Tuesday 27 August 2013

Vienna - Part I

okay okay i'm finally getting down to it!! finally blogging about vienna. i'm jumping all over the place with my posts >.< but because vienna was in my top cities list, so i figured i should do this first. what did i love about vienna? the FOOD, for one thing. i didn't realise how deprived i was of meat until i stepped into our first restaurant for dinner in vienna. and i was simply delirious from all the meat i ate :))))) too happy ^^ vienna surprised me with the beauty of its architecture. i guess i went there not knowing what to expect, and as we all know, having no expectations is usually a good thing ;) i was really amazed at how grand this entire city was. it was old, no doubt about that. but it was so well preserved. everything looked beautiful, white, clean, and magnificent. i stood in awe of the buildings there (and shaking my head at how poorly maintained the buildings in italy are :p) which were simply breathtaking.

anyway, because our super host jiayee did all the planning for us (thank youuu!), pardon me if i can't really remember the exact places we went to xP i will try my best.

What to see in Vienna

the Museumquarter is a collection of museums in an area, which makes for easy visiting if you're a museum buff. 

we aren't really huge fans of museums, but we decided to visit the Natural History Museum (€10 adults), and i was pretty impressed! not with the exhibits itself really :p although they were pretty interesting! but i've already visited the natural history museum in washington, so it wasn't really anything new. the museum is HUMONGOUS though! we really didn't get to see it fully, and we were there for 3 hours :O anyway, so what really fascinated me was the beautifully intricate architecture of the museum interior! haha i think it's kinda strange that i keep talking about how fascinated i am with the architecture in places in europe. i've never been particularly interested in buildings. but i just feel that europe has so much for offer in this aspect. because it's such an old place in general, there is just so much history embedded in the buildings of each city, and each city tells of a different story (: 

we took a walk around the town area of vienna after that, and this is where i get slightly lost as to where we were exactly :P these are just the names that jiayee rattled off to me haha: Heldenplatzand, spanish riding school and imperial apartments. it was just nice to walk there and soak in the atmosphere, just following, and not really knowing where we were going (: 

for some greenery, the Volksgarten is your best bet (: don't judge how bald the trees look - i was there at the end of winter!! it was beautiful anyway (: i simply loved strolling through the park, and there were tonnes of people there setting up picnic mats on this bright sunny day!

the Parliament House is just opposite the Volksgarten, and it was nice to just walk past as well! 

a rather unconventional place to visit would be the carnival at Viennese Prater (: i think the carnival is only there in certain seasons, but it is such a joy to see! ^^ 

i got my dearest schnitzel there thanks to my darling! <3<3<3 

we took a stroll along the Danube Canal, which is a really long stretch with bars and restaurants along its banks. so this is where the Blue Danube song came from!! quite suits the atmosphere doesn't it? 

and now, for my two favourite places in vienna: 

Naschmarkt! ^^

this was one of my favourite markets in europe! loved walking down the whole street looking at all the yummy food and buying things along the way :D i heard that there is this cafe there, called Naschmarkt Deli that is quite nice!! but i didn't get to try it though :( 

this is such an unflattering picture of this place! but the Schonbrunn Palace was definitely the MOST beautiful palace/castle i went to in the whole of europe :') not that i'd been to many of them, but this was really majestic and opulent! and it was really interesting to walk through and feel the royalty in each of the palace rooms. there are a variety of ticket options to choose from, and i definitely recommend that you allocate enough time to enjoy this palace fully (: an entire afternoon would be great, but keep in mind that it closes at latest 6pm (depending on the season), so be sure to go early!

one more thing that you've GOT to do in vienna is to watch an opera/ballet! i'm soooo sad that i didn't have the opportunity to catch one, because it would have been a wonderful experience! and the standing tickets are really affordable, priced around €10 if i remember correctly? the standing tickets are sold on the day itself starting from 6pm, but you might want to be there slightly earlier especially if it's a popular composer! we were slightly late and therefore didn't manage to get the tickets.

haha sorry if this post seems a little slipshod :/ it was so long ago that i can't really remember much! :( will continue with a post on food next! ^^ 


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