6/12/26 - Vienna Waited for Us

2:30 a.m. wake-up call this morning. Brutal.

Four of my flatmates - Emma, Riley, Melody, and Addi - and I hopped in an Uber to Heathrow and my first weekend trip was underway!

When we got to the airport at 3:15 a.m., we were greeted by a large group of (Scottish?) men in kilts camped outside of security who notified us it didn’t open for another hour and a half.

We finally made it through security to the gate after Melody’s bag was flagged for her garage door opener (nobody knows why this was there), and we all passed out for the plane ride.

Upon landing, we went straight to buy tickets for the S-Bahn into Vienna. The S-Bahn even has double-decker trains (with magazines, which I thought was cute).

 

We grabbed a quick breakfast of pizza and coffee at Anker and headed further into the city to explore some churches.

First, we saw the iconic St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Mozart’s funeral was held here):


Next was St. Peter’s Church; its ornate ceiling was inspired by the Holy Spirit (peep the dove)!

  

We walked through the city center and saw the Pestsäule (plague column), which was commissioned by Emperor Leopold I. Thought to commemorate the city’s resilience after the Great Plague in 1679, it conveniently highlights Leopold's holy intercession with God that ended the disease (he'd fled the city for the duration of the plague).

We also walked into the Franciscan Church, which felt like a theatre. 


On our walk back toward our Airbnb around lunchtime, we spotted the golden turrets of the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, so we took a small detour and explored.


We frolicked through Stadtpark, spotted some giant koi fish in the ponds, and played a dangerous round of “What Are the Odds?”



There were some Würstelstände (classic Austrian sausage stands) and Austrian shops selling traditional clothing:

Eight flights of stairs and one incorrect door code later and we were in the Airbnb. We ended up getting such a cute flat with a loft and rooftop views!

Dinner was at Schachtelwirt. I got the beef goulash, of course. One thing I’ve noticed is how hospitable everyone is in Vienna. The cooks made sure we were comfortable, gave us candy and apples, and we got to sign the wall once we were done eating.

 

Today's post-dinner adventure was the Vienna State Opera. We got cheap standing-room tickets to see Animal Farm. It was definitely an experience. Think paper mache pig masks, splattering blood, and opera singing against the sterile backdrop of a slaughterhouse. 😬

    

After escaping the hot theatre, we explored some more, hit a pub (I tried Mole Cola - pretty good), and then called it a night!



Love,

Megan



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