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Europe 2024: The music capital
posted : Sunday, February 23, 2025
And so we arrived at a very cold and foggy looking Vienna. Disembarked (dragging the luggages up the narrow stairs down to our “room” was a bit of a workout) and the train continues its way to Budapest.
 Still German speaking but apparently a slightly different version and accent  Foggy morning Booked a hotel across the street but we got a bit lost inside the station looking for the correct exit and ended up circling the perimeter a bit. Got there in the end, and initially planned to just drop off our luggage but room was ready and hotel let us checked in. Which I was so grateful because for some reason I couldn’t stand the idea of not showering for another 12 hours or so lol.  Not the right exit apparently  Found it  A bit of an inside joke coz the sister and I have been watching this TVB drama series throughout the trip and the main character’s name is Moon姐  As you can probably tell I like this kind of shot  Ooo they use Rituals too! Room tour  Emo look lol Freshened up and of course rested a bit before finally heading out at around noon, great to see that the mist had cleared up and skies are clear! Plan was to hang out around the Stephansplatz area for the day, and the only reservation we had was for late afternoon tea at Cafe Sacher. Bought a day pass online and again, works on an integrity system here - there are turnstiles for you to “verify” your ticket if I recall correctly but by and large you can just pass by without doing anything? I think on our last day we did get checked once while exiting but that’s about it.  Walking to metro station  Metro tunnel Exited the station and my breath was instantly taken away, like how can this place be so pretty?  Ok not the best yet  Look at this  St Stephen’s Cathedral which was what this square was named for  Another look, go in later  Christmas deco up alr, Orchard Rd can never  I don’t know what zone is this Ooh-ing and aah-ing all the way to our lunch place which the sister said was recommended on xhs, and while we didn’t make any reservations we managed to walk in and get a seat. And we over ordered a bit because we didn’t realize our mains already came with side dish and the additional side dish we ordered may as well be a main.  Figlmuller, there are a couple of branches here  Side dishes that came with the main - semolina dumpling  And some boiled potatoes, which I was quite sure the server wrote down the order by mistake  So this potato salad with pumpkin seed oil gave us an overdose of potatoes - especially when we didn’t think the portion would be this big considering the price  But this schnitzel was very good though! Crispy on the outside, moist and tender inside. Oh and this slightly awkward episode with a plus sized Asian American lady sitting at a neighboring table who attempted to start a convo with us but despite us not appearing unfriendly, she retreats to her own shell after a couple of exchanges and she only ordered fries which she didn’t even finish oh well. Spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping in the area - watch boutiques again, by now it’s a norm for me to just stroll into one, ask to see and try on one, then just left as if nothing happened hahah skin has thickened much. And the regret as I shared in the previous post is that it’s cheaper in Vienna as compared to Zurich, and the Tag shop even has one that caught my eye and is limited edition (only 600 pieces worldwide, this is number 385 or something like that) but oh well. Also attempted to visit the National Library but an entrance fee is needed so gave up and just walked around till our tea reservation at 430pm.  Back alley near restaurant  Entered St Stephen’s Cathedral  Stained glass  More Christmas deco  Wiener  Said limited edition watch which actually look very decent, color scheme right up my alley oh well  More sights in the city  Passed by our tea place but it’s still early  Though sun is starting to set There wasn’t a separate queue for reservations and after queuing in the walk in queue after a while past our reservation time we realized the staff isn’t going to come out to check, so I squeezed past the line into the cafe and asked, and confirmed our table - signaled the sister to come in and a Chinese lady in front of her angrily stopped her thinking we cut her queue - even after we told her we had a reservation beforehand she was still tugging at the sister’s coat wtf. Throwing China’s face as usual what’s new zzzz.  Einspanner!  We had an apple strudel too  And the main reason why we chose this place - birthplace of the Sacher Torte.  Interior of the cafe Anyway that aside, Sacher torte was really good and the surprise for me was the tanginess of the apricot jam that really cut through the richness of the cake and was so good, because I came in thinking it’s just a “very dense chocolate cake”. Dark by the time we left so continued browsing along the street, grabbed a couple of light dinner items and headed back - considering we have another long traveling day coming up.  No light up sigh  Back to back days in a Nespresso shop, this time getting a Viennese Lungo  St Stephen’s at night  Decided to get some as…dinner?  And also random McD snack |
