Charmed, I'm sure...that my life is.

On the 5^th of June, 2012, I took the most beautiful train ride of my life to the most breathtaking location I had ever seen. When I disembarked I was in Innsbruck, Vienna. While the town itself is not much to look at and requires about twenty minutes total of inspection, it is surrounded on all sides by absolutely gorgeous mountains. Welcome to the Alps.

Bright and early the next morning, I headed to the convention center, where every day free guided hikes leave at 9am. First of all, let us all just ponder this fact: Innsbruck sponsors free guided hikes every single day. As my dad wasted no time in reminding me, this would save at least one hiker from getting terribly lost, and having to be saved by search and rescue. He was wrong though. I never would have even TRIED to go hiking on my own. Even I can see what a disaster that would be. Come on people, I’ve seen 127 hours.  I am just saying that if other places did similar things, it might save a lot of lives and help a lot of people have amazing experiences that they would otherwise miss out on.

At our starting point. Mountains in front, mountains behind us

Look, its me! In the Alps!

The hike was amazing, and even now I can’t believe it was free. First they took us on an hour-long bus ride to this little mountain town where we started our trek. Then they hiked us 2 ½ hours up into the Alps, until we reached an adorable little restaurant in the mountains, serving Bavarian food at its finest. I had packed a lunch, scavenged from my hostel’s free breakfast, so I did not partake, however I did try the Schnapps that they were handing around for free. We were almost at the tree line, and the views all around us as we ate were absolutely gorgeous. I hate to say this Dylan, but it definitely rivaled Glendalough. On the hike I met a new friend, Robin, and on the bus ride home I found out that he was from Granville, where I go to college! How crazy is that? We talked about Whit’s and well that was mostly it because what else is there to say about Granville? Seriously though, how weird?!

That was it for my time in Innsbruck. I had done what I had gone there to do, and it was time to move on. The next day I took the train to Vienna.

Right away I was off to Schonbrunn Palace, which was about the only landmark within an easy walking distance from my hostel. I don’t want to sound jaded, but I have seen a lot of palaces in my recent past. This one reminded me a lot of Versailles, but on a smaller scale. So while it was beautiful and grand, yes, what really interested me was the information about the palace’s more recent past. It was in use up until right after WWI, unlike most other palaces I have visited, so seeing all of the more modern-style living spaces made this one stand out to me.

The palace at night

I hung around there for a while, because the highlight of the day was taking place at at Schloss Schonbrunn, the gardens behind the palace, at 9pm. I met Robin, my friend from the hike, near the Gloriette, a structure in the gardens, at 8pm and we set about looking for a good spot to see the show. We ended up behind the stage with hundreds of other people. We figured they must have set up speakers so that we would be able to hear, or why else would this many other people be here with us? Well at 9 when the Vienna Philharmonic began their yearly free concert in the park, we could not hear a thing. Disgruntled, we moved around for a while until finally making the trek around to the front of the stage, where we could listen to the beautiful music emanating from the stage, and watch the conductor cavorting.  Yeah. Vienna Philharmonic for free in the park, NBD.

The effect of full length solid colored stain-glass windows

The next day, I did a lot of wandering around in the city center of Vienna, which is full of glorious old buildings. It looks exactly like the city of Mozart should. I saw the library that I swear was the inspiration for Beauty and the Beast’s library. St. Stephen’s Cathedral is particularly gorgeous. I may have mentioned at some point that each new cathedral was beginning to feel like a new hole in my head, but this one was special and worth remembering. I think a picture will do best, so I won’t try to describe it.

I also went to the Kunsthistoriches Museum, or the Art History Museum, which for some reason I absolutely loved. I don’t know whether it was because I had gone through withdrawal after an entire week without entering an art museum, or because this place had some sort of magic, but when I was done going through all of the galleries, I honestly had the urge to start all over again. I didn’t. Still though, I give this museum an A++, because although it had no special “Mona Lisa” or “David,” it still held my attention, and for the first time in an art museum, left me wanting more. I had to leave though; I had an appointment at the Vienna Opera house. A mere hour standing in line in the back of the opera house 2 hours before show time got me a 4euro standing room ticket to see Tosca, an Italian opera which, okay I had never heard of before but I am sure it is famous because it is old and Italian.

It just so happened that I was standing next to an Austrian music student who came to the opera absolutely all of the time, so before the curtain went up I learned several interesting things. One, I learned that a long time ago the Emperor or Duke or something had ordered that the same opera never be played two nights in a row. To this day, the opera house has around 5 productions that they stagger, so that you can go to the opera several nights in a row without seeing the same show. Two, I learned that Austria still had mandatory military service. The boy I was standing next to was graduating the Austrian equivalent of high school next week and preparing to go into the army for 6 months. He confided that he wanted to go into the special corps that patrol the Italian border on skis, with guns on their backs. I think it was the skis more than the guns that he fancied.

The opera itself was performed very skillfully. The sets were surprisingly elaborate. Okay, you got me, turns out opera isn’t really my thing. Don’t get me wrong, seeing an opera for 4euro in Vienna is not something I regret. It just hasn’t exactly inspired a fascination with the genre, that’s all I’m saying.

TLDR: Over the course of three days I went hiking in the Alps, saw a free concert by the Vienna Philharmonic, and saw an opera in the Vienna Opera house. My life you guys. My life.

Well that was it for Vienna, and that was it for Austria. I don’t think any country has offered me so much in such a short time span. Only one question continues to plague me: what the heck am I going to do when I get home this summer?