VIENNA!

We arrived after a full day of feasting on the bus to beautiful and unfortunately, wet Vienna. I honestly felt as though I was accustomed to this weather now, and headed out with the group in one jumper and jeans in 9 degree weather for some more comfort eating. The 12 of us filled a long table at Centimetres and decided to indulge in 2 of their most acclaimed dish to share amongst us all. One dish contained 12 schnitzels  (Viennese cuisine) skewered on a giant sword on top of a giant bucket of fries, a bucket of chilli con carne and a kilo of chicken wings. I have never seen so much food, but of course, we polished off every last morsel being 'starving' travellers.

Alice, Laura and I met up at 8am, my earliest morning of the trip so far, and headed to the Nashmarkt, a food market directly opposite our hostel. Walking along the shopkeepers offered out samples of their produce and at a particularly sweet smelling stall I decided to give in a taste a 'tiramisu almond'. I was in food heaven instantly,sweet marbly chocolate coating a crunchy almond- I bought a bag straight away... We kept walking along and the produce was not at all what I expected, piles of olives, dips and antipasto, dried fruit and chocolate stalls, piles of meats and cheese, I felt as though I was in Italy! We went to find the girls some breakfast at a bakery and I thought I would optimistically ask about gluten free and to my surprise she simply pointed at a basket on the counter 'gluten frei' filled with baked goods, I did a double take and then bought 2 bread rolls and a brioche and started eating my first bread of the trip! 

The girls and I recommenced mission ear pierce only to get an introduction to the steep prices of Vienna- 50 euro for a single ear piercing! I was horrified. So rain coats on, we set out to explore the sights of Vienna on foot. Similarly to Prague there were incredible looking buildings everywhere, and even in the rain it was nice walking around taking a look. We walked through the Main Street which was amazing and headed into Stephansdom, an enormous cathedral there. There was an amazing art exhibition occurring inside the cathedral where colourful lights were displayed throughout the church creating the most amazing light and colour display, I was taken aback and just stood there staring for about 10 minutes. Afterwards we were roped into buying tickets for an orchestra show that evening which included opera and ballet and although it was 40euro, when in Vienna you must see opera and an inside palace theatre sounded a lot more appearing than a 3hour outdoor show in the rain, even though it was much cheaper. We were very hungry so we headed to a cool Asian restaurant to fill up on vegies, chicken and rice with a yummy Thai spicy sauce, yum! After a failed attempt at climbing an old spy tower which had been converted to an aquarium (cheers outdated guidebook) we went home and prepped before our classy adventure to the opera! The show was actually really great and I was so surprised at how many Mozart and Strauss songs I knew, I must have a secret love for classical music I don't even know about. We treated ourselves to post show drinks and dinner at a cool rooftop bar around the corner which gave us an amazing birds eye view of the whole city. 

Two nights in Vienna and we were already bored with it so we headed off to Bratislava with an amazing picnic in tow and explored. It only took an hour and we were in an entirely different country, so crazy! Bratislava really didn't have much to offer except an extremely flooded river which was good to see,  but probably not their ideal tourist attraction considering the river had doubled in width and consumed streets on either side before flood walls could be erected. We made our way up to the other sight of Bratislava, the castle. The view alone was worth the hour bus ride it was amazing and the rain was kind enough to hold off while we perched on the castle walls and feasted on gluten free bread, avocado dip, prosciutto wrapped feta, olives, sundried tomatoes, dried strawberries and of course tiramisu almonds. In a food coma we stumbled back on another lap of the town and then we were back to Vienna on the bus. Surprisingly we were hungry again even after our feast so we found a Mexican restaurant to go to because Alice was craving and Sinead came along too, so it was a true girls night with nachos and margaritas mmmm!! The Mexican staff obviously took a liking to our table of 4 girls and we got free cocktails, shots and salsa lessons! 

The final day in Vienna I decided to go sightsee some more and headed off to the Schonceberg palace with Tyler & Sinead. The sun decided to show itself a little bit so I bravely wore a T-shirt, of course with a jumper and raincoat in my bag. The palace itself was a grand building but cost money to enter, so being a cheap backpacker I decided to take a picture out the front and the walk around the extensive gardens surrounding the palace which were incredible, after about two hours walking around we still hadn't covered the whole estate. Hunger prevailed however so the three of us set off on a hunt for food and sat outside a little cafe enjoying a rare glimpse of sunshine. While dining in chevapchis and chips we talked about life and travels and suddenly it was 5pm! We headed back to the hostel and had a few cocktails with Alice and Laura for happy hour before bed, Budapest and its 28 degrees was calling me!