Travel Retrospective: Remembering Vienna

The restaurant at Schloss Schonbrunn, a former summer residence of the Austrian royal family.

In September of 2005, I was in Vienna, Austria. My main reason for visiting was a romantic one: movie characters Jesse and Celine spent a whole night talking throughout the city in 1995’s Before Sunrise, and I wanted to see what they saw and walk where they walked. This film inspired me to backpack through Europe by myself, to hop on trains bound for other countries, and start up conversations with strangers.

Here, friends, is a photo essay of my few days touring Vienna: dining alone in a fancy hotel, visiting an imperial palace, attending the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and riding the Wiener Reisenrad, a huge Ferris wheel featured in Before Sunrise (it was just as magical as I’d hoped it would be).

My first glimpse of Vienna when I disembarked on to the train platform: I was delighted.

From the train station, I made my way though the streets, blindly picking a hostel out of my Let’s Go: Europe book.

In the courtyard of Hostel Ruthensteiner- a giant chess set! Chess is one of the things that unites people across cultures.

I squealed when I saw this sign: it was one of the first things in Vienna that I recognized from the movie.

My seatmate on the train had recommended coming to the Hotel Sacher and trying one of their famous Sacher tortes. Though I was horribly under-dressed and intimidated, I decided I had to do it. No regrets here, that chocolate cake was amazing 🙂

From there it was on to the Prater, Vienna’s amusement park. When I first watched Before Sunrise, I thought that the Ferris wheel they rode was the coolest one I’d ever seen: it didn’t have ordinary little cars that you sit in, it has gondolas for standing. Each one can probably hold a dozen people. It’s so much fun going from end to end for the different city views from each window.

My gondola awaits! How cool is that?

Wiener Reisenrad, Vienna’s Giant Ferris Wheel. Built in 1897.

The Wheel is 64.75 meters tall and 60.96 meters in diameter. It was the world’s tallest Ferris wheel from 1920-1985.

The next day, I had plans to see the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra perform. I’m not some huge orchestra buff, but Vienna’s is quite famous, and the standing section tickets weren’t expensive at all. The hall, called the Musikverein, was resplendent, as ornate as could be. Once again, I felt under-dressed, but it was so crowded I don’t think anyone even noticed me.

Wiener = Viennese. It was so nice being able to read a lot of signs, since English and German are so closely related.

I hung around after the concert was over to sneak in this photo. Gorgeous!

My one other big attraction in Vienna was Schloss Schonbrunn, or Schonbrunn Palace. It was once used as a summer residence of the Austrian monarchy and has over 1,400 rooms (!!). Unfortunately, there were no photos allowed inside the building, but there was plenty to capture once I explored the gardens on my own.

First, though, check out this subway tunnel! I felt as though I’d walked onto the set of a 70’s sci-fi film.

After a quick ride across the rainy city, I arrived at the palace.

The view of the palace and city beyond was magnificent as I stood on a hill in the back gardens.

Just a small fraction of the lovely French garden, planned in 1695.

The view standing in back of the palace looking across the gardens and up a 200 foot hill, to the Gloriette (seen in the topmost photo in this post).

The Gloriette at Schonbrunn Palace has a café inside, where the wait staff was content to let patrons idle at their tables as long as they liked, sipping on delicious lattes and gazing at the imposing surroundings.

I tried not to draw attention to myself by taking pictures, but I couldn’t help it. I was constantly in awe of the art & architecture everywhere I looked in Vienna, and this 239-year-old building was no exception.

My lunch at Cafe Gloriette: an omelet? I remember choosing it because it was one of the few vegetarian options I could find on the menu. I also remember that it was delicious.

Oh my goodness. I truly hope to visit Vienna again. What I did see was incredible, but it was only a tiny part of such a marvelous city.

St. Charles’ Church, or Karlskirche (pronounced Karl’s KEER-chuh)

*

Jesse: Would you be in Paris by now, if you hadn’t gotten off the train with me?

Celine: No, not yet. What would you be doing?

Jesse: I’d probably be hanging around the airport, reading old magazines, crying in my coffee cause you didn’t come with me.

Celine: Aww…actually, I think I’d probably have gotten off the train in Salzburg with someone else.

Jesse: Oh, yeah? Oh, I see. So, I’m just that dumb American momentarily decorating your blank canvas.

Celine: I’m having a great time.

Jesse: Really?

Celine: Yeah.

Jesse: Me too.

—Before Sunrise, written by Richard Linklater