"There are too many waterfalls here; the crowded streams hurry too rapidly down to the sea, and the pressure of so many clouds on the mountaintops makes them spill over the sides in soft slow-motion, turning to waterfalls under our very eyes."
-Elizabeth Bishop,
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/questions-of-travel/
After a 14-hour long bus ride during which I watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005-great movie!) and did some other uninteresting activities, I arrived in Vienna. Before going to my hostel, I stopped to explore a mall where an elderly woman came up to me and excitedly told me about her recent marriage to a "very old man" (in her own words). She then asked me whether I loved a man. I said, "no," and she laughed and told me I would have many years to love a man. Sometimes I wonder what it is about me that makes random people want to come up to me an tell me about their personal lives.
After dropping my stuff off at my dorm-style hostel, which I shared with four other travelers, I made my way around the city. Following dinner at Dim Sum (pictured above), I made my way to the opera house. I looked into buying tickets for Der Freishütz by Von Weber, but the only tickets they had left were hundreds of euros. However, Viennese people love opera so much that they have a live screen outside the opera house that broadcasts the opera happening inside. (!!!!) I stood outside along with hundreds of others to watch the Romantic German opera (pictured above).
As I walked around, I couldn't help but notice the vibrant colors and positive energy of the city. There were many colorful statues--one of a large bunny that was bright pink. I also noticed that the traffic lights were pictures of people loving each other. There were ones like the green one pictured above that displayed two people holding hands with a heart in the middle. There were ones where one or both of those people were wearing dresses. There were red ones where two people had their arms around each other. I'm not sure if those lights were trying to promote love, safety, inclusivity, or all of the above, but in reality, I didn't see any people holding hands while crossing the street. :(
However, the people I encountered were very kind. One man in a shop gave me a beautiful bookmark for free. Also, as I was walking down the street, I started violently choking on my lemonade, and a couple of strangers ran over me and pounded on my back.
Later, on my way to visit St. Stephen's Cathedral, pictured above, I noticed that my throat was in a lot of pain. All the pharmacies seemed to be closed, so I decided to see if I could find any other store with pain meds. I saw a kind-looking woman and man in a pretty shop, so I entered and asked if they carried anything for pain. The shop turned out to be a weed shop, so the man gladly offered to sell me some marijuana. I declined, but luckily, the woman realized that she had some Tylenol (the Austrian version) in her purse, and offered me a tablet. I stayed and chatted with the man, Max, for a while, and he told me about his experience living in Vienna after moving their from Sweden a couple years ago. He then gave me his card just in case I changed my mind about buying weed.
When I got back to the hostel, I was exhausted, but a little hungry, so I decided to grab a pizza at the bar before going upstairs. However, as I was waiting for my pizza, I noticed the guy next to me was wearing a Vineyard Vines shirt that said "." He turned out to live a couple towns over from me, and the guys an girls he was hanging out with also lived near us. I wasn't planning to drink, but Ellington (one of the guys) kept buying us all rounds of shots, which were too delicious to refuse. One of them was an apple strudel shot, which literally tasted like apple strudel! It was truly unbelievable.
I finally got to bed around 1, and I was so tired that I couldn't write this post until this morning. :)
Anyway, main takeaways from my first day in Vienna include:
1. The people are sweet and loving, but the stop and go-lights are even more so.
2. Opera is a big deal (wooo!!).
3. Weed is widely appreciated and elegantly presented.
4. People here believe that pounding on your back helps you stop choking.
5. People speak French more often than they speak english.
6. There are lots of American tourists specifically from Northern NJ and NYC.
7. Everything touristy is closed on Mondays, so hoping to get to the museums and palaces on Day 2.