Two days out of commission and at it again!
August 4 2015
After a good 14 hours traveling, traversing much of Croatia by bus where it’s too hot by day and then turns into an ice box the minute you are trying to get some sleep- I reached Zagreb (capital of Croatia) in the wee hours of the morning, like 5AM. It wasn’t so bad minus the maybe 2 hours of sleep I got because there was WIFI! And, I made a (you guessed it) Australian friend on the bus and he saved my life letting me borrow some money because of course paying by credit card is not an option at most bus stations in this part of Europe and my ATM card wasn’t working to withdrawal cash. Travelers’ camaraderie is so crucial to solo backpackers! We of course shared life stories about traveling, adventure, love/relationships, and future plans, etc. Unfortunately, we had to part ways in Zagreb- he went to Slovenia and I to Austria.
SO after a quick protein packed breakfast (cheese pastry and chocolate milk :D) the time came to leave the beautiful Balkans. I will DEFINITELY be back- I so enjoyed the people I met, the scenery, the food, pivo, and of course the whole adventure side! My skin is definitely happy to be out of the sun for a bit- I feel the leather look is coming on :|
My trip of course has been very spontaneous, I messaged three of my friends that I have in Austria living in the cities that I planned to visit: Graz and Vienna. My initial plan was to stay in Graz one night with Markus, and then the next morning go to Vienna to visit Thomas and Stefan. Unfortunately for me, Markus was on vacation! So seeing and staying with him in Graz was not a possibility unless I spent the night, but honestly staying at a hostel after such a spotty night of sleep was not appealing at all. I had messaged Thomas and Stefan a few days ago that I *may * be in Vienna sometime this week [Stefan is also on holiday :(], but I literally told Thomas the morning I arrived in Graz that I would be in Vienna that night! Lucky for me, he was totally fine with the short notice :)
In three short hours, I am in Austria! Last time I was in Europe, I did not have time for Graz but had heard very nice things about the old town and river running through the city. Austria was one of my favorite countries I visited last eurotrip and I spent time in Salzburg, Innsbruck, and of course Vienna with Thomas and Stefan.
My first mission on arriving in Graz was to figure out how I was getting to Vienna! Thomas had informed me on the train and bus prices…. So bus was the obvious choice. After unsuccessful inquiries at the train station, I decided to just use the WIFI at the train station to do my own research. I found a bus company called Meinfernbus that had crazy cheap tickets (like sub 12 euros) AND I could but it online! It seemed almost too easy but after reading some reviews, it was legit. Get this, they had an APP! AN APP FOR BUS TICKETS!
So now that I am on this topic let me just go over a few differences between some of the buses I have taken up until this point and this company called FlixBus.
1. You can buy tickets online
2. You can download an APP to have a bar code of your tickets (aka you don’t need to print)
3. The timetables are accurate and so easy to understand (on the APP)
4. Not only do the buses say they have wifi, they do! And very good wifi!!
5. They are on time
6. The duration of the trip is accurate
7. Plugs to charge things!
8. Air conditioning!!
9. Comfy seats :D
10. And if you miss your bus, you can just take the next one.
With peace of mind, I stored my bag in luggage lockers and was off by 1030AM to explore the city of Graz for the day.
One of the most stark differences is the architecture. The copper (that has greened) roofs of the many of the buildings in this area. I have noticed this type of architecture (LOOK UP WHAT IT IS CALLED) in Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, and Hungary.
Also- bike lanes! In the places I have been up to this point it was more of a fend-for-yourself situation.
I found my way to the main square that has the town hall, Rathus, as its focus.
I forgot that in Austria (and Germany if I remember correctly) they have stands for their “fast food” of brats and sausages that you can just eat standing up at one of their “tables” or take away.
Currywurst :P
Of course, cool things are always going on in the main squares- today a life band of traditional sounding music.
Also, this made me laugh (of façade of town hall):
I was really hoping to see Markus in Graz so I had slacked on doing research of what there is to see. The tourist information booth was around the corner so I got a map and was ready to attack the main sights!
I mostly just walked though and admired the beautiful architecture. It was really a living city- not many tourists, those that I did run into seemed to be speaking German, and the whole place was bustling with normality. No souvenir shops, no people trying to recruit you for an open bus tour, just people living. It was a nice change.
I was trying to do the route that the map given by the tourist office suggested but of course I got lost. At least 50% of people I asked directions for knew [almost] perfect English so I was able to find things like the double staircase
This baroque church (I am just now realizing I missed the most important church of Graz called Herz-Jesu-Kirche that is a BEAUTIFUL Neogothic cathedral)
A bunch of other churches that weren’t worth photographing because there are a million and how many churches do you reallly want pictures of? And by now it’s super hot and I can feel the sweat coming so I decide it’s time for coffee and shade because I am soooo tired thanks to my long ass trip the night before.
I got a mini ice cream cone :D
Also EVERYONE was eating ice cream. Like at every corner there was an ice cream/ gelato place. I am actually very impressed I didn’t indulge.
I knew I had to go walk up to the fortress on top of a hill (so much up hill walking). SchloB(curvy B)berg I think is the name of the whole fortress thing because everything that was up there (a biergarten, restaurant, the lift, etc had that name).
There is this old wooden clock called the Glockentrum that has a man and woman dressed in traditional outfits come and spin around ONLY at 11AM and 3PM. It was like 255PM...
So I SPRINTED to get there in time.
It was almost as disappointing as the astronomical clock in Prague.
BUT this little kid was so excited about it- clapping and bravo-ing for it.
Anyways after that it was time to get my thing and head over to my bus!
^This is how I normally look btw when walking around. I swear I am backpacking ;) #sweaty
Finding the bus was SO easy and for reasons I mentioned before SO comfortable. I passed out almost immediately and woke up in Vienna on time! Wowwwwwwww how nice.
I actually slept until the last stop instead of the one closer to Thomas’s flat but he was kind enough to come get me.
I can’t believe it has been THREE YEARS since I saw him last.
The weather was PERFECT! We met up with two of his friends, Sebastian and Georg and went to this nice place right on the Danube River first and then after some struggles since apparently Tuesday nights aren’t very big in Vienna, found a second pub for another round.
Made plans with Georg because apparently he was required to take off some vacation days because in Austria (and other countries) they require you to take at least 25(?) days off?? USA take notes.
August 5 2015
I was delusional enough to believe I was going to wake up at 830AM to go for a run through Vienna. This is my second time in Vienna which is kind of crazy to think about because it is the only city I am repeating on this Eurotrip. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Vienna, but I actually wasn’t really planning on spending any time here again just because I have already and have such limited time to visit Europe SO I thought I would only visit new places. I am really so incredibly happy I revisited though. This location is prime for a transition between the Balkans and then Northeastern Europe (Poland and Lithuania for this visit). ANDDD I have friends here! So it was really a no brainer (as I made the plan the day before) to stop by.
My favorite part of revisiting such a big and culture filled city is that I didn’t have to visit any museums or do any tours. I already have the last time I was here. This time, I was able to just enjoy and experience Wien. And to my incredible luck, I had Georg to show me around his favorite places.
We met up around 11AM and started our walking tour.
We first went through the pedestrian walking area and got a coffee at a very “venetian” coffee house. But apparently I didn’t get the full experience because our waiter was quite pleasant andddd more often than not servers that are a bit on the older side tend to be grumpy.
From there we went to one of Georg’s favorite areas called Spittelberg
Heading to the muesum quarter and look what I noticed!
So apparently, these cross walk signs are a pro-gay thing. Those two green people are two green GUYS walking with a heart in between them. It had something to do with a talent show called Eurovision Song Contest that is done in a different European country every year and every country votes for their favorite talent (think American Idol style) and then they compete on the European scale.. Anyways, Austria won last year (and so they get to host it this upcoming year) and the guy that won was Conchita Wurst that is a man dressed in drag but still has a beard. This is a big deal because not all of Europe is really as open to this whole gay culture (think Russia imprisoning people for being gay) so the fact that this man won was a huge political statement. Anyways so Austria took it to the next level and added these crosswalks that depict gay and lesbian couples. It is very forward/modern thinking for this part of the world. [Sorry for the brief summary BUT whatever this is a personal blog ain’t no periodical]
Anyways, to the museum quarter… (it was SO cool to see these things again! I thought it would be MUCH longer before I returned :) )
Continue walking down one of the main boulevards (Kartner Strasse I believe)
One of the most beautiful cathedrals (St. Stephen's)
We met up with Thomas and Sebastian for lunch at their company office. They work for a startup that had a very Google feel with a young work force, games and couches scattered around, coffee stations, and a lovely terrace. Being in Austria, I of COURSE had to eat some schnitzel.. and because Thomas is a wonderful human being he ordered it from the [allegedly] best schnitzel place in town..
And of course we feasted :)
And had to fight the sleepiness.. thankfully their office had some nice espresso machines
Thomas had suggested that I went swimming on my day off… It was pretty hot (35 C so maybe in the high 80s which is quite warm for Vienna) so Georg and I walked to this pool that is on a boat.
There was plenty of cool graffiti nearby
Next to the Jewish [WWII victim] memorial. It was really powerful… the way [I think] it should be interpreted is that each book represents a story of a individual/family that was murdered during the Holocaust.
Passed by the University of Vienna which had suchhh a nice lounging area
Walked down past the parliament and judged all the people with their selfie sticks…. Like it’s pairs of friends that instead of asking the other to take a photo for them they prefer to just pose a million times to pout and look surprised of of the picture [that the took with their selfie stiick].
We swung by a main square that was hosting a film and food festival. I got a lovely spritzer that is basically white wine and tonic/soda water. I am almost 80% sure that last time I was in Vienna in 2012 this same festival was being held.
Not sure where this was but I thought this statue of Mozart was so cool with the flower formation
By this time, 16h is approaching. We have been walking for like 5 hours all around Vienna! So we decide to head back. I am so immensely grateful to Georg for spending his day off with me! Like I have said time and time again, having a * local * guide to just walk you around places of interest is SO much better than staring at your map and asking for guidance every 5 minutes.
I got back to Thomas’s with intentions to nap and was informed that Netflix streams to Austria! How lovely :) Let’s get comfy until Thomas gets back from work :D
Then it was time for some cake! But let’s please take note that while I enjoyed my cake and coffee, the true Austrians had moved onto beer.
That night, we met with some of Thomas’s friends at a rooftop pub for some wonderful brews and a view <3
And we realized that the last time I was in Austria I had met with Georg as well as some friends we were supposed to meet thanks to my blog from the last time I was in Europe! One of the MANY reasons I enjoy having a blog: you can organize your trip/photos, easily access different posts, and remember what you did!
Leaving Austria the next morning was quite difficult. Vienna is a city that people LIVE in! There are tourist, but the squares and parks are also FULL of Austrians just enjoying the warm weather and each other’s company. I was so comfortable in Vienna! I have some great friends that live there and are willing to host AND entertain me during my visit. I can’t even explain how wonderful it was to just be there for a second visit so that I could just BE instead of tour around. Thomas- thank you SO MUCH for hosting me! Again, I am sorry for not giving you much warning that I was stopping by. Georg- thank YOU for spending an entire day with me walking me around your favorite parts of the city. I am a firm believer that everything has a tendency to work out for the best so the fact that your [forced] vacation days and my days in Vienna lined up was a welcomed coincidence!
Until my next visit! And really Thomas, Georg, Sebastian, Stefan (sad you weren’t there) as well as all my other friends in Austria, PLEASE come visit me in Atlanta! We would have a lovely time :) Prost!
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