Vienna, Austria

Ahh, Vienna. I arrived in Vienna in the afternoon. I had a couch surfer and I had worked out how to get there and nothing else. I had not looked up anything about the city, I had no idea what there was to see or do. I didn't even have a map. I made my way to my couch surfer's apartment. I soon learned that he lived in a fantastic location – walking distance to just about everywhere! The centre of town was only a 20 minute walk.

Anyway, I arrived and found my couch surfer was out, but he had other couch surfers staying with him and they let me in. They told me a bit about the situation – our couch surfing host had a beautiful large apartment, and since he worked a lot and had little time to socialise, he would just host countless couchsurfers each night to fill the place up. He would host up to 6 people every single night! All kinds of different, interesting people. I was surprised and impressed! The girls who were at the apartment pulled out a large map of the city and showed me where I was and where I should go. It was a Sunday, and apparently some museums offer free admission. One of the girls asked if I wanted to come with her, I gratefully accepted and put my things away and left. She showed me the way to get to the city, and told me a bit more about the place – things to try, places to visit. The museum was interesting, I enjoyed the paintings – they were so realistic and detailed.

Afterwards, she took me on a brief tour of the city centre, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then went back home. When we got home, our host was back, so I was able to meet him. His name was Mikula. He was very interesting and friendly. He spent most of the time Skyping to his Spanish girlfriend, which we would endlessly tease him about. The girl I had spent the afternoon with was actually a French exchange student who had arrived in Vienna and was staying with our couchsurfer until she could move into her hall of residence. She was moving in the next day. I decided to give her a hand with all her things – she had a lot of suitcases!

The next morning we woke up early and strategised how to get all the suitcases across town to the hall of residence. The two of us struggled and battled with the 4 difficult suitcases all the way from the apartment, the 10 minute walk to the metro station, down the stairs to the metro (the lifts were out of order), onto the metro, and then off. Once safely out of the metro we worked out where we were and how to get to the building. It was another 10 minute walk. The suitcase wheels were not very good quality and they would buckle and twist as they bumped and juddered along the cobbles and curbstones. The poor suitcases were pretty beaten up by the time they reached their final destination. But, we had managed to successfully move everything to the hall of residence! She seemed happy with the apartment room, it looked great to me. I stayed with her for a little while just to have a look around and then I said goodbye and headed on my way. The hall of residence was located fairly close to one of the Palaces of Vienna. I made my way over there, strolling past little shopping strips along the way. The Palace was surrounded by a huge sprawling garden. I entered the gates and was swept up in the wonder of the place. Beautiful leafy trees lined wide pathways. There were many different parts to the garden, flower displays, grassy areas, fountains, fake Roman ruins, a bird sanctuary, a zoo, cafes, a labrynth and lots of shady benches to relax and spend some time.

After wandering the garden for a while, I made my way into the palace. It was enormous. I would have loved to do the tour of it, but it was very expensive so I sufficed with seeing the foyer and exterior. I went back to the road through the garden again. It was so wonderful. I then followed the river back into town, and stopped along the way at Cafe Sperl – a famous Viennese Kauffehaus dating back to the 1800's. Many well known people had frequented the cafe over the years, including Hitler himself when he was attempting to apply for art school in Vienna.

I had a hot chocolate and caught up on some travel planning. I love travel planning, however it is a real pain while you are actually travelling – I had to spend about 1 – 2 hours a day planning my next steps – my next city, next mode of transport, accommodation. Always pouring over calenders to see what would be the best use of my time. It was always exciting, but meant that it cut into the time I had in the place that I was currently visiting.

I finished booking a couple of flights and replied to some emails then headed back to the apartment. Three new couchsurfers arrived shortly after: a couple from Argentina, and an Israeli woman. We all got along really well and together with Mikula we went out to see the town. It was great to walk around at night – all the buildings were lit up and looked spectacular. We met up with another friend of the Argentinian couple and we headed to a kauffehaus for a late night drink and a chat. Mikula could not join us because he had a Skype date with his Spanish lady, so it was just the 5 of us. We had a great time just hanging out and telling stories over big mugs of hot chocolate.

The next day, Vered, the Israeli lady and I had made a plan to go to the Vienna opera. I had found out that you could buy standing room tickets with a great view of the stage for only 4 Euros. Now that was an opera in my budget! The only thing was that you had to go several hours early and queue up for the tickets. So, Vered and I dressed up for the opera and headed in to town to join the queue. We got there at 3.30pm. The ticket office opened at 6. There were lots of people in the line. We ended up having some great conversations with them which made the time go faster. They also gave us tips on how to get a good view of the stage. We bought our tickets and were ushered up to the standing room area. You went in and jostled to find a good position, then you would mark your spot with a scarf. Then you could leave the building until the performance started. Vered and I, and an American lady we made friends with in the line, headed out and quickly picked up a couple of things for dinner. In the spirit of the Opera they bought cheese, chocolate and champagne. In the spirit of my budget, I bought one large carrot.

The opera was La Traviata. It was performed in a very modern way with minimal sets and simple costumes. I was so disappointed. I wanted to see an opera with all the traditional glamour and opulence! The standing room area that we were in did have a great view of the stage, but it was very hot and rather uncomfortable, so at half time we decided that we had had the experience and were ready to leave. So we left and ended up sitting outside watching the ending of the opera on a large screen which they had set up outside as part of a special Vienna cultural festival.

The next morning the Argentinian couple, Vered, and I went and had a picnic in a local park. It was great. We brought all sorts of food – breads, fruits, yogurt and cereals. Later that morning Vered and I found out that the opera on that night was Carmen. We decided to give it another go. This time, we decided not to get standing room seats, we would just set up a nice spot outside and watch it on the big screen. We sat there and watched the first part. It was fabulous – full costumes and detailed sets just as I had dreamed of! At the end of the first act we had an idea. We stood up and rushed to the front doors of the opera. We watched for any people coming out and we asked them if they were leaving, and if they were, we asked if we could have their tickets. As luck would have it, two guys were leaving, so we got their tickets. They were standing room tickets, but we didn't mind – we had another idea. We found our way to the mezzanine floor and went around asking the people in the opera boxes if there were any free seats in their box. Unfortunately all the ones we asked were full. We found one that had some space, but it had a terrible view of the stage. So we went up to the standing room up in the gallery and managed to find some empty seats in the front row. We sat down and watched the end of the opera from there. It was great!

We were looking at each other in surprise and amusement over how we managed to talk our way into the opera. After the opera, we went back to the apartment and met another couchsurfer who had just arrived. All of us had a fun time hanging out, talking and laughing. It felt like a big couchsurfing family!

The next morning it was time for me to leave. It was almost a shame to be leaving! I really loved the people I had met in Vienna. I packed up my things and said a big goodbye to everyone. I found my way to the bus station (which was a rather difficult feat) and boarded my bus to Prague. The bus was very luxurious – each seat had a screen like on a plane and there was even a hostess who would hand out free snacks and drinks! As the city blurred away into fields and plains, I settled into my seat and watched a Jane Austen movie while sipping a hot chocolate.