Wien Weekend

This weekend Megan and I went to explore Vienna! We got in late Friday night and left Sunday evening. We went to the Kunsthistorisches Art Museum in Museums Quartier, the Sigmund Freud Museum, the Schoenbrunn Palace, the Rathaus Christmas market, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and the Mozart Museum. On Saturday we went out for lunch with our Airbnb host and her friend spending the weekend with her. We ate really really delicious falafel wraps and then started walking around to explore the city. We walked by the beautiful opera house, and then found the Kunsthistorisches museum. The museum reminded me a lot of the Prado in Madrid and even had some of the same artists. All of the art was really beautiful, but I was most impressed with the immaculate building. You never get tired of all the marble and impressive statues. Megan and I both agreed that America hasn’t ever put enough effort into creating buildings like those across Europe, but I guess they’re pretty expensive. After the art museum we explored the famous Christmas markets. The markets were full of crafts, sweets, mulled wine stands, and tons of people. It felt like Christmas and I was jealous I didn’t grow up with a Christmas market in my town. 

I wasn’t sure if it’d be all that great to go to the Freud museum since Freud was certainly a crazy misogynist, but it was actually really interesting. The focus was much more on his home in Vienna and his practice there. What I didn’t know was that Freud was Jewish and had to leave Vienna during the second world war. His family, along with some donors, created the museum in Vienna to commemorate his practice there. The museum also talked a lot about Freud’s daughter Anna who did a lot of work with child psychology. 

After the Freud Museum we met up with our friends Haley, Dharani, and Dharani’s mother for dinner. Haley and Dharani play frisbee with Megan and me at Wellesley, so it was fun to catch up with them in Vienna. We ate dinner at this old cafe called Café Sperl. According to wikipedia it was featured in Before Sunset which we thought was kind of cool. I ate this really delicious risotto and had a great time with my friends. 

On Sunday we woke up early to explore before we caught our bus home. First we went to eat breakfast at a random cafe, and then we made our way to the Schoenbrunn Palace. The palace was beautiful and really fun to walk through. There was yet another Christmas market in front of it where we got hot cocoa. Then we left the palace to go find the Mozart museum. On our way there we found St. Stephan’s Cathedral (with another Christmas market in front!). The Mozart museum was like the Freud museum in that it was in one of Mozart’s former flats. I really liked how they did that so that you were learning about the people where they lived. I found out Mozart had a gambling problem and may have been murdered which was kind of sad, but I also learned more about some of his most famous works and listened to some of his music in the meantime. 

After the museum we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and then went to the bus station to head back to Budapest. The whole weekend was a great time, and I’m so happy I was able to explore Vienna. Next weekend I’m off to Bratislava and then I’m settling back down to spend the rest of my time in good old Budapest before I head back to Oklahome for Christmas!!!

Last week I finally visited Budapest’s ruin pub Instant. I went with this Hungarian guy I’ve gone on a few dates with and drank way too much tequila. It was a fun night, but Friday’s hangover was rough. Even with Friday’s hangover I went out super late on Friday night in Vienna. I went to a club with Megan and the two German girls from my Airbnb. We danced to really weird electronic dance mixes until 2AM; it was a great time. 

 The funniest story of Friday night was right before we left while we were in the line for the bathroom. This random French guy started talking to me and my airbnb host Anna. He asked if she was British and she said, “No, I’m German.” Then she asked if he was American, and he said, “No, I’m French.” Then, (drunkenly) I said, “I’m American!” And, he said, “Where are you from?” I said, “Oklahoma”, and he said, “I used to live in Boston.” I then told him I went to Wellesley and he said, “I went to Wellesley once!” and I was like, “Uh, what? Why?” And then he said some girls invited him there. THEN, he started hitting on me so I just kept saying, “Uh sorry, I’m gay…” He didn’t believe me so I said, “Yeah, I’m gay! I was wearing a beanie earlier…” Then I escaped into the bathroom with Anna. And then Anna was like, “Are you really gay?” And I said, “Yeah, kind of.” And, then I said, “Are you?” And she said, “Yeah, a bit.” So, I kissed her. If you didn’t already think I was a hilarious ridiculous mess here’s further proof.