After our long car ride from Tarnow to Vienna, we were exhausted. Our Airbnb hosts phone was off and without her apartment number we couldn't find her place at 1 am. So with the Polish drivers help (no English just saying hotel hotel!) We found one eventually that was still a little pricey but we didn't care at that point because we were frustrated and exhausted.
After waking up, we decided to walk around the city center while we sorted out the mess with our Airbnb. It was a hot day and Karmen was getting a sore throat. We tried to take it easy by exploring a little but when you are both carrying heavy backpacks in the summer heat it can become stressful and exhausting. We still found a really cool area near the imperial palace with a film festival and really good food. We relaxed in a park nearby for a little while with Michael playing his guitar.
We saw a lot of the city center and as we closed in on 5pm we made our way to our airbnb. We arrived just as she finished cleaning and were introduced to a very lovely rooftop flat with a balcony. We were pretty much ready to drop by that point but we made a point to go find some viennese food to eat before we called it a night. We found a wonderful place with very friendly service called Brau Bar, great portion sizes of delicious food.
The next day was raining pretty good when we woke so we waited until it let up a little then did some grocery shopping. We were staying right next to one of the biggest outdoor markets in vienna and we found plenty of stuff to make a few dishes at home over the week. We didn't think we could eat a whole pig, even though there were some for sale. Still a little worn and tired from the ride over we took it easy and just grabbed a pizza for dinner while we were walking around the city.
Wednesday was a fun day. We got up early and made our way to a big island on the Danube running through the city and got to lay in the sun for a while. Trying to get that tan back you know. We were even able to find a secluded spot to tan a little more stripped down which was a new experience haha. On the way back home we found a spot in an area of bars they call the Bermuda Triangle and had a couple happy hour beers before heading home to cook a Viennese take on an old classic of ours Chicano Divan. It was still awesome.
On Thursday we decided to get a little more active in our sight seeing so we went and took a tour of the Schonnbrun Palace off a tip from our airbnb host. It was really cool because they still have the rooms set like they were being used at the end of the monarchy. We had a huge lunch nearby of schnitzel and gulash before heading back to rest our feet for a while. We needed it because we decided that this night we were going out.
A little starved for the English language we found a travelers pub online called the travel shack. It was okay, pretty crowded with a subtle frat-bar feel, but we stayed for a drink and ended up hopping onto a pub crawl after we got talking to a few people participating. The Travel Shack was the first stop so we figured why not? We only crawled to 3 more pubs but the group was a fun crowd and it was a different way to explore a city I guess.
The place we ended at was supposed to be a club, but we were pretty much the only people there. After just a little dancing we noticed it was already pretty late and we were pretty hungry so we did the smart thing and left to go get 2 am noodles from the first Chinese place we found open :) we were just leaving standing on a curb when a friendly guy sat down next to us offering some of his sushi. We were both very full and declined, but he was friendly so we chatted a bit. He was leaving on a plane soon so staying up, we didn't know exactly how to get home, he was living near us so he offered to show us back. Cool. We get to his place, exchange some contact info, and get back to get some much needed sleep.
Needless to say the next day was a mild day. We cooked up the last of our food and did some cursory city walking. I think we had gone out to eat pizza again lol and on the way home we decided to get some ice cream and sit on some tall steps before taking the metro home. Not two minutes later a giant huge long bike/Rollerblade/being on wheels rally came down the road. It took like ten minutes! Crazy timing, but we were exhausted so when it was over we headed back to the flat.
Our last day we found a park on our map to go do some hammock reading in. Turns out when we arrived that this park was also a good sized carnival/fair that must go on all year. They had 2 ferris wheels, giant huge swings that raised you higher than the ferris wheel (it was terrifying) 4 smallish roller coasters, and yea so a pretty good sized place. While we were swinging we saw people dining at a table raised into the air about forty feet by a crane. That was crazy. Once we had our fill of heights we found a tree to eno up and read some more with a beer until we were tired of it.
On the way home we stopped and got burgers, because by that point I needed a good one and for once made a good decision to call an early night so we didn't leave a city hungover, cuz that just sucks :p
The next day we packed up and said our goodbyes to our wonderful host, and headed to catch our bus to Budapest where I am currently writing this. We haven't seen much refugee activity on our end yet, but tomorrow we leave to Croatia from Keleti station so we will see.
