To paraphrase little oprhan Annie, tomorrow is only a day away and when in Vienna, it will be better! After our not so fun day, we were relieved that at least our room was big and the pillows were fluffy, so we got a great night sleep and woke up to wind but no rain! After breakfast at the hostel (not free but they had a cappuccino machine so it was totally worth three euros) we went to see the Spanish riding school's morning workout. The school is all about incredible moves with Lippizaner horses and highly trained riders set to music. It's like dressage riding, but a class of its own and it was very cool to see. We explored around a bit in the sun to try to find our bearings better than yesterday and settled into a cafe to have cake and coffee for lunch before going back to the Spanish riding school for a guided tour of the stables and grounds of the school, which was really interesting. We figured we should probably find out a bit about theist story of the city we were in, so we went to the Wien museum after the tour and then grabbed dinner before one of the most exciting parts of Vienna...the opera! Apparently its one of the best opera houses in the world and we heard that you can get standing room tickets for 3 euros by standing in line 90 minutes before a show, so that's exactly what we did. So for less than the price of a glass of wine in the theatre, we got to see l'exlixer d'amore. The spelling is probably wrong but it's a fun Italian opera about, you guessed it, unrequited love. Even though we were the second to last row in the place, the sound was amazing and the actors were obviously having fun on stage, plus the atmosphere is so cultured that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Overall, the day went much more smoothly than yesterday. The weather still wasnt fully cooperating (wind replaced the rain), but we felt like we took in more that the city had to give than we did yesterday and we could recognize why people really liked Vienna. Our final morning (this morning) was quite interesting. Even though the ease of the hostel breakfast was appealing, we planned to find another authentic cafe in the large, lively market outside the hostel. Well, turns out that the market is most active on Saturdays and completely dead on Sundays (of course) so we had to make other plans. After asking the front desk for a recommendation, we made our way out to find pastries and coffee. When we get there, we open the door, only to be abruptly ushered out because they do not open at a normal hour on Sundays, they wait until eleven, as does the entire city, apparently. Since they were closed, we decided to walk around little bit and only use the hostel breakfast as a last resort. Finally we found a bakery that was authentic enough for our cold, hungry bodies (it was a chain but one that started in Vienna and hasn't spread very far out) and ducked in. While we were enjoying pastries and cappuccinos, it started snowing outside! Snow in Vienna was not on the forecast at all, but not much surprises us anymore, so we just went with it. After breakfast we walked around a little bit more, only to find that we were in the city center already. Turns out that all of Vienna that we had been seeing was about a ten minute walk from our hostel but he had no idea because we had such a time orientating ourselves (we still are blaming the weather, our terrible map and the less than helpful hostel staff). But really, why didn't the staff tell us that we could walk to all the things that we had been taking the metro to? Ah! We had a good chuckle and then quickly found our bearings that had eluded us the past 48 hours.
Since we got more acclimated to the city layout in the last hour than the rest of our stay combined, it's hard to say exactly how Vienna was. The city is full of art and music and history, which is classy and cultured, but I think we need better weather to soak it all in. Having a city talked up also gives it big shoes to fill, and I think that hurt us a bit too. The hostel being a party hostel didn't help either. Individually everything we did was really nice and enjoyable; the horses were very cool, the opera for 3 euros is a once in a lifetime opportunity that worked out for us, the museums were great collections, the food was really tasty. It just didn't feel like successful city as Barcelona or Florence did. When we first get into a new place, I always feel like we are kind of blobs that fall on top of the buildings, like if you rolled out silly putty and laid it on a model city. If we are able to get a feel for the city quickly, our blobs start to warm up and sink down into all the side streets and corners filled with the best of the culture, the hidden gems that not everyone sees. If we stay rigid for some reason, we only see down into the main parts and watch from above, not fully immersed in the people and the place. Since we didn't start to warm up until today, I feel like even though we hit almost all the high points, we really didn't experience Vienna like it deserves. I think that we will just have to give it another shot during a warmer and less rainy season!
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