The Adventure

The first day of the last leg of my Christmas 2023 trip was spent entirely travelling from Malmö, Sweden, to Wien, Austria. The second day of this leg was spent in Wien. Knowing nothing about the city I had just arrived in, I scanned Google Maps for landmarks and set my sights upon Schönnbrunn Palace. This turned out to be a decent length walk from where I had disembarked, but that was okay. Upon arrival, the palace and the palace grounds were massive; plenty to keep me occupied until lunch. There were a lot of gardens to walk through, which I imagine would be quite pretty during the spring and summer. Unfortunately, in late December, most of the plants were bare and colourless. The gardens were however also decorated with too many cool statues to count, so it was still a nice place to be. After this, I made my way up the hill behind the gardens, where there was another fancy landmark and a great view of the city. From there, I was able to identify several towering church steeples rising from the skyline, which I made a note to head towards in the afternoon.

I ate lunch just outside the palace grounds and continued my wandering. I stumbled across a few random cool things: fountains, smaller churches, parks, etc. In my wandering, I also remember coming across a neat Orthodox Church. It stood out to me because I hadn’t seen much of the sort of Eastern European architecture style elsewhere, maybe just once before at another Orthodox Church in København. Another cool mini-adventure I went on mid-afternoon was an intentional trip to a local graveyard. In the Vienna Central Cemetery, I found the graves of various well-known people, most importantly to me composers such as Beethoven.

At night, I accidentally came across Stephansplatz, and with it St. Stephen’s Cathedral. This was a great surprise to stumble into, because as far as my personal preferences go, it was the most aesthetically pleasing building I saw that day. As much as I love the dense, walkable European cities, it is hard to see things far away from street level, even if they have massive steeples. After this, I somehow randomly ended up at a theme park? I don’t remember how that happened, but I was able to just walk onto the grounds for free, where there were live musicians and rides. Of course, rides cost a bit extra and I didn’t go any, but it was fun to hear live music and walk around in a bit of a different atmosphere for a bit.

Highlight

The highlight of the day in Wien was probably St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It was really great to come across something so fitting with what I like to see while travelling, so unexpectedly. My only wish is that I can revisit someday and see it when it is still light out, as it was hard to get a good view at night.

Cost

By the end of my Christmas trip, I was, for whatever reason, more willing to spend money. Rather than just trying a local snack here and there, I found myself purchasing full meals in many of the places I visited in the final stretch. In Wien, I tried some schnitzel, which I had failed to try in Germany and which was very good. I also restocked by coca-cola supply, which was an essential part of my breakfast every morning of my vacation to give me an energy boost (we don’t talk about the health effects of my travel habits). Lastly, I bought my usual souvenir flag. Fun fact, though: I’m very confused about flags in Austria. I wasn’t able to buy an actual Austrian national flag. I think there are some sorts of laws about who can buy and own what, but I can’t find any clear information on the internet. What I ended up with instead was an Austrian state flag, because that’s all that was being offered at the souvenir stores. I know that I could just buy an Austrian national flag elsewhere, but to make the experience “authentic,” I only buy flags in the country from which that flag comes, kind of to prove I was there. Anyway, all of that came to $27.90 CAD. I spent an additional $6.82 for some food in Hamburg on my long journey from Malmö, if you want to count those travel costs as well.

Concluding Thoughts

Before I went to Wien, I was told it would probably be one of the most beautiful cities I ever saw. I would say it definitely lived up to that, at least with what I’ve been able to see so far. I hope to revisit someday, when I can catch it in a more colourful season, and be able to see the cathedral during the daylight. As a little bonus, it would be nice to be able to get an actual Austrian national flag, somehow, if that’s possible. Austria, as a country, has always stood out to me as very picturesque, from mountain towns to the big city, which varies drastically. Both sides of the nation are so beautiful, and I hope to be able to explore both further in my future travels.