2015 Vienna

I went on a trip with some of my college friends to surprise our two friends who were studying in Vienna. We went for the February midterm break so it was quite cold still in Austria. We booked flights into Bratislava (Slovakia) and then a bus to Vienna as the flights were a lot cheaper from Dublin. So myself and seven others headed off, to try and make a guest appearance.

We stayed in a gorgeous AirBnB which was really close to the city centre and metro. We got sorted with our accommodation and went for some traditional Austrian food of sausages, pic and beer.

Next was to execute the surprise our friends in a pub they were going to be in. After numerous trains back and forth we eventually found our way to the correct pub and our friends were totally shocked! We enjoyed our night in the pub having a few drinks.

We were lucky to get to do some tourist activities so below is just some of them.

1. Schonbrunn Palace- This once belonged to the Queen of Austria who owned the palace and grounds. She had a hill built and a temple like building placed on top to see the whole city of Vienna. Now you can still walk around the grounds and take fabulous photos overlooking the palace.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Stephansplasse- this is the main city centre and here you can visit the main cathedral St Stephan and wrote a note of what we wanted to pray for. 
   
   
3. Café Diglas- this place has amazing cakes, pastries and coffee! You have to go there!  
   
4. Mozart Museum- this place I was very excited to see. Mozart lived in many locations but this is one house he spend the longest time in. The house is set up really nicely for tourists but I was slightly disappointed with the audio guide (€7). Mozart lived in 17 different addresses in Vienna alone. There were suspicions around his death and some believe he was poisoned by another composer. 
5. Two main museums in Vienna- The Museum of Art and History and Hofburg. Both buildings are beautiful and very pretty lit up at night time. 
6. Opera House- you can get a tour of the opera house in English for €3.50. It is very impressive and a great history to it with most of the famous composers having been there and had their operas performed there. The opera house was bombed during World War Two so parts of it are more modern than others. There is a different opera/ballet everyday apart from Christmas, Good Friday and two days leading up to the ball. The prices are crazy for a box for the Ball starting at €18,000 or if you want just a seat €250. The Opera House hold two world records. One for the highest number of curtain calls for Swan Lake and the other for the longest applause for Pavarotti.