In Vienna: Bird poop, wine and bad customer service
Written: Aug 28 '00 (Updated Aug 28 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: very diverse city - much to do and see
Cons: rude people; too many tourists (in the summer)
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| whitty's Full Review: Vienna |
I have traveled much of Europe, and I have to say that Vienna ("Wien," in German) is not one of my favorite cities. Last summer, I backpacked with a friend through Central Europe for two-weeks. (See my profile for my earlier reviews on Salzburg and Prague.)
To be fair, the impression I was left with of the city come from specific experiences my friend and I shared while there.
A gift from a Viennese pigeon
Yes, a bird really pooped on my head. It happened our first day in the city, right after we had checked into our nasty hostel. We were starving and went in search of some spatzle for lunch.
(Spatzle is a thick, cheesy pasta dish that is served throughout Germany and Austria. It is absolutely amazing, and very filling. Each day that we ate it, we would have to walk around for hours to rid ourselves of the "I'm so full I think I'm going to throw up" feeling.)
My friend and I were sitting at an outside table eating our lunch when a pigeon decided to do his business on my head and on her food. Not a good start to our visit to Austria's largest city.
Despite no longer being able to eat her lunch, my friend claimed the look on my face was worth the experience. And to my dismay, she still bursts out in laughter whenever we remise about his part of our trip. (It was pretty funny.)
Another lacking hostel
The hostel we booked in Vienna was called Hostel Ruthensteiner, it was run-down, crowded and noisy. Patrons were of high school age and noisy until the early hours of the morning.
The one women's shower didn't drain too well; one can use their imagination as to how showering in two feet of hostel water feels.
The upside was that they provided cheap Internet access at a lone computer in their lobby; this was the only hostel that did so on our entire trip. (I would not be surprised to hear that this has increased at hostels this summer.)
We had been accessing email at cybercafes throughout our various visited cities, so it was nice to have this availability right where we slept, and at a lowered rate. Cybercafes can get expensive, so we appreciated this perk offered at the hostel.
The hostel was within walking distance of the Sudbahnhaus, or south train station, which is in a somewhat seedy area of Vienna. During the day, we felt perfectly safe. Although we walked together at night, it wasn't the best neighborhood after hours.
We stayed in a 4-bedroom with two other girls, and the price was roughly $20 (American) a night. We had reserved a 2-bedroom, to which told us they had given our reservation to someone else. (Huh? We checked in at noon, how could this have happened?) They were fairly unfriendly and not apologetic.
Subway system
Vienna has an excellent public subway system. The U-Bahn runs throughout the city and sports easy-to-read maps in every station. This is the only way to travel Vienna. (And by foot.)
Most of the subway stations and cars were clean, and we found it to be one of the better underground systems.
Schloss Schonbrunn
Schloss Schobrunn is an immense and breathtaking Hapsburg summer palace. It is located somewhat outside of the central part of Vienna, but is easily accessible by the U-Bahn. I would recommend spending at least a half a day here.
Audio tours may be purchased inside the Palace. With a student discount, I believe we paid roughly $10 for this. I wouldn't recommend doing the tour without the audio tapes (offered in several different languages) as there are many stories to each room.
The back of the Palace houses several acres of kept gardens with mazes and beautiful flowers. The day can be lost just wandering around the back outside here.
Heuriger
A heuriger is a wine cellar in Austria. Going by our Lonely Planet Austria book, it seemed as though most wine cellars were outside of the city. However, we noted a few within Vienna city limits and I recommend going to one. They are basically what they sound like: A wine-tasting restaurant located in a cellar.
The one we went to was dark with stone walls and a wonderful European ambiance. We ordered several glasses of wine and a few plates of cheese. (Europeans are big on plates of cheese, for all courses of a meal -- as an appetizer, main course or a desert. And European cheese is fabulous.)
Kunsthistorisches Museum, or Museum of Fine Arts
I did not go into the Museum of Fine Arts. My traveling companion and I were planning on going in, until the man taking payment turned away my friend's international student ID claiming it wasn't her in the picture. (Are you kidding me?! It was clearly her.) He would only let us in if she paid full price (my international student ID was apparently acceptable), so we decided to leave.
This was another reason we disliked Vienna. We found the people to be rude. Perhaps it is the overcrowding of the tourists that made people act rudely towards us, or maybe it was the more general dislike for a pair of non-German speaking Americans. We hadn't found some of the other cities we visited like this, so it influenced our perception of the city.
Stadt Park
Nearby is Stadt Park which is the Central Park of Vienna. Like New York's Central Park, parts of the park are beautiful and spacious; other parts of the park are littered and crowded.
Hundertwasserhaus
Hundertwasserhaus (just try and say *that* three times quickly) is a work of architecture located off the beaten path in Vienna. Unfortunately, there is no U-Bahn stop nearby, so it's quite a hike by foot. This building appears to have wavy walls and floors, and is painted in all sorts of pastel colors and designs.
Other places to note
Since Vienna is an immense city and I couldn't possibly list all of the attractions, here is a list of other notable sights to visit: Schloss Mirabell and gardens, a palace located in the central area of the city; Stephansdom, or St. Stephan's Catheral, Hofburg Palace; and The Jewish Quarter and Museum, (be sure to check the hours on this, they are closed on certain days -- it's a very touching museum and memorial).
Vienna is a very cosmopolitan and new city. Parts of it were charming, I found parts of it to be dirty and some other travelers and people offensive. This is not uncommon of a major big city, but I have found myself pleasantly surprised with so many other big European cities that I was expecting the same in Vienna as well.
Recommended:
Yes
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whitty
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Location: Philadelphia, PA
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