What to do on a rainy Saturday?

Well, have some rather ambitious plans in mind, and watch them fail one after the other for a good laugh. No, in all seriousness, it wasn't that bad, but the Albertina had to be forgotten, sadly enough...

Also, something you need to know: most Austrian museum are free if you are under 19. I try very hard to look the part.

We settled on the Naschmarkt again for breakfast/lunch, where this time I had a piece of vegan apple strudel. I must have looked like such an overexcited kid. Honestly, what were the chances? Most European cities still struggle with accepting the idea of vegetarianism, much less understanding veganism.

We first went to see the Imperial furniture collection, which was interesting, but not a must. We only went because we had a free entrance to it with the type of ticket we had bought for the Hofburg. We walked around a little until we found the Museum Quartier (turned out we had been there the day before). On the other side of the Naturhistorisches is the Kunthistoriches. I got in for free, pretending to be Karel’s little sister, but it would’ve been worth my 9 Euros I believe. They have an incredible Italian and Northern European Renaissance paintings collection, and I had the chance to see some Titian, Giorgione, Veermer, Ruben and a long list of others. The art historian in me was quite excited, and I happily remembered everything I could from my Medieval and Renaissance art class.

Example of the Kunthistoriches' amazing architecture: the cafe

We were quite hungry afterwards and went looking for a snack. We tried Demel, a very famous pastry shop here that was opened in the 18^th century, and who apparently makes the best Sachertorte in town. We sat on the terrace for a while, enjoying our espressos and sharing a piece of the cake. I must admit, it was incredibly good. Good thing I'm not staying longer, I'm getting out of control here.

Living the life

We wanted to go visit the St. Stephan cathedral before the nave closed (4:00 PM) to get a good view of the alterpiece, but it started pouring so intensely we had to run for cover. Since we were not equipped for this type of weather (no raincoat or umbrella), we squeezed in a telephone booth and Karel called home. When we were done, we started hopping from one high-end fashion store to another, leaving when the sales clerk were getting too mean. We tried hanging around a bookstore, but were promptly kicked out because clearly we weren’t going to buy anything. We were so shocked! I guess that’s a cultural difference that I was not expecting.  

For dinner, we took a tram to the last station, in the outskirts of the city, in order to have the wine garden experience. We (almost) didn’t get lost, and the place was simply adorable! They had quite a few salads for me to choose from, which made me want to dance because I could hardly remember the last time I had had something other than sauerkraut. The wine was delicious, and the atmosphere so relaxed and agreeable. It wasn’t filled with tourists, and you could tell the locals were in their natural meeting place. People started singing quite a few times, and we had a blast.

Inside the wine garden

Since it was Saturday night, we figured that we needed to go out at least once, despite the two of us being anything but party animals. We decided to head to the Bermuda Triangle, as this area of the city is called. Oh God. It was hilarious. Sadly, I have no pictures of this, but in terms of epicness, this ranks quite high in my list. We walked around the area for a good half-hour, trying to decide where to go. We first walked into Kitsch und Bitter, and we already knew we were in for a night of endless laughter. Terrible music that was playing on the radio before I left was on, and on the giant screen in the back was Eurovision, the European version of American Idol. Sooo cheesy, but fun when you’re done sharing a litre of sangria. We proceeded to go to Kaktus, and that’s where we could not believe our eyes. I instantly lost faith in the European innate sense of elegance. The tackiest people of Vienna were all squeezing into this bar. It was quite a sight. Men were trying pick-up lines/techniques that hardly made any sense (why would holding your knee while you pretend to be in pain and crying work on anyone?). We left, walked around the triangle yet again, went back, had the doorman laugh at us (he probably saw us circling around one too many times) and eventually headed back to the hostel. I crashed, and we woke up very late the day after. Always be ready to change your plans I guess.

Fun fact of the day: Austrians love energy drinks more than should be allowed.

xoxo