I realize I am churning out travel posts like CRAZY, but I also realize just how much I want a record of all our little (and big) adventures on this trip. I’m finding if I don’t write things down right away, the details start to blur.
I do not expect everyone to read every post!! Feel free to tune in (and tune out) whenever you wish.
Here’s everything I’ve written about so far:
- Travel Adventures: Getting to Europe
- Come on In: A “We’re Leaving for Europe” House Tour
- Best Things to Do in Munich (this post has links to all the individual posts about our time in Munich)
- Vienna Travel Diary: Our First Weekend in Austria
- Vienna Travel Diary: Our First Week in Austria
- Visiting Schönbrunn Zoo + Palace
- Bratislava (Slovakia) Day Trip from Vienna
- Vienna Travel Diary: Our Second Week in Austria
- Vienna Crime Museum + Vienna Aquarium
- Sopron (Hungary) Day Trip from Vienna
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Germany/Vienna Edition
- Europe on a Budget: Dispatch #1 — What’s Saving Us Money
SATURDAY
Okay, how was it already our THIRD weekend in Vienna (by the time this posts, we’ll have just wrapped up our FOURTH week in the city)?
I genuinely have no idea what our Saturday morning looked like—and the complete lack of photos is not helping. I’m guessing it involved some screens, a quick grocery run, and tackling laundry… the glamorous side of travel.
By the afternoon, we were ready to get out and explore more of our neighbourhood.
I had been wanting to check out the Bockkeller-Durchlass on Eichelhofstraße—a series of tunnels tied to a Jesuit brewery dating back to the 1600s. It’s one of those blink-and-you-miss-it spots, but we all seem to enjoy exploring pieces of history tucked into everyday streets.
From there, we just… kept walking. And walking. And eventually found ourselves at what might be the coolest incinerator I’ve ever seen. The chimney is wrapped in what looks like a giant disco ball. If it seems vaguely familiar from a previous post, that’s because it was designed by Hundertwasser.
It’s not just an architectural piece of art, it provides energy for about 50,000 households in Vienna!
Next stop was Minoritenkirche. This church is old! The foundation stone dates back to the 1200s, and inside is a life-size tile mosaic of Da Vinci’s Last Supper (this time created by Italian artist Giacomo Raffaelli). It was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and weighs over 20 tons!!
From there we made our way to Palais Daun-Kinsky, which has free entry to what looked like a beautiful interior. Google assured me it was open on Saturday. Except—plot twist—it was closed. A classic case of online info not matching reality. Womp, womp.
Oh well, it worked out. The courtyard was beautiful, and right across the street we stumbled across one of Vienna’s famous Easter markets.
They do not mess around with Easter here!
This one was on the smaller side, but it was absolutely packed with artisan goods, fresh food, and—brace yourself—40,000 painted eggs.
There were signs everywhere warning that if you break an egg, you buy an egg. Fair. But it was nerve wracking with Indy walking by CARTONS of said eggs in a crowd of people. (The eggs emerged unscathed from our visit.)
We picked up some incredible Austrian cheese, and I really wanted to bring home some hollow gnome eggs for Nicole and Michelle. But after briefly imagining them being crushed somewhere deep in my carry-on weeks from now, I accepted defeat and settled for photos.
But just look at these gnomes!!!!!
That’s where the photo trail ends for the day. We wrapped things up with a stop at a bakery and shared a slice of Sachertorte. Verdict: it was… fine. I’m glad I tried it, but one bite was enough for me.
SUNDAY
We eased into Sunday.
Since we wanted to watch our church livestream…live… (and because of the 5-hour time difference), we had an open morning ahead of us. I stayed back at the apartment to pick up, prep food, do laundry, and blog while John and the kids headed out for a long walking adventure.
They looped past the incinerator again (because once is clearly not enough when there’s a disco-ball chimney involved), and wandered along the Danube to check out the famous street art. At some point Indy spotted a giant banana in a shop window.
They also made their way through Ferstel Passage! So photogenic.
And just like that, the weekend wrapped up.
It was pretty low-key (some of our pace was dictated by the overcast skies and cool weather). In the end, it felt like we had a nice balance of exploring and resting. Also, we knew we were headed to Sopron on Monday, so it made sense to take things a bit slower in preparation for a day trip away from Vienna.
Your turn.
- Is Sachertorte worth the hype, or am I missing something?
- Do you prefer packed travel days or slower, wander-and-see-what-happens ones?
Discover more from The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
What a nice weekend!
I’ve never had the original Sacher-Torte, but I’ve heard that many are underwhelmed by it because it’s drier and less sweet than expected. Did you have the original version at the Sacher Hotel? It’s supposed to come with that thin layer apricot jam.
And did you visit Demel already? They also have a version of the Sacher-Torte which some people seem to prefer.
We didn’t go to Sacher Hotel. It was a chain of cafes here in Austria. It was… fine. A bit dry and not much apricot jam.
I haven’t been to Demel yet, but Indy and I walked by it yesterday (Easter Sunday) and the line was sooooooo long.
I think you’re really smart to do your posts when your adventures are fresh in your mind, Elisabeth. It’s a lot of details to remember later and you won’t be looking at photos wondering what and where they were!
I had Sacher Torte at the Sacher Hotel and I found it a little dry. I am not a big chocolate person but I am glad I tried it.
I didn’t go to Sacher Hotel, but it is of course the most famous place to go. I realllly wanted to go to Cafe Central, but it’s closed for renovations 🙁
So many details!!
Totally random fact: the tablecloth in The Last Supper is (allegedly) from my village in Cyprus.
The village makes stunning lace, which is now UNESCO listed. There is vague historical data that suggests Da Vinci visited the village. We know that an alter cloth win Milan cathedral is from here. But there is also a suggestion that a British official made up the story of the Da Vinci visit back in the 1930s to improve the tourists trade.
I LOVE random facts. And this is very cool!
I’m okay with “facts” being shrouded in mystery. It’s fun to think about nuances to famous paintings.
A lovely weekend – walking, exploring, pratical matters- everyone could recharge! And disco ball chimney so charming!
I like something specific to do while traveling but need downtime. A few stops or sites but quiet evenings. Reading your and Grateful Kae’s travel posts leave me wondering how you all can keep it up, being active all day and into the night. Good thing you guys are the world travelers and not me!
Definitely the coolest incinerator I’ve ever seen.
There are definitely days I “crash” but there’s a bit of… adrenaline (?)… something that propels me through the full days.
First of all, YES to blogging about what you want to blog about! I for one am really enjoying my virtual trip to Europe.
Gnome eggs! And yes my palms were sweating at the thought of walking through a “you break it you buy it” space.
I struggle with over scheduling my time when I travel. The reason that I do it is that I love exploring, and you never know when one of these sites is really going to “hit” as the star of the trip. But the downside is that it gets very tiring.
I was SO nervous someone (could have easily been me) would brush up alongside a whole crate of eggs and SMASH $100s of dollars. Eeks.
Yes to it being so hard to plan. Often, the things that we enjoy the most aren’t necessarily something I’ve predicted to be a big “hit.” I feel you on this VERY much!
I am MORE than happy with the photo of the gnome egg – how cute are they??? Imagine the heartbreak of having those crushed in the luggage. I gasped when I saw the photo of all of them together! How fun is that!
It was so fun, Nicole. I instantly thought of you and Michelle. The eggs were stunning!
The gnome eggs are so adorable – and yes, a photo was a much better idea than trying to bring them home! It makes me feel all warm & fuzzy that you thought of me and Nicole! I love all of your posts, and they will be wonderful for you to refer back to later. The photos are delightful.
I’m always delighted to spot gnomes in the wild I always instantly think of the two of you <3
Who buys all those eggs??
Those stone archways are my favorite.
Why does graffiti surprise me? There is always an underlying message that litter, homelessness, graffiti, all the yuckiness in life somehow originated in the USA, that Europe is above all that trashy stuff. Where am I getting this message?? People are people, regardless of the continent on which they dwell.
So much walking! So much to see! So much information! So many treats to sample!
No wonder you need quiet time alone. I feel the need after just looking at your photos and reading your descriptions.
I think people over here make little arches to hang the eggs from over the Easter holiday.
I think when graffiti is concentrated in a central place it can be beautiful! I tend to really enjoy street art, though enjoy pictures FAR more than words which along the Danube seems to be mostly words (which I can’t understand anyway because they’re in German).
Wow, the painted eggs are beautiful! I love the gnome ones the best, though! They would be tricky to bring home in one piece, though! I love wandering through European markets!
When I was younger and did solo travel, I had jam packed itineraries that would really exhaust my current self. These days I prefer more of a meandering/slower paced kind of trip as day to day life just feels so rushed and tiring!
I was thinking about this very thing earlier today—if I had my druthers, my pace would be a lot more relaxed but it’s pretty much impossible with the kids. During their “down” time, I stay on top of laundry, work, and other tasks. But if we don’t do things, they want screens because they don’t have school/friends, etc. So we stay quite busy but I think it’s the lesser of two evils!
All those eggs. How incredible. I would’ve been nervous for ME to walk thru, let alone one of my children. I haven’t tried whatever food you are referring to – sounds like it has gluten in it. I love that you have so much time to explore all of these ‘blink and you miss it’ spots. So cool. Bummer that the info on the internet misled you. I like to have an agenda when I sight see. I want to know where things are and in general how much time we have at a place. this stems from the fact that I’m usually only in a place for a set amount of time. If I could hunker down and relax /take my time, then yes- meandering thru the streets would be my preference. Happy Easter!
I was nervous about bumping into them, too!!!
It has been really special to spend extended time in a European city. Definitely a different experience from a week-long trip on spring break!
Yes, you should definitely blog about these things as they happen. You will end up with an incredible record of your trip. I love the eggs in that Easter market! So pretty and the gnomes are hilarious. I’m imagining if you bought them and tried to carry them around for the next several months, always being afraid of breaking them. Definitely not worth it.
I don’t even really know what sachertorte is, although i’ve heard of it. What did the rest of the family think?
It’s a chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam in between the layers and covered in a ganache of sorts. It’s famous in Vienna. I think everyone felt kinda Meh about it. It was fine, I’m glad we tried it, but definitely not a favourite.
Oh, those eggs! I think one would have to buy them and see if they would ship them with insurance to keep them from getting broken. Would probably multiply the price by 5 fold, right? They’re beautiful though.
I want to be the kind of person who just wanders and sees what happens, and I think your trip is the perfect opportunity for that. Especially in Europe, I feel like there is SO MUCH to see and I don’t want to miss it, and time is short. But with so much time, you get to slow down a bit and really do it right. I’m so happy for you all!
I did briefly think about trying to ship them home, but came to the same conclusion you did…I’d need insurance AND it would cost a small fortune.
There really is so much to see here; and in a city (just in general, not limited to Europe) there are so many niche experiences to seek out.