“You've got your passion, you've got your pride
But don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?”
–‘Vienna’ by Billy Joel (One of my all-time favorite Billy
Joel songs)
So, I could recap every little detail
of Vienna, but I’ve chosen for both my sake and yours to just recap the highlights
of the trip, so here goes:
·
Our apartment was in the suburbs of Vienna (two
tram lines away from the city center to be exact) in a somewhat “sketchy” area
that didn’t make me feel super comfortable, but we never had any issues. Plus, there
were three locks and a deadbolt on our apartment door…which made me feel safe…and
not so safe at the same time.
·
Our days usually started around noon…my day
usually started around 9 or 10, but Josephine and Adeline could win awards for
how long they can sleep! We would wake up, drink some coffee while watching
some T.V. show on Adeline’s computer, take turns showering/using the bathroom
while the others either got dressed or began making lunch which was basically
tuna, cheese, and tomatoes in different forms every day…sometimes we threw in
some bread or eggs to mix it up a bit. Yes, the food got very old, but since I
didn’t know what anything in the supermarket was, and Josephine and Adeline
usually planned our meals in quickly spoken French, I succumbed to basically
going along with whatever was provided. It was better than sardines or
something like that, so I didn’t complain. Funny story about the grocery
shopping (at least, it’s funny now): the first day in Vienna, we went out in
search of a grocery store which the lady leasing us the apartment had said was “right
around the corner.” I’m not sure which corner she was referring to, but we
walked for over an hour looking for a grocery with no luck. Finally in one
last-ditch effort, we turned a corner (one that was very far from the apartment)
and…voila…a grocery store! I swear angels started singing. We were all
exhausted, thirsty, hot, and starving, so this grocery store bore a strong
resemblance to what people say heaven is like. The not so funny part was that
on the walk back to the apartment (when we managed to get lost three times
within three blocks of the apartment) we passed at least three other grocery
stores. I still have no idea how we managed to miss all of them when we first
set out, but we made sure not to do the same during our next trips to the
store.
·
After lunch we would head into town or somewhere
around town to see different historical monuments and whatnot. We would walk
and walk and walk…sometimes we knew where we were heading, but more often than
not, we would walk with the hopes of something that appeared, as Josephine
would say, “Really big, and really pretty, so probably famous.”
·
When we would start to get a bit hungry, we would
stop at a little café or bakery (of which Vienna has more than a surplus) and
try a piece of cake. Josephine would eat a Sachertorte (a really, really
chocolately cake) almost every time because they originated in Vienna and
apparently taste much better in Vienna. I tried one the first day and it was
definitely delicious, but there were so many other very appealing cakes in all
of the bakeries too, so I tried a different one every day.
·
Around 5 or 6 every day, we would all be
exhausted with aching feet from all the walking we had done, and would return to
the apartment for some R&R before setting back out into town to look for a
bar or club with “ambiance” as the French refer to it. What we usually found
was a couple groups of young kids standing on a sidewalk in a circle talking
and small groups of elderly couples sitting at different cafes and restaurants.
I’ve never seen so many 60+ people out between 10 and midnight every single
night. What I’ve come to conclude is that Vienna is where people who aren’t
quite wealthy enough to retire in Switzerland go after retirement. Which may
also explain why things tended to be a bit pricier. Anyway, we never seemed to
find the environment that Josephine and Adeline were searching for (I would
have been fine sitting down in any of the thousands of cafes and having a glass
of wine or beer), so we usually got a gelato at this stand that had 15+ flavors
and then headed back to the apartment to watch a movie or two.
·
The castles/museums that we visited
while we were there included: The Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments
(inclusively call the Hofburg—the former imperial residence in Vienna); the Schoenbrunn castle; and the Belvedere Castle.
Each one was completely majestic. The castles and the gigantic gardens
behind each of them lived up to every expectation that I had about Vienna. I’m
entirely infatuated with the gardens, and I’m fairly certain I could spend a
whole day sitting on one of the benches near one of the fountains just reading
a book and watching people go by. The landscaping is always flawless and the
view of the castle or the surrounding is city is always breathtaking. The inside
of the castles usually has the same effect. However, Josephine and Adeline were
only really interested with Sisi, so we passed rather quickly through all of
the other historical rooms and art displays. I’m not a huge history buff, but I
do find most artifacts and architecture that originated in time periods long
ago very interesting. I was completely
in love with each one we went to, and I often wished that Josephine and Adeline
weren’t quite so “go, go, go” all the time so that we could have taken a little
more time to just marvel at the ancient architecture and the amazing history that
surrounded us at every turn, but I took some great pictures, bought a few nice
post cards, and tried to commit as much of the scenery to my permanent memory
as possible.
·
Other interesting things that we saw:
o
Saint Stephen’s cathedral which became a well-known landmark for us since
it was between the center of town and our usual tram stop. The steeples
stretched so high into the sky that it literally didn’t appear to be real,
especially on the days when the sky was bright blue and there wasn’t a single
cloud to be seen—which was pretty much every day. It looked as if it had just
been painted onto a deep blue canvas instead of constructed with bricks and
bare hands.
o
Saint Michaels church where we saw a wedding rehearsal between a British
man and an American woman. The church was drowning in white and purple flowers
for the wedding and it looked and smelled wonderful.
o
City Hall-On top of being a very large, ancient, and gorgeous building,
it was the gathering spot for pretty much all of the active people in Vienna at
night because it was where they held the nightly film festival. Right in front
of the city hall was a gigantic projector screen surrounded by many folding
chairs and bleachers that had been temporarily arranged for the film festival.
Behind the seating arrangements was an area filled with food/drink tents and
tables for people to eat/drink/socialize around. There was food from all over
the world—including Australia J
The first afternoon we had a crepe (and I had a Radler: half beer/half lemonade—it’s
very popular in the summertime in Germany). We went in one night to watch a
Norah Jones concert on the screen, but Josephine and Adeline decided that it
wouldn’t be very entertaining, so we had some Weiner schnitzel (which was absolutely
delicious) with some potato salad (which was the best potato salad I’ve ever
had) and then headed off to get some ice cream and head home. The last night we
were in Vienna, the Nutcracker was being shown on the screen, so we went in to
see that, however the same conclusion as the last time was drawn, so we got
some food again before leaving. This time, I tried kangaroo from the Australian
stand—I never had the chance to try it when I was actually in Australia, so I
decided now was a good a time as any. Conclusion: it tasted very similar to a
steak with only a slightly different flavor, but it was really, very good, and
now I can add one more “exotic” food to my list!
o
A war memorial (I’m not sure which war it was memorializing), with a beautiful
fountain that was positioned just right so that half a rainbow formed on the
side. It was beautiful. Josephine, who knows a little German, read the
engraving, but I don’t remember what it said. I just remember that it was
gorgeous.
o
The State Park (stadtpark)- it reminded me somewhat of Saint Stephens
Green in Dublin—just a bit sunnier. It had beautiful landscaping, and a clock
on the side outlined with bright, colorful flowers. Small statues of famous
people from Vienna were constructed in little circles of grass throughout the
park.
o
Prater Park—an amusement park just a bit outside of the city. You pay for
each ride individually. It wasn’t heavily populated at all. In fact, there
weren’t even lines for any of the rides. It was an interesting place. We didn’t
stop to ride any rides, we just wandered through to get a glimpse at the park.
·
On the second to last day of our trip, we took a
bus to Bratislava in Slovakia to do a bit of exploring. The ride only took an
hour and (unlike our usual routine) we had been ready early so that we had
enough time to see the city. We ate the lunches we had packed on a set of huge
stone steps that led up to the giant cathedral of the city and then we set off
to explore. Bratislava is an adorable little village with five or six main
landmarks that are all in walking distance. The city center included a small
circle of wooden stands where people were selling locally made items (like
jewelry, honey, and linen) as well as souvenirs), little cobblestone walkways
lined with cafes, pubs, and shops, and historical buildings such as the previous
city hall and the cathedral. On the outside of the city center was the castle
situated on a fairly large hill. The outer wall of the castle provided a
beautiful panoramic of the surrounding cities below. We also ventured to the
present City Hall and the Presidential Palace. For the first time on the trip,
we stopped at a little pub to enjoy a drink, a nice view of the quaint town,
and the slow, relaxing environment. Josephine and Adeline both had a Blackberry
smoothie, and I enjoyed a nice glass of Hoegarrden :) We spent some time at the local
stands (actually too much time…and too much money) and I got some nice gifts.
No mom, I am not going to say what I bought…You’ll just have to wait and see :) Around 5, we headed
back to the bus stop.
·
On our last day in Vienna, we stopped at a
little café named Demel where we could watch the pastry chefs through a large
window as they were preparing different cakes and pastries. That was really
neat, and the cake I had was delicious…as always! Then we did some shopping
along the HUGE main drag where there are hundreds of restaurants and shops and
even more tourists. I said we did “some” shopping…actually, we did “a lot” of
shopping. But, we made ourselves feel better by factoring in that we had saved
a lot of money by making most of meals at home and by not spending much money
on alcoholic beverages at bars. Maybe it isn’t very logical reasoning, but it
worked for us :)
·
On Thursday we didn’t have to leave for the
airport until around 3, so we went into town to finish up our souvenir shopping
and to try a meal from Nordsee—the fast food fish restaurant that we saw everywhere
in Vienna. It was….well, pretty much like a fish sandwich from McDonalds.
·
We arrived at the airport extra early, so we sat
at a café and enjoyed our final Sachertorte (and I enjoyed my final Radler in Vienna).
·
Adeline’s dad picked us up from the airport, and
I another very large wave of nostalgia rush over me and as he drove us back to
Paris. My first time on this drive from CDG to Josephine’s house is a memory I
don’t think I will ever, ever forget…mostly because I haven’t ever reached a
level of anxiety comparable to that day ever in my life (I partially blame my
dad for making watch Taken before I left for France the first time). Anyway, I
was supposed to have a working phone when I landed in Paris—at least, that is
what Sprint had told me—and I was supposed to call Josephine when I landed so
that she knew to be expecting me at her house. Well my flight landed later than
it was supposed (but still very early in
the morning—Like 7, I think) to start, then I quickly found that my phone wasn’t
working at all so I wouldn’t be getting in touch with Josephine. Then, I
attempted to find a taxi—I at least had Josephine’s address and knew (from
Google maps) that it was next to a Pizza Hut, but unlike America, every
building in Paris is connected to the one next to it and it is nearly
impossible to distinguish between shops and houses…in addition, there are gates
in front of many of the buildings which makes every “house” look the same. So,
my first ride from CDG to Paris was not necessarily relaxing. When the taxi
driver pulled up along a random curve and parked the car, I figured that was
cue to get out. I had succumbed to the fact that I would be stuck sitting on a
sidewalk in Paris with my huge red suitcase, backpack, and duffle bag stuffed
to the brim waiting for Josephine to return home in the hopes that one of us
would recognize the other based off of the small amount of facebook contact we
had had. Instead, as I was stumbling out the car with my backpack and duffle bag,
some well-dressed, middle-aged lady standing in front of a gate to what looked
like an apartment building said, “Brittany?” (pronounced “Bree-tah-nee). I had
no idea who she was, but she looked nice enough, so I replied. Turns out, she
was Josephine’s mom (the whom I’ve grown to love so much) and she had just been
leaving for work when she saw the cab pull up, and since the cabs usually stop
at the end of the street, she thought this cab was most likely carrying me (the
strange, young, confused, anxious, jet-lagged American girl who had just left
home for the first time by herself). I’ll never forget the relief I felt when
she told me she was Josephine’s mother. Forgetting the ‘bises’ (the kisses on
each cheek that is the standard French ‘hello’), I wrapped my arm around her in
a huge bear hug. I think she got the point that I was happy to meet her.
Driving back along the same roads that I taken
two long years ago reminded me of this original encounter with the Starons and
the many, many more that were to transpire after. It amazes me how quickly you
can become attached to some people even when you see them so little. I met the
Starons two years ago, spent a month living with them, spent a day in
Cincinnati shopping with Josephine when she visited last year, and then ended
up going to Vienna for a week with her this summer. I realize the rarity of a
situation such as this, and I’m so thankful to be a part of such an uncommon
and wonderful circumstance.
"Remember, the greatest gift is not
found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends."
-Cindy Lew
