We arrived in Wien early in the morning. At the train station we figured out how to obtain money from the local ATMs or "geld" machines and how to use the metro. We took the metro to a station we thought was near the youth hostel. After walking for a little bit, we arrived at the Hosteling International Jugendherbergen at 7 Myrthengasse 7, just as people were lining up for breakfast and checking out. We were nervous about paying for a room without seeing the facilities, but we went ahead with it and locked our packs in the locked room. We then took the metro to Stephansplatz.
Stephansdom is a very impressive and tall cathedral. Partly damaged by World War II, very few of the original stained glass windows remain. Over course, it has been under restoration since then. Around that area is Kartnerstrasse, a pedestrian shopping and tourist district. We did a little bit of shopping for warmer clothing and for a dress shirt for me in case we went to the opera. Since it was Saturday, we went to the Flohmarkt at the Naschmarkt--a giant, weekly fleamarket. It was a really neat experience to walk around looking at everything people were selling. Suhad and I had pitas for lunch with falafel and kebab, sold by the many Turks who live in Vienna.
That night we went out to a Chinese restaurant near our hostel that had an all-you-can-eat Mongolian-style self-barbeque with the grill right on your table. We ate and ate, especially me because they had Korean bugolvi.
We slept at our hostel that night, which was unbelievably nice for a youth hostel. There were brand-new bunk-beds and you had your own shower and sink (but not toilet). The rooms were spacious and very clean. The view was of an ivy-covered courtyard. Downstairs there were big-screen televisions with CNN. It was an unbelievable experience and the nicest hostel I've ever seen. Definitely worth the 390 schillings per night.
The next day we woke up late, which was bad because we had intended to see the Vienna Boy's Choir sing during the Sunday Mass at the Habsburg's chapel. We met some fellow Californians at breakfast and almost ran to get to the chapel. We got there late, as most people had already gotten the few standing room areas there were (you need advance tickets to get an actual seat for mass). We heard the choir, who are above the ground floor overlooking the parishioners/tourists, but only saw them via closed-circuit video cameras. After about 5 minutes we decided to leave and see some other things around the Palace.
We headed to the Imperial Treasury, home of the Holy Roman Emperor's crown, sceptre, cross, and many other incredible things. There are huge jewels, including a massive aquamarine and emerald. Probably the closest I'll ever get to people like Charles VI and Prince Eugene of Savoy. It was really cool and worth the admission fee.
Afterwards, we debated what we should do. We didn't want to go to the Imperial Apartments as Schönbrunn was supposedly a more impressive palace. But it was not terribly close, and we weren't sure we wanted to walk around another palace. So, we decided to go to the Central Cemetary where most of Vienna's most famous citizens were buried. There we saw Brahms, Strauss (both), and Beethoven's graves in a special music section. Mozart is conspicuously absent (although there is a memorial to him there), because he was buried in an unmarked grave in the pauper's cemetary, as he died in poverty. We also Boltzmann and many other famous people there. We then headed to the Jewish cemetary where many of the graves were destroyed or poorly kept. It was sad to see the cemetary, as many tombs had been rebuilt after the war by American relatives of Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II.
We went back to Kartnerstrasse where checked the time for that night's opera at the Staatsoper. We were going to try something that a German medical student had told me the month before in the United States. She had said that any unsold opera tickets were sold to students on a first-come, first-serve basis half-an-hour before the performance. Katie, wherever you are, thanks for the advice.
We were tired that afternoon and took a long nap. When we awoke we were late to get ready for the opera, which was to be Wagner's Die Walkürie (Flight of the Valkyries of The Ring of Nibelung), immortalized to non-opera aware Americans as the battle song played in the movie 'Apocalypse Now' by Robert Duvall's character. We ran to the bus station and got to the metro as quick as we could. We got to the opera just in time.
I've never been an opera fan. But the performance was incredible, especially visually, which I wasn't expecting from an opera. The scenes they created on the stage, down to the fake snow that was falling in winter, were spectacular. Even though I hardly understood almost all of the German sung in the actual opera, I could get a sense of what was happening by seeing the actors and hearing the changes in their voices and in the musics.
Not to mention that we got awesome seats that were selling for more than ten times what we paid for our tickets. We sat next to each other in different loge boxes, next to people who were dressed very elegantly. I spent the first 1/2 hour of the opera just being in awe that we had actually gotten such tickets. Thank God I had packed a tie with me.
We headed back to our hostel. Vienna was in many ways our most favorite city that we visited because of the ease of traveling, the cleanliness, and the things that we did. We had a great time and I hope we get another chance to visit. Tomorrow we were leaving for Prague.
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