Vienna

Dreamy summer weekend with Lucien in Vienna!

Days at a Glance

Date	Day at a Glance
Thu, 03Aug23	Arrival
Fri, 04Aug23	Hiking through wineries
Sat, 05Aug23	Leopold museum, Rapid soccer game
Sun, 06Aug23	Cafes and Irish pub
Mon, 07Aug23	Arrival home after a long night train

High-Low-Hero-Chow/Ciao*

	Ben	Maggie	Lucien
High	Winery hike day and pondering life's mysteries with Lucien	Winery tour!	Winery tour!
Low	Overnight train with 4 randos in a cabin and lots of feet in everyone's faces, then getting delayed and having to take a half vacation day	Rain	Feeling a little ill
Hero	Jakob Poeltl	Lucien for guiding us through the wineries!	US women's soccer team
Chow/Ciao	Jakob Poeltl's schnitzel	Wine spritzer	Bosnian burek

*A game I learned from Ben, who uses it with friends as a fun way to reflect on an experience

Journal

We planned a long weekend with Lucien in Vienna, at his suggestion. Lucien loves Vienna and has been multiple times, this time he was going to review some specific historical documents for his Masters thesis. Ben and I had been to Vienna once before on our second trip to Europe together and remembered liking it, so we agreed to meet up with him.

Thursday 03Aug23

Ben and I took an 8PM RyanAir flight from Eindhoven and landed ~11PM. We transited partly into the city, but Ben had us get off a bit early so we could walk (aka grab some doner). We arrived to the hostel around 1:30AM and embraced our dear friend Lucien. He picked a hostel with a great location and reserved a room for the 3 of us to share. It consisted of a single twin bed and a bunk bed, so Ben and I took the bottom bunk and Lucien took the single, giving him the pleasure of sniffing our feet all night!

Friday 04Aug23

We woke up craving bagels, which is a fairly common occurrence, but much easier to accomplish in Vienna than in Den Bosch! Lucien catered to my whims and found us a nearby bagel shop. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, while commenting on how the bagels were too soft and not up to our American standards.

We transited to the base of the winery mountain area, the Nussdorf neighborhood. We snagged some lunch supplies at a grocery store, where I happened to see my mother's white whale, the pistachio magnum. (Apologies to my father, who later had to suffer through my mom checking every grocery store on their next European vacation). Then we headed up the mountain, enjoying the views of the city and snagging a few grapes off the vine to try. We got to our first winery ~1PM. We sat at the slightly wet picnic tables and sipped on delicious white wine, trying to come up with obnoxious sommelier terms to describe it. Even with some clouds, the view was spectacular, and the winery felt quaint and charming.

After finishing our first glass, we hiked on to the next, stopping for homemade cheese sandwiches on a small bench. At the next winery we shared a bottle, and Lucien ordered a bottle of soda water to mix. Luckily this winery had covering as it started to downpour, giving a slight chill in the air and making the experience feel a bit more rugged and cozy.

When the rain lulled, we left looking for another winery, but found most other options closed due to the weather. Now tipsy, Lucien proposed schnitzel and Ben instantly agreed. We hiked back down and wandered into the first Austrian restaurant we found. Dark wood, long benches, slight humidity in the air, and din of locals told us we were in the right spot. I ordered steamed meat dumplings on a bed of sauerkraut and Ben got schnitzel, and we all had another round of the local wine.

At one point Ben came back from the bathroom looking dazed, saying he had just seen Jakob Poeltl in the other room, ordering at the counter. Poeltl is a 7' NBA player, apparently from Vienna, we confirmed after a quick Google. He looked huge in this old restaurant with low ceilings, and Ben found an excuse to walk by him an additional time.

NBA player Jakob Poeltl has eaten this schnitzel!

Satisfied and tipsy, we got ice cream cones on the way home to our AirBNB. We all agreed that despite the rain, hiking the wineries was amazing.

Saturday 05Aug23

Lucien had us start the day at a Bosnian restaurant, where we had slices of burek. It was delicious!

Burek for breakfast

After breakfast, Lucien guided us to the Leopold museum, centered on Austrain art from ~1850-1950, with special collection dedicated to Egon Schiele. We enjoyed it.

When we were museumed out, we popped into a Starbucks as Lucien was craving an iced coffee (and you can't just count on your average European cafe making a good one...) As we meandered, it started to downpour, and we had to wait it out in an overpriced clothing store.

We all picked our own "fast food" for lunch. I had a brie sandwich from a local bakery and ordered an apfelstrudel for the group, Lucien's eye was caught by mini open faced sandwiches and Ben, unsurprisingly, had doner. We ate our late lunch back at the hostel while we tried out a weird card game they had in the common room.

Then we headed to the Vienna Rapid soccer stadium! Ben loves taking us to local soccer games, and the Rapid did not disappoint! The crowd had lots to cheer for as the Rapid won handily, 4-0. 

Dinner was at cozy local restaurant where we enjoyed our own private gazebo, thanks to the rain keeping folks away from the courtyard. We shared more local white wine and a meat strudel. 

We walked around a bit and ended up in new restaurant for more wine and conversation, this time centering on a well-worn conversation between Ben and Lucien, the meaning of being "half-Jewish." After they played the usual hits of that conversation, and I finished my dessert, we walked home through the Ring area, enjoying the magnificent palaces and government buildings beautifully lit up. We managed to find another doner restaurant on our way home and enjoyed the late night greasy food in our hostel before bed. 

Sunday 06Aug23

Breakfast was a sit-down affair at Cafe Westend; my soft-boiled egg and toast was delicious. We did not have any big plans for our last day, we so just meandered about the city. It was nice to see Vienna through Lucien's eyes, he has a knack for appreciating the small details that make this city feel special. When we later exchanged photos of the trip, it was fun to see what we both photographed. Lucien shared inviting photos of the city captured with love; I shared Ben eating doner. 

We ended up at Flanaghan's Irish pub to watch the the US women in the world cup (unfortunately lose to Sweden). As we enjoyed Guinness and an Irish breakfast, Ben remembered this was the same pub we visited 3 years earlier when we watched the Vikings lose in the playoffs. Flanaghan's is cursed. 

We ended at a hipster cafe, where we shared our last conversation before going separate ways. It felt like Lucien saved up some of his best material as we had one of our deeper conversations of the trip.  Something about a disappointing vegan sachertorte really makes a guy need to re-examine his life. 

We said goodbye to Lucien around 4PM and still had plenty of time to kill before our evening train. We checked out Donauinsel, an artificial island in the Danube. There happened to be a volleyball tournament with outdoor activities set-up, but given the rain, everything was closed. Even though we couldn't partake, it was still fun to walk along the island.

We trained back to our hostel to grab out belongings and grab food along the way to the train station. Surprise, surprise, doner again! For detailed readers, you'll count this as Ben's 4th doner of the trip. A new personal record. I could not stand another doner wrap so I got a calzone-samosa-doner mashup that won't let itself be defined by country of origin. 

We took a 7:30PM night-train home. They were sold-out of sleeper cars when we booked tickets home, so we were in a cabin of 6. It started in the evening as a romantic train ride watching the sunset on the Austrian country side. It ended being boxed in like sardines sleeping next to strangers' feet. What we did not realize as night-train novices, is that our chairs extend to touch across the aisle, creating a make-shift bed, so you sleep hugging the feet of the person across from you. Ben and I were boxed into the middle row, meaning we in the middle of the sardine can, next to everyone else's feet. While technically not the worst night of sleep in my life, it was fitful and sweaty. Ben swore he would never do it again, especially as we arrived hours late due to delays. 

Night train shenanigans

While a rough night of sleep with strangers added some color the weekend, we both had a lovely time in Vienna. I still feel awestruck that we can meet up with childhood friends in far away places. Thanks to Lucien for a special weekend!

For the Record

	Details
Arrival	22:00 VIE, RyanAir
Departure	19:30, Night train
Accommodation	Hostel Ruthensteiner, Robert-Hamerling-Gasse 24
Ben's doner kebab count	4
Maisy	With Hanna and Ray and their two corgis