Vienna againa
My second time in the world's most livable city
Vienna has been rated as the world’s most livable city more than once. (Although not this year, thanks a lot Copenhagen). I already wrote about my first impressions of the city last year so I’ll try not to repeat too much. I can start by saying I did get another Viennese coffee at the same exact place. It was a little later in the afternoon so this one I got caffeine free.
This trip, I was lucky to have Shayna with me. She helped us find some real gems. While I hit some of the big sights on my first visit, like the Belvedere,I managed to miss actually going inside. That was corrected this time around. I’ve never understood people’s reluctance to revisit the same city especially a world-class one like Vienna. So far I’ve spent a combined 8 days here and I would still come back. I managed to go on two runs here to help keep my miles on track.
Highlights included: finally exploring the Belvedere inside properly, visiting the Prater amusement park, going to not one but two outdoor operas, and taking a short hike up to Kahlenberg, a mountain with a view of the city. More on that in a bit.
The operas we saw were La Traviata and The Merry Widow. La Traviata was a live outdoor performance; The Merry Widow was a free recorded screening. Our dear friend Marco from ReConnect Transylvania even joined us for one last outing as a (small) group! I definitely preferred La Traviata—it had an option for subtitles, which helped a lot. The Merry Widow seemed funny, but without subtitles we were scrambling with the Wikipedia page and ChatGPT just to follow the plot. Still, I loved how accessible both shows were. Much less stuffy, but it did make me want to check out the Met Opera back home.
I also dropped off the film I’d been hauling since Paris and found a photo lab in the city center that returned it in under 48 hours. So I can already share some of those shots. I’m planning to turn all my film photos into a reel for Instagram eventually. Since I’m shooting on a half-frame camera and I’ve already developed three rolls, I have over 200 frames to go through. There was a film vending machine that I bought my next roll from. It came out ice cold, and I thought it was the most interesting thing ever.
On our final night, Shayna and I found a great local spot, Kolonitz Beisl, for a proper Viennese meal. You know it’s good when the menu is all in German and it’s cash only. Then she left for the airport, and I was solo again—for now. Like Han Solo. But Dylan. Dylan Solo.
Today was interesting. Checkout from our Airbnb was at 11:00, but my train wasn’t until 16:10. Around 10:30, a cleaning staff member opened the door while I was getting changed. I went full New Yorker and started yelling that I still had time which seemed to work. I had even asked for late checkout (which they denied), so it was frustrating. But I now had a few hours to kill.
I decided to take a quick trip to Kahlenberg. I didn’t have time for the full 11km hike, so I took a bus that got me about 90% of the way up. I breathed in some fresh mountain air. I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t do the whole thing and I almost considered not going and just posting up somewhere, but I’m glad I went. Something is always better than nothing. One thing I always love about European cities (generally speaking) it’s easy to get into nature via public transport. And it was all included in my weekly transit pass. Afterward, I caught a cab to retrieve my stuff from a storage locker... which turned out to be at a gas station on the side of the highway next to Vienna HBF. Fully automated. Functional, but also strange. I definitely got some weird looks.
Vienna round two was 100% worth it. Seeing Kahlenberg this time makes me want to come back again and do more hiking in that area. There were some vinyards that looked really inviting. And I still haven’t been to Salzburg or any other Austrian cities, unless you count that one town I got stranded in briefly last year.
More soon.