A date here, a date there

For the first part of the program I traveled almost every weekend to different countries and spent my week days playing catch up in class. After spring break I realized that I was a) burnt out from traveling and b) hadn't done much exploring in Vienna. I decided to change this by canceling my later trips and have spent the last month enjoying Vienna. Now I can't go any further in describing these discoveries without talking about my roommate Jen. She and I have been an inseparable team from when we landed in Vienna in January.
So much credit goes to her for helping me readjust to first world living and reentry into American college lifestyles. This past month she and I took on Vienna, one "roomie date" at a time. If you are planning a romantic get away for two, just check out some of these ideas, they are great and all are college budget friendly!

A first date
This is a perfect first date, we had already had many dates prior to this, but it was still wonderful! We met at the opera house and walked to the famous wurstelstand and ordered kaiser krainer's stuffed in bread.
With a warm wurstel in hand we meandered slowly to the side of the opera house, where a giant jumbotron has been set up and the opera of the night is broadcast. This is a new thing that they do during the summer months and is completely free!
We stood there and ate our dinner while watching a Mozart opera and enjoying the prime time people watching in front of the opera house. After we had had our fill of the opera, without English subtitles there is only so much that we can guess about the plot and so we continued on down the street to a gelato parlor called Zinoni and Zinoni. We sat outside and split a large chocolate, caramel and hazelnut sundae in a tall glass with two spoons, so perfect! We took the strassenbahn home, what a lovely first date, but who paid? The nice thing about Austria is that split checks is no problem, hooray roomie dates!

A casual afternoon

Feed the birds, er ducks

What if you have a small break in the day and all you want to do is soak up some vitamin d with someone special before heading back into the office? Well, bring a snack and go to Stadtpark! There are benches lining little ponds, statues, lawns and beautiful flower gardens to wander through or just laze around. It's free and a great place to enjoy a summer breeze.

Saturday picnic
This is for a couple that is a little bit more adventurous, perhaps not a first date, I would say 4or 5 or for a group of friends. Hop on a city bike (available all over the city and it is practically free to join!) and bike over to the Danube island. It is nice that the bikes have baskets, you can bring a picnic! We biked along the island and then sat on the grass to eat our lunch. You can even bring a frisbee and throw that around, or better yet your swimsuit and take a dip, but watch out for the swans.

I wasn't kidding

None of us escaped without a burn or two

Lets go to the movies!
Dinner and a movie, can this happen outside of the US? Yes it can! Don't worry, you don't have to speak or understand German cinema to watch a movie, there are several wonderful and offbeat English cinema's in Vienna. If you are going to Vienna and want to see one, glance at this website for a listing, all of them are actually cheaper then films in the US and show ones that are also in theaters in the US! http://www.wien.gv.at/english/environment-leisure/film.html
Jen and I made dinner together, although you can chose any number of wonderful Viennese restaurants (check out my top blog for ideas) before heading to the theater. We decided to go to the Burgkino, which is right along the Ringstrasse. We saw the movie "My week with Marilyn" which we didn't particularly enjoy as much as we wanted, but it was great to watch a movie with a tiny audience.You can also try The Loft, a theater where you can get a drink while you watch.

Festivals galore
As the weather gets nicer and nicer, Vienna starts having more and more festivals, I still have yet to figure out why. If you are at a loss for what to do, just go to the Hofburg, if you are there in the months of april and may you are more then likely going to find a festival with lots of free balloons and face painting to entertain you for several hours.

A bouncy house in the Hofburg

Dalton needed to spin his wheels

We teamed up with other students in our program for this date and went to the Prater area on the 1st of May, which is national workers day. The Prater area has the famous ferris wheel, lots of rides and is like an amusement park, but smaller and European.
On a gorgeous day we grabbed our free balloons, basked in the sun and people watched the day away, just like the Viennese!

I got my party favor

So many people

If you can't find a festival, well, the Hofburg has a huge garden that you can spend time wandering through, or even sit on a bench and try to blend in with the Viennese by intently staring at everyone who passes by. Hint: Try this, and maybe when you get up to leave someone will come up and ask you a question in German, they may think you are really Austrian!




Well, those are the some of the date ideas we tested out, turns out we are a cute couple after all! There are so many wonderful parts of Vienna to explore, you don't need a date to enjoy it, but a buddy is always nice to keep things entertaining!

Trip to the imperial treasury, dressed to impress

The Vienna diet

My experience in Vienna is largely centered around food. Whether I am organizing dinner parties, baking, creatively reinventing leftovers or trying new places, food is my numero uno! I thought I would share some of my favorite food-ventures, in no particular order.

Schnitzel Schnitzel Schnitzel!
I took part in a school program sponsored cooking class, we tied on our aprons, sharpened our knives and yodeled like real Austrians until the schnitzel came home. Not really, but I did learn how to properly beat veal into submission, turns out it is a great way to let off some steam!

Ready to eat a home-cooked meal

Progressive dinners
In the beginning of this semester I felt very overwhelmed by the amount of people I was expected to live with for 5 months. In an effort to get to know people I decided to go about this in the only sure-fire way I knew; food!

Apartment 4 with desserts

Our apartment building had 5 apartments with students in our program. Therefore, for these dinners each apartment would pick a course (drinks, appetizers, main or dessert) and prepare it for everyone. We did this once a month roughly, so once a month our poor Austrian neighbors would listen as their American neighbors stamped up and down the stairs. We really should've called it progressive noise night (sorry neighbors, but quiet hours don't start until 10pm). These dinners were a great success, at least everyone was well fed, watered and tired by the end, and our apartment building grew very close. Food to the rescue!

Oh the Strudel you will eat
As we all know from the Sound of Music, Austria isn't complete without "crisp apple strudel". Since my room mate and I are doodies to the end, we decided to do something a little touristy and go to a strudel show. We meandered over to the palace of Schonnbrunn ( what will life br like when I can't take public transportation to the nearest palace?!) and seated cozily with a thick slice of strudel and a steaming mug of hot chocolate, listened to the pastry chef. She demonstrated the proper way to stretch out the dough, wrap up the apples and bake it, presto! We even took home recipes ( I grabbed one in English, French and German, who wants to bake with me?) and the smell of strudel on our clothes.

Markets, markets and more markets!
In Vienna, in is safe to say that there are at least a dozen markets scattered throughout the city. If you want a complete list, check out this website. http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/markets-vienna.htm

The one closest to my apartment is the most well known, the Naschmarkt. Smashed with tourists even on cold days, you are hard put not to sample all the falafel, olives, hummus, cheese and nuts that are everywhere. My favorite snack there? Wasabi beans! Spicy! On Saturday's you can even check out the flea market and barter for some useful junk (7€ ball gown? Ja bitte!)
A more recent market discovery was that of the Brunnemarkt and Yppnmarkt. These two together form the shape of an L and are far more local and less touristy. Here are stands of fresh produce, bread, honey, Fungus and fruit from the Austrian farms.

I want my spice!!

Call me food obsessed, but everyone has to eat, so if you have the means and the stretchy
Pants, why not eat well (and often)! My secret to not gaining 50 kilos? Do like the Viennese and walk! I have never seen such an active city, even the older Viennese who hunch to walk can nimbly navigate the subways and street cars. On average I walk about an hour a day, but generally I would say it's closer to two or three. So if I eat a lot at dinner, I just walk home! If that doesn't work, oh well at least you know the food you ate was delicious!!

Are the hills really alive? Salzburg!

I couldn't possibly say I have lived in Austria without having gone to Salzburg! With limited time and means left I decided to go just for one night for a quick taste trip.
We left at a leisurely time on Friday afternoon and breathed the warm fresh air of the countryside of Salzburg.

The hill where we stayed

A view of Salzburg

Best tour guide ever! He even photo bombed!

To say that Salzburg is incredibly gorgeous is a bit of an understatement. No matter the weather or season this city with a small town feel is a place that I would go back to for an extended period of time. All we managed on this short weekend trip was the famous Sound of Music tour and some wanderings in the city.

I am sixteen going on seventeen....oh wait

A lake that was featured, yay!

While the tour was hokey, it gave us an excellent view of the countryside and a resolve to come back for a more in depth tour of Salzburg ( and maybe sing to the hills to keep them alive).

It began to rain after the tour, and so we made a quick go around of the old town, including Mozart's birth house.

Me and my travel buddy, Julian

Life goal: Live here

After a hearty meal of the traditional Austrian variety and a beer, we hopped back on the train to Vienna. What a lovely little adventure!

Bathing in Budapest

 One evening my friend Lissa came up to me and said " do you want to go to Budapest tomorrow?". The next morning found us eating penny pastries next to the Danube river, soaking up the sun and views of Buda and Pest. I love that you can take a train and be in a place with a different language and currency, ah the life of a student in Vienna.

On our way

Now Budapest is a beautiful city, but not a place that can be easily absorbed in a day. The intention of this spur of the moment trip was not to speed tourist through it, but beeline it for the Bathhouse!

Quick lunch before the Bathhouse

Cool Bikes

Here's a little history lesson, Budapest was once controlled by the Turks and when they left certain customs of theirs stayed as well. One of these were the Turkish baths (I don't think there were any complaints about this).






We dusted off our bathing suits after the cold Viennese winter and joined hundreds of Europeans in one of the bath houses.
 We chose one where your bathing suit can stay on without being rude and spent the day lounging, swimming, chatting and tanning.

Nothing like a get away to a spa to get rid of your cares from the
week!

Girls day

I came home to Vienna that night feeling rejuvenated and relaxed, not bad for a day trip!

Cully Reinvented

Cully +Jazz= Tents

My weekend trip to Cully in April could not have been more different then the first one. Instead of a quiet, frozen town I found a sunny and music filled community teeming with excitement. Tents were set up in the center and there were huge boards displaying the concerts throughout the two week festival
and their many locations. I was immediately whisked into the life of the festival and didn't leave until I hopped on the plane to go back to Vienna. It was wonderful to see my Swiss family completely in their element, I have never seen such great hostesses/organizers as my aunt Gundi and cousin Dorianne, as they helped keep the festival running. Dorianne was in charge of a bar on a boat, which was a great venue for smaller concerts and a calmer atmosphere. There were jazz concerts around every corner, so whenever I wasn't working in the coat check (This was a wonderful experience and I got into the concerts for free!) I was wondering around to the various venues and checking out the fantastic musicians. I have to say my favorite was a cello, guitar rapper trio that had a really interesting sound. Although I didn't understand all of the words that he was saying, just the sound of his voice was enough for me, I can understand why it was a sold out concert!

The dining tent

Dorianne on the boat

 






Morale of the story, I felt like an iPod shuffle for the weekend, my playlist?
Drink
Eat
Jazz
Coat check
Sleep
Shuffle that in anyway and that was my weekend!





There was no better way to come back to Switzerland, thanks again to my family for hosting me and allowing me to take part in an incredibly wonderful and international jazz festival! I am sad that I don't know the next time I will see you, but I am grateful that I had this time with you, it was one of the highlights of my time in Europe.