jeremy in wien!

 hallo from, wien (vienna), austria! hello reader and welcome to country #2 of my 2015 summer euro tour! after an 8 hour train ride from zurich, i stepped onto the platform in a brand new station with fresh feet, ready to tackle another european teasure…

on the danube river, running through the heart of wien         photo:  jeanny prüger

as i start my first full day in a new city, my mission is usually pretty simple: take my camera, find the architecture, and go… but the 3 days i spent in wien didn’t fit that typical adventuring format… to me, i can at times, operate my life quite independently of others; isolation and crippling shyness define my personality well.  but not in vienna…architecture and the patient hunt for aesthetically sound photographs gave way to drinks, food, laughter and dancing!

my host jeanny and i at empress sisi’s castle schönbrunn palace  (photo: inga mau)      

a dear friend from vienna, jeanny, was my incredible host in the heart of the city. i gave a small tour of los angeles to her and a few other au pairs working in berkeley, california over a year ago…and now, the time had come for me to see her city! also an avid photographer, jeanny has given me a rare gift during my visit here…photos of myself! photos of me drinking, eating, laughing, dancing, and all in all just having a damn good time in vienna :)

so, foregoing the usual cityscapes and history that can dominate these pages, lets indulge in something a little lighter this time!

enjoy!

ok, so just a little bit of architecture above, 
but even that was blocked by fun and entertainment
(see the giant movie screen blocking the structure on the bottom?!)  

jeanny took us on a walking tour of the city center after finishing work. we stopped by the parlament building (spelled correctly), city hall and the gardens of city hall. we also made our way to hofburg castle, a tourist staple, and a super relaxing river beach bar along the historic danube river!

food isn’t usually a top priority for me while traveling.
but jeanny insisted on a hearty austrian made breakfast each morning

breakfast #1 (not pictured, eaten too fast) european style pancakes (crepes) with honey, raspberry, blueberry, yogurt, and nutella. breakfast #2, pictured top left: austrian kaiserschmarren, similar to american french toast, but the dough is made from scratch, hmmmmmm! i also hunted down some peanut butter, which is not a common european food piece and snacked on it as the american delicacy that it is…pinky’s up!!

additionally, pictured above (bottom right) is the single most disgusting dish austrians equate to a meal…some type of diced ham, hardened in fat with an egg topping…(name: i didn’t want to know)

we also treated ourselves to austrian beer made by a local brewery, ottakringer, just steps from jeanny’s flat. and a tasty traditional austrian sandwhich: leberkäse semmel (thickly cut ham between a sliced roll)

jeanny jordan!

how austrians take out the trash!

another former au pair in berkeley, inga, from germany was visiting jeanny as well.
 it’s such an incredible feeling to see friends i’ve met in the u.s.
 and explore another city with them on the other side of the world :)

prater amusement park!

a night spent roaming around vienna’s prater amusement park: http://www.prater.at

another end of the day spent on the danube river, before heading out 
for a night on the town!  have you ever danced so hard, and for so long, 
that you can wring out your shirt on the train ride home?
(top right!)

my 3 days in vienna were documented so well in the smiles and laughs above. thank you for these memories jeanny (and inga!), it will be impossible to forget how much fun and adventure can be squeezed into 72 hours :) 

despite the vienna city capers, the step count and mile totals continue to rise: 

totals:     14 days     9 cities     2 countries     257,000 steps     136 miles

my next adventure, country #3, will be in prague, czech republic. i’m anxious to discover the rich history of this uber central european city, and to once again, dive into the beautiful architecture of the past!

quf wiedersehen wien! ahoj prague!


thanks for reading!


- j

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