Up until this point, all the cities we have visited have had one major station marked by the title Hauptbahnhof. I looked online and the trains said, Hauptbahnhof. So, when our next host asked us when we would be arriving and from what station, I said, Hauptbahnhof. We did not arrive at the Hauptbahnhof. Rather, all trains to Vienna from Salzburg go through the Westbahnhof and so the directions I had were how to get to the flat from the Hauptbahnhof. Problem number 2, the laptop mystery had to remain due to the fact that the lost and found was closed by the time we got there. Problem number 3 is that Vienna's public transportation is a nightmare. Once we found the Hauptbahnhof on the map, we realized that there was no direct way to get there. Instead, to get to the flat from the Westbahnhof, we would need to take 4 different types of transportation. First, the underground, then the S train line, then a tram and finally a bus (though this one is optional and only for when we have our luggage). Once again tired and stressed about having to last minute figure out the transportation system, we arrived ragged at the doorstep of the flat where we would be renting a room for the next week.
Our host graciously invited us in and even made us tea and offered some Christmas bread. We chatted briefly and she gave us some information, like when the grocery stores would close and how the city functioned over the holidays. Turned out that we have about an hour before the grocery store would close for the next 3 days. So, we gathered the things we would need from the store and stocked up for a long holiday. We did not fully anticipate the impact that the holidays would have, but more on that later. We settled in for a nice evening and our host even offered us some Russian stew that had been made by a previous guest and that she wasn't sure she would be able to finish. It was wonderful to get some vegetables into our bodies again.
The next day was Christmas eve and for Austrians, this is the biggest of the three days of the Christmas season. We started the day on a somewhat stressful note. The hours of the lost and found are very awkward. 8am-12pm and then 2pm-4pm. We ran to the Westbahnhof to the information point to make the noon deadline by 5 minutes, only to be informed that it wasn't at the Westbahnhof, but rather at an entirely different major train station in the city. Sara having exhausted herself from the sprint and the stress of her still missing laptop fell into a bit of a depression. I tried to assure her that we would go to the station at 2pm for the second set of open hours. I dragged us to the central station so that we could explore the city a bit. Unfortunately, given the mood, we ended up wandering aimlessly, while I had the secondary mission of finding a reservation for Christmas dinner. Most of the restaurants were either too expensive or already booked. So in order to find a place for dinner, we had to go off the beaten path. This is when we found Himmelpforte. It was a bit of a hole in the wall and a bit under attended. When we walked into the entrance/bar area, the staff were just chatting amongst themselves at the bar. I inquired about their availability and after getting a slightly strange look, made a reservation for the next night at 7pm. Sara and I were a little concerned that due to its out of the way nature and lack of attendance that it may end up being a bad meal, but there weren't any other options and we were just happy to have a place for dinner.
It was nearing 2pm and so we looked at our map and found the best way to get to the station which housed the lost and found. The D tram (of which many jokes were made) went around the central ring of the city and up to the station we wanted. It was also a really good way to see what areas of the city would be good to investigate in the coming days. We arrived at the other station and went to the lost and found. It was closed. Turned out that for the holidays, at least according to the signs posted on the door, the morning hours were only open for Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Not able to take the frustration and continued anxiety that this brought, Sara and I turned in early to the flat for some long needed rest and relaxation. We spent the afternoon in a semi-comatose state of Netflix and ice cream. Given all the travelling we had done and just how weary we had become, this was definitely a needed vacation.
The next day was Christmas. In anticipation for our nice dinner, Sara and I got all dressed up and fancy. We planned to go to the lost and found this afternoon (since the signs said nothing about being closed on Christmas) and would start the day with a hearty breakfast and exploring the city. Sara had chippered up considerably and we actually began what would be a many day adventure getting lost in the beautiful city that is Vienna.
Vienna is a magnificently gorgeous city. Every single building looks as if a stone mason had taken considerable time and effort crafting in elaborate and beautiful details into it. Each building, in any other city, would be a museum, a palace or a monument. Vienna has a surplus of these buildings and as a result, something kind of odd happens. These gorgeous buildings are inhabited by the most commercial and capitalistic companies you can find. There is a disonant note that rings in your heart when you see it, but you can hardly blame the city. There are still plenty of monuments and churches and museums around every corner. Often, Sara and I would pick a direction and then let the glimpse of something beautiful around the corner lead us in a different direction.
One place of considerable beauty that we saw was St. Peter's church. We would spend a few days at this magnificent church over the next few days as the week hosted a number of concerts in the space. Sara, in desperate need of recital attendance for her music major at Jewell, was more than eager to go to any performance she could. And well, Vienna is known for its music and I was more than happy to oblige. They had an organ performance the next day (26th) and a two part performance of Bach's cantatas over the weekend (28th-29th). These were wonderfully free with the expectation that you would give a little in donation to the church. We made plans to attend as many as we could.
It was a little past 2pm when we decided to try the lost and found again, only to find that it was closed. We asked someone at information and they informed us that it would be closed until Friday. Frustrated and growing increasingly fed up with the lost and found system in Vienna, we went back to the flat to relax until our 7pm dinner. It was at this point that I skyped my family a little before they had arrived at Christmas dinner at my aunts. It is amazing how a 6 hour time difference makes the world feel a bit skrewy. It was nice to talk to them and about an hour before dinner we made our way into town.
The dinner at Himmelpforte was better than Sara and I expected. We got the three course Christmas dinner and a small glass of wine to accompany the main course. It all started with bread and a spinach and cream cheese spread. Then pots of beet soup topped in wasabi foam came out to our table. The soup was rich and wonderful for the Christmas season. The main course was a beautifully cooked medium steak in a rosemary sauce, truffle potatoes and grilled Mediterranean veggies. I made sure to clean my plate. The final course was a gingerbread tiramisu which was the most light and heavenly thing I had ever eaten. The restaurant had a lower section which was given a cellar and farmsted feel. But candle light and subtle Christmas decorations gave the table a homey and romantic feel. There were a few other groups dining there that evening and we thought that the table next to us thought that we were on a date. We had a bit of a laugh at that, but it isn't the first time I have gone to a fancy restaurant with a good friend. The dinner was great and probably one of the best meals we had both had. High and content on the delicious food, Sara and I made our way back to the flat, all smiles and giggles. It was the first time in a while that we had been so happy on this trip and we really appreciated the gift my parents gave by buying it for us.
When we returned to the flat, we both took turns skyping our families on my laptop. It was a nice end to a long day. We both missed our families terribly, but we were glad to be together and in a pretty cool city. I would say the day was pretty grand, despite the laptop mystery which still weighed on our hearts.
The next day, Sara and I stupidly thought the city would return back to normal. This was far from the truth. Boxing day, which were informed had to do with giving left overs to the poor and not the sport boxing (or an elaborate version we had constructed involving ducks), is a continuation of the holiday season for Vienna. Very little is open. So, instead, we planned to go to the concert and once again explore the beauty that is Vienna. We took many pictures but were saddened to see the deconstruction of Christmas so quickly. The booths and trees were very quickly being taken down in preparation for the next big holiday, New Years. The concert in St. Peter's church was beautiful and for the first time in my life I heard Jazz and Boogey organ. After thoroughly enjoying the entertainment we continued our practice of getting strategically lost in the city of Vienna. We turned in for a calm evening and skyped a close friend of mine from home.
Finally, Friday. Friday began a lot like many of our other days in Vienna. We got up and had a nice breakfast before heading out to explore. However, this time, we gave ourselves plenty of time to get to the lost and found. The lost and found was open, but to our dismay, the man quickly informed us that no laptops had appeared in the last couple of days. He advised us to put out an online request to the other lost and founds in Europe and wait to see if something was processed in the next couple of days. Sara was crushed. I managed to comfort her and force her to keep exploring and not let this news ruin the rest of our trip. We went to a nearby New years market and took things slow. You can usually tell Sara's mood by whether she is up for taking pictures. I was relieved when she began taking pictures of a beautiful statue and the two grandeur museums that framed it. We wandered around for the next couple of hours and then returned to the flat to get ready for a concert we were going to attend that evening.
I had looked up online cheap things to do in Vienna and one of the cool things I found was the idea of standing room tickets at the opera house. So an hour before any show at the Vienna opera house, they open up the ticket desk to standing room tickets. These tickets, only 3 or 4 euros a piece, would let someone see the show as long as they were ok with standing through it. Excited to see an "official" opera at the Vienna opera house, we were more than happy to stand. So we got tickets to see La Cerentola by Rossini. It is essentially a more modern version of the story of Cinderella, but in opera form and set in Italy. The theatre provided monitors which contained a translation for the Italian, but when the words were clear enough I was able to pick out a few words which I understood. The opera ended up not being the greatest piece of work I had ever seen. I didn't care for the voices of the three female leads and found Rossini's tendency to force the singers to trill endlessly and perform many precise and technically difficult vocal acrobatics that sounded like squeaky chirping birds and not beautiful powerful voices was not to my taste. The tenor lead was by far the best and I did enjoy every time he got somewhat of a solo. The stage production was also not to my liking, with the two major sets and props coming across as cheap. The coolest effect was when there was a rainstorm and the four doors in the room were flung open to actual rain effects and thunderstorms. The show also ran quite long and after 3 and a half hours of standing I was happy to get out of there. Still, I get to say that I have seen an Opera at the Vienna opera house. So I am happy.
The next day was the last day that we did anything of interest in Vienna. After seeing pretty much only statues and information on Mozart, Sara was on a quest to see (through their statues) the other major composers which were born and worked in the city that is Vienna. So, we wandered to a nearby park and found many of the composers on her bucket list, except Hayden. We planned to see Bach's cantata's number 1-3 that evening, and we had the whole day to find it. So we wandered from the very eastern side of the city centre all the way to the west side where the Hayden statue was. We saw some new beautiful things along the way. We also got a glimpse of the New Years markets which had many booths that sold little toys, particularly pigs, which were to be given as gifts on New Years. Did eventually find the statue and at that point, our feet hurt quite a bit. We returned to the flat for a nice afternoon and evening meal and then to the concert.
The concert was very good. The soloists were far better opera singers than the people we had seen the night before and the brass section was very impressive. The circular shape of St. Peter's church did make the voices echo like crazy and it did give an effect like the choir was in another room and you were hearing it from a nearby hall way. But what could be heard was gorgeous and angelic. If anything, the choir could have pushed through a little more, but Sara informs me that this would have not been like a choir during Bach's time. Additionally, consonants needed to be stronger, which just makes me think of everything Maglione has told the choir. Consonants make a difference.
We turned in for the evening and prepared to pack the next day. This leaves me to today, the day I am writing this post. Having exhausted the wandering potential of Vienna, Sara and I have made the decision to spend the day at the train station. We have a train to Salzburg tonight just before 8pm and then a night train from Salzburg to Venice leaving at 1:34am and arriving around 8am. I have the instructions for the flat we are renting and a way to get in contact with the owner. We realized that we just wanted to relax and not have to worry about being late. Plus, the Westbahnhof is also a mall with plenty of places to eat and window shopping to do. As an added plus, there is wifi, which is why I get to blog for all of you!
Vienna has been a roller-coaster of ups and downs. The city is beautiful and I only wish we hadn't had the stress and anxiety of the laptop mystery to bog us down. I appreciated the slow way in which we got to explore the city and the opportunity we had to slow down and take care of ourselves. I am looking forward to going to Italy. Venice here we come!
Adventures Await
~KH
