Wieners and Litres. Vienna

damn, that man can jump

After three crazy days in Munich we took a train to Vienna for a little wind-down from non-stop exploration and beers only offered in litres. Our first day we chose to meander into the city center, where there were grand cathedrals, gold, bronze and stone statues, and colorful fountains on every corner. Also found every few buildings were souvenir shops selling chocolate with Mozart’s face and bags depicting The Kiss by famous Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. It was in one of these souvenir shops where we met a woman from Chicago who had been “so pleased to hear someone speaking English in an American accent!” I agreed, it was a nice break after weeks of constant language barriers to have a conversation with someone who knew Minneapolis was a real place. She had just come from the Wiener Wiesn Festival and highly recommended it to us. It was an Austrian celebration of food and culture very similar to Oktoberfest. So we had a full 24 hours of “rest” before suiting up and heading back to 1 litre beers and busty gowns.

chillin like fountain villians

We arrived at the Wiener Wiesn Festival the next day just after lunch time. While at Oktoberfest this would have been considered far too late to enjoy any festivities properly, it appeared to be rather early to arrive in Vienna. The crowd was dominated mostly by patrons my parents lovingly refer to as “white heads”, aka the average age was about 65, and they were not in full traditional garb, as of course we were. There also appeared to be more of a focus on activities other than drinking beer, as if people, remarkably, attended the festival for other reasons than getting drunk with strangers. We took our pictures in an old time photo booth, walked past several areas of children’s activities, and multiple stages of traditional live music. Eventually we settled in a tent for some reasonably priced enormous beers.

Wiener Wiesn Musicians!

It was at the Wiener Wiesn Festival where we made several delightful new friends, including Jasmine and Michael from Perth, Philipp from Germany and Ellen from South Africa. Jasmine and Michael were in the middle of a month long honeymoon and both also write blogs (Jasmine writes a food blog and Michael has one about technology. Follow them, they’re awesome people). We enjoyed their Australian company so much we met for a traditional dinner of gulyas (goulash to us Midwesterners. nom nom meat!) and sturm (red wine like boozy drink -too sugary to have more than one) the following evening. Philipp charmingly appreciated my attempts at proper German pronunciations, and informed me that while yes, Schmiegen technically means to cuddle in German, it is more descriptive of a cat rubbing against your leg than a lover slinking an arm over your shoulder. It was fun chatting with both of them, as Philipp wanted to practice his English, my German was dreadful, and Ellen could very effectively translate for all of us. We found lovely company in our four new friends and hope to see them on our side of the ocean one day.

new friends!

After once again spending too much money on large beers, we began seeking out more frugal entertainment. The Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) offers a rockin rush line deal for operas and ballets almost daily. We were fortunate enough to score Standing Room Only tickets to see the opera Don Carlo for 3€ each! It was a very interesting and somewhat stressful process. We waited in line to buy tickets (where a crotchety old woman asked us to eat our Happy Noodles outside, as she didn't like the smell. And get out of line, ma’am? I DON’T THINK SO).

delish noodles. eatin with three hands

What I was not prepared for was the mad rush to get to our spots once they opened the doors. I’m pretty sure an elderly man knocked me down to get a better spot. Fortunately my husband is very scrappy. He dove past a group of slow moving young women and scored us an excellent spot in the center section. Better luck next time, ladies. At this point, it is common practice to leave a scarf on the support bar to save your place and wander about the building. The interior of the Opera House was beautiful, with high ceilings and murals and balconies where well-dressed waiters offered tiny snacks for outrageous prices. It was fun to rub elbows with “opera-goers”, in their fur coats and fancy jewelry. The Opera itself was in Italian. Neither of us knew the story beforehand, but it was fairly easy to follow along. And the colossal set was like a character itself, with the rising floors and moving walls that cast shadows and created massive entrances. Some say it was fairly reminiscent of a set I designed in college.

if only you could see how awesome it was in here

One of our very last nights in Vienna was spent meeting up with Adam, a friend of our friends from Minneapolis, Jessie, Tegan and Hannah. He met us at Brewery 1516, but the rowdy bar was not ideal for new friend conversation. So the three of us bought beer from a small stand and walked into a park to sit at the base of a statue, surrounded by rainbow lit monuments, speaking of baseball and futbol and road trips and spontaneous travel. And of course, as often happens in conversations with new friends, we spoke at length about public urination. This magical evening was the perfect end to a visit to Austria. And even with many suggestions from my surroundings, and to my husband’s pleasure (disappointment? It’s so hard to tell) I barely sang Edelweiss in public. 

see our heads? we're there too!

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