Oct 24, 2023

Pit Stop in Vienna

Updated: Oct 26, 2023

I said goodbye to Melissa, Dino, Lukas and Nacho and took an overnight train from Basel, Switzerland to Vienna, Austria. I’ve been planning this trip one week at a time as I travel through Europe. Which can be a little stressful at times but I think it’s the most fun way to travel. Plus, I’m not so great at planning ahead. I had an open week between Switzerland and Italy, where my best friend Myah will be meeting me mid October. I was looking at the map, thinking about where to go, and Vienna stood out to me. I remembered that one of my favorite people from college, Julia, has been living in Vienna for the past three years. Julia and I also studied abroad together in South Africa. I haven’t seen her since our senior year in 2020, but I reached out to see if I could visit her and she instantly replied YES. I could stay with her as long as I wanted to, in her shared flat just a few miles outside of Vienna’s city center. She told me that it’s wine season in Vienna, and we should make the best of it. The overnight train was not at all what I expected. I imagined it to be cozy, quiet and dark with all the passengers sleeping as we gently roll through rural Europe. This was not the case. It was so cold in the train, I put on almost every clothing item I had in my backpack and wrapped myself up in my towel. My seat didn’t adjust at all, but I managed to make a little bed using the seat next to mine that was luckily open. The big, florescent lights didn’t turn off and we stopped almost every 30 minutes. Every time we made a stop the German conductor would aggressively clear his throat into the intercom and announce at full volume which station we are at. I slept for maybe 20 minutes but thought this situation was pretty funny.

I arrived to Vienna around 6am with maybe three brain cells left after that 9 hour sleepless journey. I managed to find the subway station, and get myself to Julia’s neighborhood. Julia greeted me which a huge smile and a hug. She made me breakfast, and we caught up for the next few hours. Then we got lunch with some of her friends from her master’s program. Vienna has a huge Turkish community and I arrived on a day where the Turkish market was open. We got all kinds of sweets, fruits, kebab and felafel. My favorite was “Dr. Felafel” who made the best kebab of my life, dressed as a doctor. Julia gave me a tour around Vienna’s city center. We met up with some more of her friends and walked around the city that evening. They shared stories about their time in Vienna and I thought it sounded like a really cool and diverse place to live.

I didn’t expect to visit anywhere chilly when I packed for this journey, and Vienna was rainy, windy and pretty cold. Thank God Julia had some cute sweaters for me to borrow. We went up to the hills, half on bus half hiking, to visit a vineyard in Kahlenberg. The weather wasn’t great but that didn’t stop us. “rain or shine we drink wine” was our saying for the day. We basically got the place to ourselves and they were serving mulled wine, Glühwein. We stayed here for awhile, chatting, until we both decided it was time for a burger.

Julia had class and work during my last few days in Vienna so I did a bit of my own exploring. I met some lovely, welcoming people and had some amazing food in good company. Vienna will have a place in my heart from here on out.