Leaving Nice, we spent three nights in Vienna, Austria. When booking flights, we noticed a long layover there anyway, so we figured—why not make it a few days and see the city? The European heatwave was in full swing, but some well-timed rain showers later helped cool us (and the city) down. Vienna is a fairly large city in the flat part of Austria, whereas we tend to prefer the more mountainous regions. Still, we’ll be back someday to see the Austrian Alps properly. With just a few days in town and travel fatigue setting in, we kept things relatively low-key.
Top of the agenda: seeing the world-famous Vienna Opera. Now, I’m definitely not an opera aficionado—but hey, when in Rome, right? We bought tickets a couple months in advance, then later realized the opera was almost six hours long. What?! Still, we dressed our best (by travel standards) and made our way to the beautiful opera house downtown, excited for the experience.
With temperatures in the mid-90s all day leading up to the 5 p.m. curtain time (is that what it’s called?), we’d already been out and about, wearing more clothes than I had in months. We were looking forward to some air-conditioned relief—spoiler alert: that was not to be. Being a historic building, apparently air conditioning is either not allowed or still on backorder from the 1800s. We sat in a small booth near the stage (I think that’s what you call it?), which we were told were some of the best seats in the house. There were little screens nearby to translate from German—which, yes, Austria speaks primarily German, and no, my two years in high school didn’t help much.
Once the performance began, I was impressed. The orchestra played nonstop, supporting the singers beautifully. But as we settled in, the heat settled in harder. No air movement, lots of sweat. And there we were, trapped in a sauna-like booth for what was supposed to be six hours. I was also scolded in German (I think) when reaching into my bag for a rag to help with sweat control. Long story short—we bailed at the first intermission (about two hours in).
That said, seeing the opera in Vienna was still a memorable cultural experience—even if we didn’t make it to Act II or III (or IV?). On the way out, I spotted a guy wearing shorts, and let me tell you—I was jealous. I bet he made it all the way to the second intermission, minimum.
Maybe the lack of AC is intentional? Perhaps this woman demands EXTREME silence—where even the sound of moving air is unacceptable.
We also grabbed tickets to see a morning practice at the Spanish Riding School, home of the famous Lipizzaner horses. Even though Tara is the real horse fan, I was genuinely impressed. If I ever ride a horse again in my life, it had better be one of these. We caught the last practice before the horses were moved to the countryside for their summer vacation. The riders train full-time and spend 7–10 years learning with the Lipizzaners. #Respect
Other highlights from our short Vienna stay:
• Researching (and taste-testing) the best Wiener Schnitzel in the city
• Running laps around the Belvedere Palace grounds
• Visiting the Albertina Museum to see Monet, Picasso, and more—and feeling proud that we’d been to a few places depicted in a “Fernweh” exhibit (we later learned Fernweh roughly means “wanderlust” or “a longing for faraway places”)
• Experiencing Hungarian food for the first time
• Sampling Austrian and German beers
• Sprinting from tree to tree in a downpour to make a dinner reservation
• Seeing the new F1 movie, knowing the actual race had just taken place a hundred miles away
• Eating local apple strudel
• Climbing to the top of St. Stephen’s Cathedral
• Chatting with a woman over dinner who works for the UN—she shared how recent U.S. funding cuts are affecting their work
• Consuming way too many of those Austrian wafer candy things
Overall, it was a nice—if brief—trip to Vienna. Not sure I’d go back to the city again, but I’ll definitely return to Austria to see more of what looks like a beautiful country with kind people. (Except the lady at the opera.)
Next up: a week or so in Montenegro (where we are now), followed by the multi-leg journey home.
Adore Vienna! But, she is… “complicated” ;) https://substack.com/home/post/p-167636390?source=queue