10 Memorable Places in Vienna...in no particular order.

I love Vienna. So much. People have often asked me how Vienna compares with Salzburg and the truth is, the cities couldn't be more different. It's a different kind of love, but I do love Vienna. Here are some photos of my favorite places that have become some dear to me these past 4 months.

Sushi cafe

I ate lunch with Erica every day for 10 weeks (not exagerrating). She came after I had already been here for 6 weeks and I had a bit of a "lunch routine" by the time she had arrived. When she got here, she started asking me to lunch and I remember thinking it could be a weekly event but probably no more often than that. ....It quickly became a daily event and we tried a variety of places over the course of those 10 weeks, the most frequent being a sushi restaurant around the corner from the Embassy. Nobody actually knows the name of it and there are 2 tables inside of what literally could be a hole in the wall. Chase, another American intern, was obsessed with this place...obsessed to a fault. We ate here so often that I eventually had to ban it from our lunch routine. We haven't eaten there in weeks and I'm still not planning on eating sushi for a very, very long time.

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Heuriger

There are several Heurigers in Vienna. Heuriger is not a brand name but rather a type of wine, so each "Heuriger" restaurant name is preceeded by a more specific name, differentiating the companies who own each one. We never really knew the name of this one so we just called it Heuriger. It was about an hour away from us (pretty normal for Vienna), so we didn't eat there too often but the food there was amazing and the atmosphere is so Austrian.

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St. Stephen's Cathedral

This is one of the classic Vienna landmarks. I took this picture with my disposable camera. Piotr (the new Piotr, not the Salzburg one) came to visit me/Erica in Vienna and I couldn't find my camera charger (I later found it at Erica's) so I bought a disposable camera, with which I took the above photo. I remember standing here in 2009 with all of my Salzburg friends (we had come to Vienna on a weekend trip). It's funny to think that I had no idea I'd be living in that city a year later.

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Schloß Schönbrunn

During Piotr's visit, I took him to the Schönbrunn Palace. We didn't pay to go inside but spent a couple of hours walking the grounds (and taking pictures with my disposable camera). It was such a nice day and even without paying to enter the palace (which I've done before), there is still plenty to see and enjoy.

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Kunst Historisches Museum

More pictures I took with my disposable camera of another place I showed Piotr during his visit. We didn't pay to go inside the museum, but the area itself is nice. That is the giant statue of Maria Theresia (the only female Habsburg ruler and one of Vienna's historical celebrities). There are always many tourists taking photos with her. I spent a few hours inside the museum last year when I came with the other American students from Salzburg.

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Museumsquartier

This might be my very favorite place in Vienna. Jenny Clem and I spent about an hour here, relaxing on the giant benches (which are more like beds). There are several cafes and museums (hence the name of the area) and it's always filled with young people. I took Piotr here and this is where I learned to count to ten in Polish! Also, each year you can vote online to change the color of the benches. Last summer when I was here with Jenny, the benches were yellow...now they are pink!

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Prater

Prater is like the Oklahoma state fair but with slightly classier people. ;) Only slightly, though! You still see all walks of life here at Prater.... I first came when Piotr was visiting. I took him (partly as an excuse for me to go) and it was so much fun. I love riding rides and Piotr agreed to go on one with me....we got off the ride and I felt great. Piotr, on the other hand, had turned a shade of green and needed to rest...At first I was a little concerned but as more time passed (half an hour), I could only laugh at how sick he was feeling....we ended up having to leave and go to a gas station to get him hot tea (which I ordered for him while laughing). Luckily, this minor incident happened at the end of our day at Prater. I also returned there with Kim when she was visiting and Erica came along. Kim and I rode the same ride that made Piotr so sick. This time, the ride hurt my neck and Kim kind of hated it! Speaking of hate....we rode the ferris wheel and I'm sure I look like I'm having a pleasant time in the photos, but in reality I was dying of terror. I hate heights.

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Rathausplatz

Okay, I must have lied. This is my favorite place in Vienna. These restaurant booths are set up every day and night for the summer. It's not far from the Embassy, so we have been several times for lunch. They have every kind of food you could imagine, so it's great to come as a group because everyone can choose their own food and then meet up to eat together. The above photo is Erica at Rathausplatz one sunny day on our lunch break.

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Kärtner Straße

This statue is right off of Kärtner Straße, which is one of the main shopping streets in Vienna. It's pretty high-end, so I haven't done too much shopping there....but it's always bustling with people and it's certainly fun to window shop.

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Belvedere Gardens

Erica took this photo. I love it. It's so Vienna.

There's a reason Vienna was voted most desirable city in the world!

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