You're reading: World Traveler: Low-cost trip to luxury Vienna

Usually there is no difference between what you expect to see and what you actually see when you go to Europe. You expect to see clean streets, ornate architecture, flower-lined cafe terraces and even shiny trash cans every two meters – and that’s exactly what you get. However, the Austrian capital, Vienna, exceeded this traveler’s high expectations.

Being lucky enough to miss the last train to Budapest, (you read that
right) where my travel companions and I had planned on staying, and no hotel
room booked for another night, we were forced to spend it inside Vienna’s
subway, where we witnessed the other side of one of the cleanest cities in the
world.

The idea to spend these cold night hours in the metro seemed very
comforting before we actually did go down. The first thing we ran into was a steaming
turd and a man pulling his trousers up after releasing it right on the
platform. Shocked, we ran to the other side of the platform, where we cozied up
next to a snoring punk under a bench and a group of drunken students. Later we
were woken up by the sound of running water, which turned out to be a man
peeing from the platform onto the rails.

We were surprised, to say the least, to see such a sight in a city where
traffic lights are washed twice a day and every street is cleaned religiously,
as though the Austrians’ revered Queen SiSi would soon be returning to walk them.

Moving on the previous morning, walking the city’s narrow cobblestone
streets, we took in some of the stomping groups of the former elite. Vienna’s
grand palaces Schonbrunn and Belvedere impress just as all the palaces, though
not with their gold and luxury, like the ones in Russia, but with style and
taste. The same goes for the city’s ancient cathedrals. Every other one it
seemed was where famous composers, such as Mozart or Schubert, were baptized or
tied the knot.

The city seems to be also very proud of its famous-for-sex residents. For
example, Gustav Klimt, an Austrian symbolist painter, known for his then
revolutionary The Kiss painting, is widely replicated on all the possible
souvenir products. Meanwhile, Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud is remembered
all around the city, with buildings, rooms and plaques in his honor. You get
the impression he was a part of everything in the city.

Freud’s Park is a favorite place of Vienna’s students, with lots of shade available
under the large, old trees and a big open space with free lounge chairs on
offer, where one can relax with a book, a guitar or simply a cigarette. 

Young people relax on free lounge chairs in Vienna’s Freud’s Park.

There are two classic ways to learn this: one can either buy a guide or
read all the necessary information in the internet before the trip or, like we
did, take a bus tour. The 13 Euros Hop On, Hop Off ticket included two city excursions
on different buses: the small circle and the large one.

The small tourist route went mostly through the downtown area. The large
reminded us that despite being comparably small, Vienna is still a megalopolis,
and you can easily get stuck in traffic jams for hours. So we hopped off
somewhere in the middle of the route and went to entertain ourselves in Prater
Park, the famous one with the Ferris Will that actually appeared to be far from
the park’s most exciting attractions.

While in Prater the sense of elitism gives way to childish happiness, but
it returns when you get hungry. People say that Vienna is also famous for its
huge pork steaks and apple strudels, but we can’t say. During our two days in
Vienna we ate as much street food as our young stomachs could bare, and even
then we spent lots of money for food. Vienna is two or even three times more
expensive than Kyiv.

But our 48 hours in Vienna turned out to be a nice adventure, anyway. Tossing
some coins into a fountain, we said goodbye to Vienna and ran to catch the
first morning train.

Messe Wien Hotel – 60 Euro per
night

24 hours public transport card
– 6 Euros

Single ticket – 2 Euros

Ferris Will ride – 9 Euros

Hop On Hop Off bus excursion –
13 Euros (two routes)

Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected], and on Twitter at @Iskrynka.