Vienna {Wien}

It was Friday morning at 5:25, Travis had woken me up, I stared at the clock and begged to sleep for 15 more minutes. Our train to Vienna, Austria was leaving at 7:10 so we had to get an early start.  I closed my eyes, but I am not sure if he woke me up in five minutes or fifteen, I rolled out of bed and went to shower.  As I started to wake up, I remember what I was doing today! I was going to Vienna! I have wanted to go there for a really long time, something about Vienna just called to me. I am not sure what it was, but I really wanted to go. Growing up, I went to Millstaat, a castle an hour or so drive outside of Salzburg. The castle used to be a bible college but now it is used at a conference center year round, and my family would go to the conference that they had in July. It was magical. I remembered that Austria was very clean,no pristine! They had certian products in Austria that we couldn't find in Romania, so it was a very special treat to just go and enjoy the perfection of Austria. 

Anyways back to Friday morning, we left the house exactly on time and walked to Keleti, the major train station in Budapest. It was really nice to see my city so quiet and cool, I think it's always good to see your city in different parts of the day, it gives you prespective I think. Once arriving, we got on our super cool train, though the seats weren't as comfortable as they should have been, the train was clean,air conditioned, and wasn't rickity-rackety or too loud. It was nice.

We arrived in Vienna at ten am, we then were on a mission to find Cinnabon, it was about  12 minute walk away. By this time, I felt really crumby! It was getting really warm outside,and the 12 minute walk was all uphill. Not fun. The mall was really old, and almost creepy, but hey if Cinnabon was inside, it can't be that bad! I then had to use the restroom...and if you know me at all, I can't enjoy ANYTHING if I have to pee, bathroom stops always come first! So finding the bathroom was an adventure, there weren't any clear signs, and then we did find it but to get there you had to go through these HUGE scary doors that led to a long,semi-dark hallway that twisted and turned. Finally we arrived to the bathroom, and we booked it on out of the scary dark hallway and back to the bright and happy Cinnabon. And then both Travis and I could enjoy a nice,warm,non-caloric of course, cinnamon rolll. I got a small one, and Travis got the biggest one he could find with extra frosting, of course he would. We then both realized that we NEVER go to Cinnabon in America, ever, we walk right by it all of the time. Huh, I guess it's the , you want what you can't have kind of thing. It took forever to get out of the mall, it was like a creepy maze, and I just wanted to get out! My awesome husband bravely led me out of the creepy mall and back into sunlight. 

Travis bought us weekend passes for the public transportation system, which he basically knows by heart, we easily made our way to our hotel. It was a little bit of a walk to our hotel from our metro stop, so I was able to see a few things. There is the illustruously beautiful state opeara house, the retro-pink Aida cafe, and I could see down the walking street. The archetexture of Vienna reminded me a lot Budapest, but I think that Vienna was much cleaner. The buildings were in better shape, they decoration on the outside were manicured, and they seemed freshly painted. We checked into our hotel, which was amazing by the way, and I laid on our bed and just died. It was air conditioned, and it smelt good, no neighbors to smoke up my bedroom, no, it was wonderful. We freshend up and explorded the walking street. I was hot and I felt gross, but Travis led me to the amazing place in the world, it changed my life--- Zanoni & Zanoni... they have at least fifty flavors of gelato, and they do really good scoops there. Like HUGE scoops. It was amazing. We may or may not have gone there every single day of our time in Vienna. If you ever get to go to Vienna, you MUST go there, you'll fall in love!

On Saturday, we slept in ( hearing the angelic chourus sing? I did) and then visited the amazing Naschmarkt. It is one of the largest outdoor markets in Vienna, and easily the best one I've ever been too. It was my heaven. They had every kind of produce,spice,meat,cheese you could possibly want.  I bought six euros worth of Irish cheedar...yummy:)And it smelt fresh, everywhere smelt good and it was just beautiful to look at, they had so many kinds of funky looking exotic fruits that were just beautiful. After the produce section, there were about twenty antique stands. I gushed over the cooper bundt pans,the vintage scales, and the beautiful services,and flatware. I just wanted it all.

Then Travis took me to a wonderful Meditterien...Jewish maybe...restaurant. They had quick kebaps and felafel, their pitas were SO soft and boy did they stuff my pita with yummy lamb,cabbage,tomatos,hummus,and some of their other signature sauces. This was place super simple and super delicious, I found it odd that it's tucked away in a alley of Swedenplatz. I would have gone there again,but we didn't and I don't know why we didnt. I guess we have to go again!!

Sunday, we got up a little early and went to Calvary Chapel Vienna. We saw some friends we knew from bible college and really just enjoyed the service. Everyone there was so welcoming and hospitalble, I felt loved. Halfway through the message I felt pretty,um, well green. So we didn't get to stay and hang out as much as I would have liked, but it was so wonderful to go to church and meet some fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

That evening, I was feeling hungry so I visited our fridge to snack on the cheese I had bought. To my shock and horror, it wasn't there! I felt sad that somone had taken our cheese... it sounds ridiculous,but in Hungary you can't really get good cheedar cheese, so this was a crisis. Now, before I go further, I have to say this, my in laws are in the customer service business, they know what it's like to treat someone well, and so they rightfully expect it when they go and pay good money. Travis calls the front desk and tells them that we think the housekeeper took our cheese from the fridge. In about five minutes the Housekeeping manager comes up and with cheese in hand and tells us that the housekeeper found it by the trash can( why in the world would I put my beautiful cheese in the trash can!!!???) In about 20 minutes, THE manger comes and profusly apologizes and says that he doesn't believe it was in the trash can either, he offers us fruit, in about 30 minutes a beautiful plate of chocolate dipped pineapple with truffles is at our door. Apology accepted :)

Monday morning was going to be our touring morning! We packed up our bags and headed out to see some sights of Vienna. We took the subway to Schloss Schronburn. This is where Marie Anoittneete lived until sher moved to France. SO COOl! This palace was amazing, it was originally a small hunting lodge but Empress Maria Theresa( Marie A's mother) made it into the Habsburg dynsty summer home. I really love visiting castles and palaces, it's a magical, and I love seeing how they lived day to day.

We left Schronbrun and had a tour of the Opera house, this place is really cool! Considering that 80 percent of this building was destroyed in WWII, it looks beautiful. Thankfully a lot of the original rooms weren't destroyed,  so we were able to enjoy the splendor of the building. The tour guide informed us that the acoustic are incredible, this is because there is no vocal amplication for opera singers, the singers must be able to project their voices so all may hear!

We enjoy lunch at a Thai Restaurant, Travis had Mango Curry chicken, I had ramen soup with crispy duck... oh my wowness amazing.

We left Vienna around 6:55 that evening. I was sad to go.

Overall, Vienna is an beatiful and amazing city, full of rich history and beautiful sights! I will be honest, it did not capture my heart like Venice,but it is special in it's own way. I love being around people who are proud of their nationality, and you get that feel in Austria. They take pride in where they live, and who they are as a nation.

Visit Vienna..or Wien depending on where you are from!!

Much love

Autumn Wallace


ps- visit my instagram to see the pictures from the weekend klarewallace or my facebook !