Wien to Wachau

This weekend, I got to put my tour guiding skills to use and take my friend from Emory, Mukundha, around Vienna. He visited from Prague, where he is studying abroad this semester, and is only 5 hours away from Vienna. Obviously, with this much space in The Villa, I offered to let him stay here, even though we don't know each other too well. Why get a hostel alone if I have so much extra room??

Mukundha arrived on Friday evening, and I met him at Schottentor station to take him to the villa to deposit his things. Then, we were going straight out with Elise, Meghan, and Orli to eat Pakistani food at our favorite student Pakistani joint! I love that I can just eat piles of chicken at Deewan for next to nothing! It was nice having a new face around the table, and we got to listen to all of Mukundha's stories about his semester so far in Prague. I loved Prague when I visited a couple weeks ago, but don't think I'd be able to live there. It feels too small! I think Vienna is the perfect size, bordering on the smaller side of other cities I've visited. However, there are still areas I have yet to explore and I can't wait to do so!

Late night out in Vienna with Meghan and Orli

After we finished eating, Elise went home and we walked Orli to her tram stop so she could go back to her apartment. Then it was just Mukundha, Meghan, and I. It was a clear night and I wanted to show Mukundha a few sites even though it was dark, so we walked along Ringstraße past Rathaus, Parliament, Museumsquartier, and through the Hofburg and Heldenplatz to the ruins of old Vienna. Lucky for Mukundha, I love to remember quirky facts about Vienna and made sure to add all the odd details in as I described each place. Meghan, being a history major, seems to have an incredible memory for interesting historical facts as well, and she definitely spiced up our tour as we got to the ruins and walked towards Kartnerstraße. We made quite a duo giving that tour late at night! And it wasn't a short walk -- it took us about half an hour to make it to Zanoni & Zanoni, Meghan's favorite gelato place. Despite the chilly night air around Stephansplatz, Meghan and Mukundha both got gelato as we concluded the tour by checking out Stephansdom and the Oper.

Now that I've given one brief tour of district 1, I know I'll be able to show my parents around and give them all the interesting details and tidbits that I've picked up from different places. My mom loves things like that, so hopefully she'll be impressed when she visits in November!

The next morning, I was taking Mukundha to check out Vienna's famous Naschmarkt and, since it was a Saturday, the flea market right next to Naschmarkt. Though we left quite early, the place was packed by the time we arrived there! I myself hadn't been to the flea market part of Naschmarkt yet, and was intrigued. I didn't have too much time to dwell, other than to "ooh" and "ahh" over the gorgeous pashmina scarves and large Indian designed wall cloths (so I'll definitely be heading back the first Saturday I'm free!), because Mukundha and I were on a mission to buy berries and orange juice for the brunch we were attending.

Naschmarkt in the morning

Aneyn had invited me to her apartment next to the Naschmarkt on Durergasse for crepes and I couldn't let her make all those crepes for us and not bring anything! So, Mukundha and I bought some berries and OJ along and went over to her place. And her apartment was incredible! It was so much homey-er than the Villa, as nice as my place is, and just felt so much more European and something I would have chosen for myself had I had the option (I will never decorate my house with Ikea furniture, like the Villa has). It wasn't huge but it wasn't small at all. There were three people in a room a bit bigger than mine and they even had a sitting room with television and then another bedroom for two. The kitchen was small and there was only one bathroom for five girls and the RA, but other than that, I loved it. The interior design and architecture was what I envisioned a traditional Viennese apartment to look like. The spiral stairs up to their flat added to the elegance. I would have traded with Aneyn in a heartbeat...if I could bring my friends in to live with me. I was only slightly jealous, and even more jealous when Aneyn's crepes were fabulous (I've never liked crepes until now!) because I'll never be able to make them myself! Mukundha and Aneyn got along really well and we were sitting around the table chatting for a while, before Mukundha and I took our leave. It was an excellent morning with some cultural sightseeing, good food, and good company.

Once we left Aneyn's, I took Mukundha to Schloß Schönbrunn to experience the royal palace. We had the most gorgeous weather, and it was even warm out! So, as we walked around the back of the palace to the gardens, Mukundha said he wanted to climb to the terrace atop the hill in the distance: another part of the palace. I happily agreed, despite wearing poor hiking shoes, because last time I had come and wanted to climb up, there wasn't a general consensus of agreement. 

It was literally the most perfect day to see Schönbrunn

It was quite a walk, but the view was well worth it. Thank goodness the weather was so clear and sunny! From the top terrace, which looked like a miniature of the palace, you could see all of the gardens and palace, as well as beyond, into the city of Vienna. I pointed out Stephansdom, the Hofburg, and my district (or where I thought it was) to Mukundha and we took a couple photos before starting our walk back down through the trees along the side of the main walkway. We couldn't have chosen a better day to visit Schönbrunn!

View of the back of Schönbrunn and Vienna

Mukundha chose the pose for this...

Our next stop was to the Belvedere. I think it's my favorite building in all of Vienna, because it's out of the way on the edge of the 6. Bezirk (6th district) and in such a quiet place, and the architecture is incredible. It's a beautiful building from the front and back. I could spend hours reading on a bench under the trees by the pool in front of the summer palace. Mukundha thought it was beautiful too, and we sat down on one of those benches and rested and talked for a while before moving on. It's nice getting to know him outside of our student organization at Emory, because I didn't know him at all before!

See why this is my favorite historic site in Vienna?

Mukundha and I in front of the Belvedere

Just enjoying my heiße schokolade and tart!

From the Belvedere, we went to see Kartnerstraße and Stephansdom in the sunlight. I also showed Mukundha the amazing, Gothic interior of the cathedral before taking him to an IES favorite, Pasha Falafel and Kebap stand outside our Palais, for a falafel sandwich. It was around 3pm, so once we had devoured our food, we walked around the Royal Opera and Albertina before heading to Palmenhaus for afternoon coffee (you just can't skip teatime!). It was the same kaffeehaus I had been to previously and loved. Mukundha really wanted to try a sachertorte, so we settled down in the sunny cafe. While he tried the famous Viennese dessert, I opted for a little raspberry tart. It was delicious, though I'll never be able to replace my Parisian favorites.

Aneyn had told us about Austria's own Oktoberfest happening in the Prater today called Wiener Wiesn, so Mukundha and I, seeing as neither of us were going to Munich over the three weeks of Oktoberfest (honestly, that much beer and sausages around the place doesn't exactly appeal to me that much), decided to check it out and celebrate Oktoberfest our own way. Prater was absolutely packed with women in drindls and braids and men wearing lederhosen. I actually find them quite flattering on guys, despite how short the pants are!

Wiener Wiesn at Prater

We pushed our way through the throngs of people holding massive beer mugs and gigantic pretzels and singing traditional songs in German in their traditional garb (we were the ones looking out of place in our modern clothes!) and experienced our own Oktoberfest. Then we hit the actual amusement park and I showed Mukundha all the rides, though he didn't want to do the swings with me. Maybe I can convince my dad to do it with me when he comes in a couple weeks!

My Instagram of the swings!

Going out to Ride Club

Personally, I was completely exhausted when we got home about two hours later. Staying up late talking last night and giving the night tour, as well as doing a ton of walking all over Vienna today and giving another concise tour of the city really wore me out. But Mukundha was desperate to party in Vienna, so who was I to stop him? Evan and I gathered up a few friends and had a small pregame at our Villa (which mainly consisted of watching youtube videos and laughing at the hilarious parodies of Miley Cyrus' song, "Wrecking Ball") before going out to Ride Club in the 9th district. Unfortunately, we left the Villa after midnight, so the trams were running very infrequently. Since it was cold out, we didn't want to stand around and wait, so the group of us decided to walk. It really isn't that far, at least not to me, and I was even in heels! We finally made it to the Währinger Straße U-Bahn to meet Meghan and get to the club, which had no cover charge for girls (!). It actually turned out to be a really good club with a lot of people, good music, and dancing. The only unfortunate thing was how often someone shoved by us to walk somewhere else. By 2:30 am or so we had enough of the jostling crowds and the music was starting to be mostly German songs we didn't know, so we left. However, the evening had been a lot of fun! I think it was my first really fun clubbing experience in Vienna!

The next morning, we struggled waking up. We hadn't gone to bed until after 4am and we had wanted to wake up early to take the train to Melk in the Wachau Valley. It looked like we weren't going to be going, since we left the house around 11am after dragging ourselves up. But we went to the train station anyway, just to check if we could still get to Melk, and there was a ticket for a train in 20 minutes! Mukundha grabbed a Viennese pastry (Nußebagel, because he had a Topfenkolatche yesterday at Naschmarkt) for breakfast and we made it onto the 12:04 train bound for Melk!

Just saying hello to Schubert

An hour and a half later, we had arrived in the absolutely tiny town. The day was grey and cloudy and so cold compared the day before, but it wasn't really anything to complain about. I love fall weather, but I wished I had worn longer pants instead of ankle crops! Looks like it's time to put those away until next year. From the station, we walked through the Stadtpark and saw a bust of Schubert. We made it into the historic town center, and were amazed by how tiny it was, yet how much construction was happening. It was nice to just wander around the sleepy town though.

The teeny town of Melk

Melk Rathaus (City Hall for those of you who can't remember German)

Bikes in a small side street

Rising high above the town was Melk Abbey, the most significant draw to this tiny town in the beautiful Wachau Valley. Though the front was covered in construction (typical...), it was an astonishing sight. I can't believe this Benedictine monastery has been there so long. King Leopold II gave one of his castles to a monk in 1089 and the impressive Baroque abbey has been there ever since. Mukundha and I hiked up narrow cobbled streets and climbed hundreds of stairs to get to the entrance of the abbey, still admiring it's beauty.

Construction around the front of Melk Abbey

Inside, we bought tickets from a friendly boy about our age who tried to speak with me in German when he noticed that I knew a few basic words. It didn't go too well. I was able to pick out about three words from his one-sided conversation. Obviously that ten day break from intensive German was not beneficial for me. I'd better study a bit more.

Entrance to the Abbey up on the hill

You can definitely tell this was once a palace

The first courtyard

Mukundha and I toured the inside of the Abbey, which had been converted into a museum. Most of it was in German, so aside from informing Mukundha of random words I knew at every other display, we didn't really get the gist of the artifacts. But the museum had been done up very nicely and it was amazing to be walking through the actual abbey and seeing some of the gorgeous (and very palatial) rooms.

Melk Abbey Museum

Stunning room near the front of the Abbey, overlooking the town and Danube in the valley

View of Melk from out the windows of the room pictured above

We even got to stand out on the front of the abbey (by where all the construction was...maybe because this is low tourist season now) and see the Danube River, Wachau Valley, and the little town of Melk below us. It was an incredible view, and I rather liked that the weather was cloudy and cold, I'm not really sure why. Behind us, the facade of the church in the abbey rose up from the cobblestones below us.

Me outside in front of the Melk Church

The next room we entered took my breath away. It was a library, reminding me of the Long Room in Trinity College in Dublin when I visited the Book of Kells this summer. It was stunning. I love the way old libraries are set up and how beautiful all the books look and how well preserved and cared for they are. No pictures were allowed in the manuscript library...but I knew I had a blog to write so that didn't stop me!

 Above: My photographs of the manuscript library

The Melk Manuscript Library

As we walked out of the library, we came across an amazing spiral staircase that I just had to get a photo of:

I just loved the staircase

Once we climbed down the staircase, we walked into a room that literally took our breath away. It was the inside of the church. The ceilings were about 50 feet high and everything was gold and gilded and so extremely ornate. It was such a lovely church. Mukundha had to sit down and just admire for a good ten minutes because he said he had never seen anything so beautiful. I was just as amazed, and I've managed to see quite a few churches in my past.

Church of the Abbey

Hi from Melk Abbey Church!

It took some coaxing, but I eventually managed to get Mukundha out of the church after almost 25 minutes and up to the Bastillion Tower near the entrance of the Abbey. From the top, we could see the gardens and little pink house that overlooked the Wachau Valley, as well as more of the town of Melk. It was quite pretty up there, but very windy, so we quickly climbed back down to go explore the gardens and finish our tour of the incredible Melk Abbey.

Atop the Bastillion Tower, overlooking Melk Abbey entrance and the town of Melk

Gardens

Mukundha pensively admiring Melk

Melk in Wachau Valley

Mukundha's bus back to Prague left from Vienna at 19:40, so we got home in time for him to collect his things and head to the Praterstern stop. I hope he had a good time in Vienna and saw everything he wanted to see. I had fun showing him around my city and have come to know it even better myself now! I'm so excited to show my parents around and tell them the history of the city and speak German to people for them (though I'll probably switch to English after the first few sentences). Before that, however, I want to find even more secrets within the streets of Wien so I can truly start feeling like the city has completely become my home.