Good chodesh to all. I hope this month and the new year ahead bring comfort and salvation after this unbelievably painful time...
There isn’t really any smooth way to transition to my second post about my trip. I will pick up where I left off.
On Friday morning, we took the train from Krakow to Vienna. The trip was 5 1/2 hours long. I was kind of lost in thought the whole time and listening to music so it went very quickly. We crossed two borders: Czech Republic and Austria. Each time we crossed a border, the language of the announcements changed and a new set of train conductors got on and checked our tickets. It was a little funny. Ooh, and we were seated in compartments with sliding doors and a woman came around with a snack trolley. Harry Potter fuzzies!
We got to Vienna at about 12. We took the subway to our apartment rental and went in search of food. We bought a few things at a grocery store, and then our driver (who we hired to take us to Bratislava to the kever of the Chasam Sofer – my cousin called our trip “the kevarim crawl”) picked us up there and brought us to an actual restaurant where we got some more food.
We drove to Bratislava which was an hour away, and were able to daven at the kever of the Chasam Sofer for about 15 minutes. This was a little tight but it couldn’t be helped with everything else (the cemetery was locking up for Shabbos). Then we went right back to Vienna.
After resting a bit, we got ready for Shabbos. When it was Shabbos, we went out in search of the shul and Alef Alef. We got lost (big surprise!) but after circling for awhile, some nice ladies helped us and we found it and of course realized that the directions we had from the internet were way more complicated than necessary. We had a wonderful Shabbos meal, and went back to our apartment (we did not get lost this time).
In the morning, my cousin went to shul and my sister and I stayed in 🙂 . Then we met at Alef Alef for the meal. Afterwards, we headed back to our apartment and basically rested and read for the rest of the day. Motzoei Shabbos we went back to Gelato Milano for pasta and salad and milkshakes and waffles!
Sunday morning, I left before the others and walked to the Burggarten to the Butterfly House (Schmetterlinghaus). That was fun and the blue butterflies were beautiful until I thought they were divebombing me and ducked out, lol. I met my sister and cousin at the Spanish Riding School and we watched the performance (standing tickets). I enjoyed this because of the background I had from last year’s trip; tbh, unless you are really into classical horsemanship, dare I say this may be a little underwhelming.
After the performance, we each went our own way for the rest of the afternoon. My sister toured the Hofburg Imperial Apartments and people-watched at a café. My cousin did a three-hour Segway tour of the city and had time before to duck into the Austrian National Library. I went to not one but two art museums (how well you know me) – the Albertina and Kunsthistorisches Museum (I can’t say it).
There are still so many things I want to do and see in Vienna but it was just one day!
We met back at the apartment and went to Novellino for supper where we had such a great meal. Afterwards, my sister and I decided to walk over to Prater Park, which was about 15 minutes away, and did a little “night activity.” My sister actually won an arcade racing game twice (I came in almost last both times, lol). It was such a nice night for walking (aside from the one game, that’s all we did). Finally we headed back to our apartment to pack.
In the morning, our driver picked us up at 7:30 and we first went to the cemetery to visit our great-grandfather before heading to the airport. And thus our visit to Vienna drew to a close. I hope I’ll be back!
Thank you for reading!
