Vienna Day 3

My day did not start off too well…. After free breakfast- and smuggling some food for lunch I set out to go to the Schonbrunn Palace, which has a huge garden that I planned to explore. So basically it went like this- I haven’t been buying public transit tickets, thinking I’m all sneaky. But apparently not because I got a FAT €105 FINE TODAY…………. (= $158 CAD) I was soooooo rattled. But it really is my own fault because literally everyone- people I’ve met and the friends from home- have told me stories about getting fines for trying to evade public transit fares. But no one that I’ve met has gotten a fine more than €60…. I’m gagged. But I guess this is the full Euro experience. I’ve decided that now it’s a funny story because I can’t keep putting out negative energy thinking about it. It’s already happened so its FINE…… just the most humbling experience ever.
Rant over.
I went to the palace and it was huge! And so was the garden. I walked around for a little bit- walked up to the main part and then around the botanical garden. To be honest, I was still feeling upset about the fine😭😭😭 I couldn’t enjoy the stroll in the park because all I could think about was the stupid ticket. I left and then went into the main city to do something else that would distract me. When I was exiting the station I was met with a super nice girl, Leni, who was fundraising for something but we just ended up talking for a while. It was such a concise interaction- because she was working technically, but it was so meaningful because I haven’t met many people in Vienna thus far. I got her contact, although I was leaving the next day. After I went to a traditional Viennese coffee house- which is noted to be a large part of Viennese culture. I settled for an apple strudel, and it was quite scrumptious. The interior of the coffee house was quite cozy and welcoming. After, I decided to do some retail therapy to make myself feel better, so I went to Zara and bought a cute crochet style skirt. I feel a bit better now. Then I went to the large church to go see the inside and it was graaaaand. The churches here never fail to exceed my expectations. It was a big one! After that, I headed back to the hostel to take a nap. Random side note, it was super windy and cold today which sucked because I only have one pair of pants and one longsleeve and I was still chilly. Anyways, the highlight of my time in Vienna came next. I went to the Vivaldi Four Seasons concert at the ‘Karlskirche,’ a church. I had walked by the church a couple of times on the outside but couldn’t bring myself to pay to see the inside so this was the perfect medium. Anyways, this concert was definitely one of my favourite moments in Europe in general. The performers were amazing!!! Especially the lead violinist- you could see how passionate he was, and see the music course through his body in his performance. You might think that watching people play the violin and cello would be boring, but when I was watching him- and the cellists, they truly embodied the music that they were playing. It was magical. And the church was soooooo beautiful too- it was the perfect evening. After the concert, I went to go eat that sausage thing again and stumbled upon what looked like a big party outside on the balcony of the museum? I just stood by while I ate because it was by the sausage place. After I finished eating, I headed on back to the hostel.
And at the end of the day, the ticket didn’t even matter.Read more