, finding a nice
chinese takeaway. I was also lucky that both of them were decent
guys, and they both apologised a couple of times for all of the other
Australians, who they described as ‘
bogans
‘ (which I think is
something like a chav or a redneck) who just wanted to get loudly
drunk and do stupid things.
The next day I
woke up at a reasonable hour and spent a couple of hours on the wifi
in the lounge area (which was free, I was expecting a small charge),
edited and uploaded the previous blog posts, and read through the
city info on the wall to mark some places to visit on my map.
I hadn’t fancied
the all-you-can-eat breakfast at the hostel, which consisted of (as
expected) ham, cheese, bread and cereal, so instead had a look round
the Naschmarkt just outside the hostel (which instead of being a city
district was just a market, though a fairly sizable one). It had lots
of Turkish stands as well as a few Austrian ones, and sold lots of
antipasti-type things, olives, falafel (pretty cheaply, 8 pieces for
1 euro) as well as fruit, dried fruit and nut stalls. My favourite
was probably dates stuffed with prosciutto and walnuts, but the
artichoke/dried tomato and nut-mash-in-pastry were also nice.
At about midday
I actually started to visit Vienna, going round a few churches.
Vienna is a beautiful city, loads of oldish style (don’t ask me the
specifics) buildings throughout the street and loads of churches. I
picked out a few which were all in the same area: a Greek orthodox
one which was very gilded, a 13
th
century one which had
been a place of worship since the 8
th
century, and the
city cathedral. I also bumped into three cyclists who asked me to
take a photo of them – it turned out they were from Newcastle, and
having got a ferry to northern Europe they were cycling through to
Istanbul (apparently there’s a really good route along a few main
rivers which is well maintained)! The previous few weeks had been wet
so they were glad to have some nice weather in Vienna (sunny both
days), and they said that back in their day interrailing was only £25
for a month’s travelling! The ticket I got was £160 for five days
travel in a ten day period; I think it should be cheaper as it
encourages tourism and we spend a lot on accommodation, food and
tourist things (plus some trains charge extra ‘reservation’ costs,
which can be 20 euros)!
I then had a look round the Hofburg. I’m not too sure what it is but
it had some really nice buildings and parks in the middle of the city
and was close to a couple of museums, though the history one was shut
and I wasn’t too keen on the art one. I also saw some sort of
government building, a huge grand Viennese one with a big statue at
the front and wide sweeping ramps to get to the entrance. There was a
protest here too, though less interesting than the previous one I
found as it only had some banners and people sat on he steps. They
were protesting against deportation and wanted equal treatment, but I
don’t know who ‘they’ were, I would guess some sort of Arab immigrant
or Asylum seeker.
I sat down in a park for awhile as I wanted to do some yoga,
stretching and back exercises (since having back surgery when I was
16 I try to take care to look after it, I try to do back exercises
every few days but hadn’t done them for a week, plus the travelling
and heavy bag on top of that). I settled in a park right in front of
a huge imperial building for a bit over an hour, and even took a nice
picture using the stand I had built for my phone (cobbled together
out of some cardboard and tape, though it isn’t the best at not being
wonky it at least holds the phone upright!).
Yoga in the park
I
then
headed
towards the Viennese state opera,
as
I had read it was possible to get standing-seats (I’m not sure what
we’d call it in English, it translated as Stand-place though) quite
cheaply. I was early, so after talking to some ticket touts who tried
to sell me seats for 45 euros (which was apparently actually pretty
good for this opera
(Nabucco,
it wasn’t one of the two operas I had heard of before)
,
according to people I later spoke to who weren’t the salesmen) I
found out I had to come back a bit later to queue for a stand-place.
I walked back to the market (which by now was fairly nearby) to buy
some sausage and antipasti things for dinner, and then walked back to
the opera to queue.
I started
queuing at 6 and was again lucky with my timing, in the five minutes
after I joined the queue doubled.
Behind
me in the queue were an American and an Egyptian (who lived in
vienna) who had ‘met’ via the couchsurfing network,
so
I tagged with them, saving me again from being a loner.
For
four euroes the stand-place was pretty good – I got one in front of
the stage (at the back, behind the seats) which had railings which
you could lean on and subtitles (90% of the time).
It was only the second opera
I had seen
and though the
previous one I had not enjoyed, this one was just about enjoyable –
I was glad I went, but being not-so-used to classical music and opera
singing I was unable to give it the enjoyment it deserved.
Afterwards
I headed back to the hostel with the American, who was also staying
there; we chatted a bit while I ate my dinner but as it got closer to
midnight I left her to go to bed (the polite English thing would
probably have been to stay, but I was pretty tired). This time I was
staying in a spacious 6-bed mixed dorm, though my bed was on the
opposite side of the room to
all
of the others
.
Staying
in dorms is decent as it’s cheaper and sociable, but sleep is
disrupted by snoring (seems like lots of people snore, I don’t know
if I do but I tend to sleep on my side so I think I’m ok…) and
other people going to bed or getting up at varied times (late nights,
early flights). I was tired enough
that
it didn’t really bother me, but it could be annoying for other
people.
On
the second day (yes, I know I’m writing a lot, but I’m on an eight
hour train towards Zurich and it’s nice to relive the last couple of
days)
I again got up, checked
out, and went to visit some other things in the city.
In
the morning I went to the ‘Prater’ (no idea what the origins of the
name is), which is an amusement area pretty close to the centre (I’ve
heard that Vienna is the city with the highest proportion of green
space in it, and there was lot of it – I guess it helps that in
population terms it’s fairly small with only a couple of million). It
had been an amusement area since 1786 (or thereabouts) when the
Emperor gave it over to the people of the city, though it was now
modern with lots of rides. The park was free entry and open 24-hour
but you had to pay for individual rides, though half were closed when
I was there.
I went on a
ferris wheel, a rollercoaster and one of those
towers-with-hanging-chairs-which spin (which was the highest in the
world at around 100m). It did get a bit windy but it was decent to go
on. To compensate for all of these words, I took some pictures too.
Part of the park, view from Ferris Wheel
In
the afternoon I went
around
some more sights: I went to
Karlsplatz
,
which was a park with a square and another huge cathedral (though it
cost to go in so I left it alone), and then later
to
the Schoennbrunn, the Austrian version of Buckingham palace, home of
the Hapsburg dynasty which ruled
Austria
for six hundred years until
they half-abdicated (but were driven into exile). This family was
head of the Holy Roman Empire and then
of
Austria (when they disbanded
the Holy Roman Empire), one of the emperor’s daughters had married
Napoleon and then had a son who lived in this palace (dying age
twenty-five and apparently a keen gardener). Instead of using
military force, the family used lots of diplomacy and married off
almost all of their daughters to various other ruling families around
Europe to keep power. It was nice to see the palace, which was
obviously very ornate, but not knowing any Austrian history some of
it was lost on me. I also liked the fact that they gave you free wifi
all round the palace, and instead of taking an audio guide you could
listen using a smartphone via the wifi as it was all online.
In
the gardens (which like Windsor gardens are open to the public) I
went round a maze and labyrinth, though that wasn’t particularly
interesting. I then headed back to the hostel (same company but
different one to be nearer the station),
dumped
my bags, got changed, and headed out to do some parkour!
Karlsplatz (Cathedral in a nice square)
I
had tried to find some Viennese parkour-people to meet up with, but
nobody had responded on their forum and they didn’t have any
scheduled group training the days I was there, though one person had
got in touch and recommended I check out a couple of spots.
I
got to the first one at 1930 as it nearly dark and was glad to find
that there were three people there training already! I greeted them
and we trained together for an hour or so, though they had already
been out for a couple of hours and were fairly tired. It was a nice
spot, inside a park-area (though not a green one) which had a
play-area (which we didn’t use) with a nice arrangement of walls and
lampposts (so it was lit).
They
were impressed with my German, though I didn’t know all the words we
communicated pretty easily, apart from when I asked him what the
German for “to stick a jump is” (non-parkour people, this means
when you try and land somewhere and land it perfectly without falling
off or shuffling) and I had to play charades-cum-articulate for a few
minutes– I tried to explain it using the idea of a ‘sticker’ and by
explaining it’s what glue does, though I didn’t know the word for
‘glue’ either, so I had to find that out! It turned out the word for
glue (Klebe) is the same as the word for “to stick” (kleben,
though this is obviously a noun instead of a verb), so the phrase
“the glue sticks” is “Die Klebe klebt”. After all the effort
of explaining, they said they didn’t have a word for it, and using
‘klebe’ just made them laugh a lot.
I
really enjoyed the training as it was a great spot (lit, good
arrangement of walls and lampposts) and somehow I was better at
parkour than usual – I’ve noticed it before that if I go to a big
event, I do more because I’m in a better mental-state because of the
event and that I’ve been looking forward to it, but for some reason
it happened here too. Maybe it was because it was a new location and
the people I were training with were experienced (a girl with four
years experience, she had an incredible jump for a girl, and a guy
with five), but I was able to do more than I usually would and
without much fear. I did a couple of plyo-routes (jumping from one
wall to another, then bouncing plyometrically straight to the next
one) which were a decent distance and did a bit swinging round a
lampposts back onto walls too. I also practised a new move (funnily
enough I had thought about it and talked about it in Venice but
hadn’t thought I would actually try it) which the girl was really
good at and had taught the guy that day. She called it the fanny-move
(her name was Fanny, though presumably in German it’s more like
Fanni): you sit on a wall, holding onto the corner just behind your
bum, then fall off backwards, and as your back hits the wall (still
holding on, but upside down) your legs come over your head to land on
the floor. I did it with them holding me as I was scared (it’s an odd
sensation as you feel like you’re just falling into air as your hands
don’t grip until you’re nearly upside down), but they weren’t
physically helping me.
It was
great to train, remind myself that I’m actually fairly capable, and
try something new, as well as make a couple of friends who I could
meet if I’m ever in Vienna or if they come to England.
I
then split with them as they were tired and finished anyway and head
to the second spot to check it out.
It
was another park and square area, this one was more spread out. I
again found somebody doing parkour, but he was with non-parkour
friends and I wanted to explore more than just where he was.
I
found a few different things to tr
y,
including
a jump from a
railing at 1.5m onto the side of a wall (cat-grab, hands on the top
and feet against the wall) 3.5m high (an easy jump physically but
high enough that if I didn’t make it the height wasn’t one I would
like to take), and a set of two walled steps of different steepness
for a couple of routes (wall-run up to grab the first wall, then jump
to waist-cat, flick my feet up onto the wall and jump onto the final
wall being my favourite). While I was doing this, a woman walked past
and told me that she had enjoyed watching me, and then a couple of
guys I asked for the time asked me to show them again what I was
doing and then wanted to film it.
This was a jump I did earlier in the day at the Karlsplatz, I recognised it from a Vienna Parkour video so had a quick jump. An Italian tourist was watching me, took this photo and offered to send it to me.
After
this I headed back to the hostel (though via the first hostel as I
had left my phone charger there the previous night)
and
back to my room (another 4-bed dorm). There were three guys in my
room from Thaiwan (called Joseph, Hansel and Janet), and as I arrived
they were heading down to the bar; I ate, had a shower and a shave,
sorted my stuff a bit, and got into bed. As I was getting into bed
they got back, so they didn’t disturb me later.
I
got up the next morning, packed my stuff and left (opting to eat
breakfast and brush my teeth on the train).
As
I checked out, I haggled with the reception staff to sell me
postcards in a multi-buy deal – they were usually 50c each but I
wanted about eight. They found it funny and weren’t too sure what to
do, and though they laughed at my offer of eight for two euros, we
made a deal at three. I left the hostel at 0845 for a train at 0936,
the station being 1200m or so from the hostel, to go via a
supermarket to buy breakfast and food for the journey.
As
I got close to the supermarket though, I checked my belt-money-pouch
to see how much I had and found I needed to get more out of my bag…
but I had left my reserve money with my interrail ticket in the safe
in my room!
I bought some
salami while I was there and had 25 minutes to get back to the
hostel, grab my stuff, and get to the station. I didn’t think I would
make it but had to give it a go, as missing the train meant a
two-hour delay
for the next
one and meant I had little evening-time in Konstanz.
I
ran with my bag to the hostel, got a spare key from the reception,
then had to go back to get another spare key (I’d forgotten my stuff
was in the locker and was confused as I had checked my bed and floor
area thoroughly before leaving, but when I got into the room I saw
the lockers and remembered) to get into my locker. I ran again to the
station and got there at half-nine, beads of sweat rolling down my
face. As I ran, I thought that this is kind-of the purpose of parkour
training and being fit – so that when you need it, it’s there! The
platforms were close to the entrance and easy to find, so I bought
two falafel-sandwiches for the journey (a bit risky) before heading
to the platform. It turned out that the train I wanted was actually
at the far end of the platform and the closer one was being cleaned
and unloaded, so I had to run again to the other end of the platform.
No more than one minute after
I was in my seat, the train departed.
It
worked out pretty well,
and
I felt that fate was on my side in giving me time to buy the salami
and falafel: this was confirmed when I discovered that the seat I had
jumped into when I got onto the train was actually the one I had
reserved!
Obviously just
coincidence, but all of it together did make me think that
God/fate/luck/karma had
enjoyed it or rewarded me for some reason.
I’m
also getting into the swing of German. Having not done any over the
summer and only having an average of one-hour-per-week for the two
years before that, I’ve caught
up
a bit
over the last few days
of being with Germans in Venice and in Vienna,
and
I’m noticeably much better than
last
week.
So
I’m now sat on an 8-hour train to Zurich, where I then change to
Konstanz (another hour)
for a
one-night stopover with a friend (Sidi, who’s also doing a German-law
year abroad, but started earlier to do a language course too –
something which would’ve been nice to do but our accommodation hadn’t
been sorted in time (and still hasn’t actually been confirmed, though
I’m told we have it guaranteed and have some).
I
actually don’t mind train journeys as I have my laptop to write
things on (offsetting my boredom by giving you long posts to
read…), music and books, and if I find time I might also
do
some stretching as I’m a bit sore from last night’s parkour…
PS: Did a
word count and saw that this post is the same length which my law
coursework has to be. I haven’t yet finished it, though I have done
one-and-three-quarters drafts, and that would also be a good use of
train time…