Vienna is a lot like Berlin. In fact it's kind of like what Berlin would have been like if they hadn't had that whole cold war business. There is all the culture and the street art, all the great nightlife, but with less of the falling down buildings.
We stayed at a brand new, gigantic and awesome hostel, Wombats on the Nachsmarkt. We stayed there on the recommendation of a friend, being told that the Nachsmarkt was basically a road where Asian immigrants sold strange fruit. And that it was. Some of the strangest fruit I've ever seen - I regret not trying some.
We steered clear of the normal touristy sightseeing, given how much of that we would be doing in Italy, but we did visit one popular sight, the traditional cake shop Demel. You can watch the chefs making the food, and, for a price, have a nice slice of cake. The food is so rich that nearly everything is served with a glass of water to cleanse your palatte. The tap water in Vienna is rated one of the best tasting in the world. Tasted like water to me, but the other guys insisted it was exquisite water, especially compared to Tel Aviv. Zac and Steve had a slice of cake, but my eye was tempted by a more savory snack - Beef Wellington - which I've never tried before. The actual beef Wellington was pretty damn good - rich too - but I didn't particularly like the way it was served. Whipped cream doesn't go all that well with steak I don't think, and I think I prefer my salad dressing in liquid form as opposed to jelly form.. Just a matter of perspective I guess.
We took a walk one day in search of the labyrinth we had heard lay in the gardens of the Royal Palace, because who doesn't like a nice labyrinth? It took us a while to get there, distracted by a squirrel in the gardens. Squirrels are awesome. We eventually found the labyrinth, which was basically a hedge maze. It was actually fairly challenging, but we rushed it a bit because we were excited to use the adjacent playground where you could ride a giant metallic eagle. It was awesome. We may have been the oldest kids there by a good decade, but I think we had the most fun, so the jokes on you kidlets!!
We passed many of our nights at the local Aussie travel bar, probably because we're getting a bit homesick. We engaged in typical Australian activities like drinking Tooheys New, watching the rugby world cup, and eating Aussie beef pies, which were amaaaaazing. There were some other parts of the bar that were supposedly Australian , but seemed a bit unfamiliar to me.. There was the traditional Australian game involving taking turns to try bang a nail into a log with the wrong end of a hammer. Must say I've never played that one back in Aus.. There is the fire shot, a drink that when mixed with a naked flame allowed Zac and Gav to breathe fire. There was also the snuff shot, where a strange wooden contraption shoots tobacco up your nose after downing a shot from a test tube. I need to read up on my Australian culture.. The Austrian owners of this traditional Aussie bar are making me look unpatriotic!
We met some interesting folk at the bar, from the guy from Seychelles who had a strange habit of walking away mid-sentence without warning, and the spaced out South-African who said the words 'dude', 'chilled' and 'vibe' almost exclusively.
Vienna, like Berlin, was covered in street art and after being mere spectators throughout Europe we decided to take advantage of a boring night and head out with some huge texters to make the world a more interesting place.
Despite all that stuff we probably spent the majority of our time in Vienna in the shower. This hostel had, hands down, the best shower I have had in my entire life, a big upgrade from most of the hostels we have been frequenting. So squeaky clean, I head to Italy, the last stop on my trip. Weird to think it's all coming to an end, buy exciting to think I can finally use some of the Italian I learned at school. Che bravo!
Time to get my pizza on...