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