The Gilded City of Vienna

What can I say about Vienna? Not long after I got here James wanted me to prioritize the cities I wanted to see and Vienna was one that made the cut of must sees. I counted down the days till this trip and really built it up in my mind however I did not fall in love. I’m not even sure I liked the city. All day I mulled over this city. Do I or don’t I? Even now I am unsure of this city. James and I have got to be in the minority when it comes to our feelings of this city. In the end I’m happy I got to see it and experience the city, but I just don’t know if it was worth making the final cut. Maybe another visit is in order? I just don’t know. All the sights we saw were beautiful no doubt, but I think what left a bad taste in our mouths was the city itself. Going from sight to sight the city was rather dirty and ultimately unappealing. I really like to walk the cities when we go and experience it all on foot, however this is one city I wouldn’t recommend doing that. If I go again I will probably take the hop on and off bus line. Either way though we have many memories from this gilded city.

After our arrival, we made a beeline for the edges of Vienna to Prater Park to ride the famous Wiener Riesenrad. As you rotate you get to see the city from above and it was picture perfect.

St Stephan’s Cathedral

Vienna is not lacking in churches one bit. As we made our way through the city we wandered in and out of the most opulent churches. It was a huge plus to walking getting to see all these lesser known churches.

After three church tours and some terrifying heights it was time to partake in a delicious lunch of an Austrian classic.

The food was SO delicious. It was heavenly.

 Next up on our day we made our way to the palace, but first we had to make a stop in the famed Demel. I have to say this was a bit of a let down. The shop area was so packed with people it was hard to walk through without knocking anything over. I was ok with that though thinking I was going to get some of the best chocolate cake ever. I mean Vienna prides itself on their cake and coffee. I cannot speak for the coffee but the cake was seriously lacking. It was so dried out. This cake must have been sitting out all day by the time we bought a slice. It was impossible to eat it.

We made our way down the street after to see the palace. I was holding on to my hope of this being the most wonderful of experiences. This girl loves a good palace tour after all. Since being in Germany, I have not been on a worse one. They packed as many people into each hall as possible. It was a bit upsetting. You could barely move for all the other people. The worst of all was not being able to enjoy the whole palace. The staff required you to do the tour in one specific loop, which effected the amount of time we had and could not see the areas we actually wanted to see. Not cool Vienna, not cool at all.

At the end of our day we started making our way back to the middle of the city and that was when we really got shown how hard this city is to navigate. We spent two hours circling the city attempting to find our way to the center. We did how ever get to see yet another beautiful church, though this time we were not allotted the time to see the inside.

The city of Vienna, had really high highs, and really low lows. I’m just not sure about it as a whole even now. The best way I can describe it is a gilded city. At first look it is stunningly beautiful but as you experience it you begin to realize it is just another city. I felt it lacked the charm of the other European cities we have been to.

Will i go back to Vienna? I honestly don’t know. If I do, I have a very long list of things to do differently. Maybe this city deserves a second, closer look… I shall wait and see.

Thank you so much for stopping by today,

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