Leaving Wien

After Croatia I realised I had less than two weeks Vienna, and with only a few pesky exams to worry about I wanted to cram in as much as possible in the time I had left. I saw a play at Burgtheater and an opera at Volksoper, visited the animals and flowers at Tiergarten Schönbrunn, danced at the biggest open air music festival in Europe, tried a Leberkäse, explored the Naturhistorisches Museum, went on a final Saturday trip to Naschmarkt, and relaxed in the sun at Stadtpark one last time.

The cast of Romeo + Julia at Burgtheater, a very artsy interpretation of Romeo and Juliet.

Waiting for Die Fledermaus at Volksoper.

Tiergarten Schönbrunn (the Vienna Zoo) is the oldest zoo in the world, and in the most beautiful location in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace. You can still see some of the old Baroque buildings and cages, but luckily the animals are kept in more natural habitats now. The enclosures are super chilled, meaning that birds (like one cheeky pelican) sometimes roamed about freely.

The sloth enclosure wasn't even labelled and had no lock at all, it was literally just a room in a beautiful Baroque building you could walk into where two sloths happened to be hanging out. Best.

A little further through the zoo was the Tyrol farm experience, with feisty goats and a traditional mountain cottage with a terrifying Austrian man offering free slices of cheese and selling delicacies like  cured ham and sour milk.

Every summer Vienna hosts the biggest open air music festival in Europe on the Danube Island, -Donauinselfest. The festival stretched across the whole island with stages every few hundred metres playing every kind of music you could hope to hear. Altogether my last week was a pretty excellent way to finish up five months of living in Vienna.

Croatia Part II - Sailing from Dubrovnik to Split

The next week we relaxed on a boat with thirty people from all over the world (mostly Australian but there was the odd kiwi as well). We had signed up for the eight day cruise from Dubrovnik to Split. On our first morning we woke up to find the boat had already set off and was powering through crystal blue waters under a perfect summer sky. The only problem was that after a big night out in Dubrovnik, Isaac never made it back onto the boat. He managed to get a ferry to our next port though so it all worked out.

It was an incredible week. We woke each morning to find the boat underway and beautiful clear waters and incredible views all around. During the day we’d sunbathe, jump from the boat and swim in natural bays, and occasionally pick up a textbook for our upcoming exams. We visited a national park and beautiful old towns.

In the afternoons we’d reach the next little town or city and explore the area. Each town was picturesque, with terracotta and white houses lining the hills down the beach. Dinner was either fresh seafood or amazing pizza, before heading out for the night.

Unfortunately the days went by far too quickly and before we knew it we were arriving in Split for our last night. At about 5am the next morning I decided sleep was never going to happen (a combination of music and a loved-up couple in the room next door) so I went for a quick look around the city to see the Old Town and the markets being set up for the day. Then it was another poorly planned but economic bus ride back to Vienna for a couple of exams before summer holidays.

Croatia Part I - Dubrovnik

By the second last week of semester most of our classes had finished and we just had to knuckle down and study for exams. Seeing as we had a little spare time, we headed to Croatia.

Barney and I decided to be really smart and save money by getting the bus instead of flying. The eight-hour overnight from Zagreb to Dubrovnik was something I probably wouldn’t do again, featuring bright lights, tiny chairs and house music played all night, and the drunk teenagers that got on at about 3am. Arriving in Dubrovnik made it all worthwhile, it’s one of the most beautiful cities I’ve seen.

We met up with the others and headed out to explore the Old Town, where some of the scenes of Kings Landing were filmed for Game of Thrones.

The next day we did some more exploring and visited the War Photography museum. The museum documents the work of several war journalists in conflicts from the 1980s to the early 2000s and it is incredibly moving.

It’s also pretty intense so we went for gelato from Dolce Vita after to lighten the mood.

Best in Budapest

A little while ago (24-26 May) I took a weekend trip to Budapest with the folks for a little indulgence before they went back to Perth. We stayed in an exquisite hotel, made good use of the executive lounge, did a little exploring, and a lot of eating.

We visited the Memorial Park, a park a little outside the city where all the statues from the Soviet era are on display. The park is symmetrical and different areas symbolise different aspects of communism, ending with a dead end to show that communism gets you nowhere.

On mum and dad's final night they treated me to the best dinner I've had in months at Chess.

Seriously nice stuff. I'm pretty lucky. 

Budapest is an incredible city with beautiful architecture, but many of its buildings are in need of a little TLC. On our last day we visited Hero's Square, where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is watched over by a guard that changes every hour, accompanied by a band at midday.

Then there was just time for a quick walk around the old castle and river before heading off to the very elaborate train station to head back to Vienna.