Stephansplatz

We left Zagreb on a Tuesday after a visit to the Museum of Broken Relationships – a small gallery where people donate the remnants of their past relationships, along with a sad or funny story. Everett was not amused by an activity about failed love.

We opted for the bus instead of train to Graz, Austria (the direct train was a 7am departure which wasn’t appealing). Crossing the border into Slovenia was quick and easy. Slovenia, we should have stopped for a few days! What a miss. We drove through the eastern part of the country for an hour or so and then arrived at the bus station in Graz. The station was on the edge of town, and as we attempted to figure out transportation to our hotel, a Croatian passenger gave us a free ride in her Uber, saving us a 30 min bus ride. Happy with our luck and new location, we chowed on Turkish doner kebabs (they were on every corner). Our accommodation was an amusing hostel on the “wrong side of the tracks.” (It was actually a cute place but literally behind the train station). We loved the historic downtown and of course had to stock up at the Manner store (hazelnut wafers).

Our fun idea: “5-day wiener schnitzel challenge:” eat breaded meat for five days in a row and rate the winner. Ken was absolutely buzzing at the idea: pork, veal, chicken… which would he choose? What sides … potato salad… There was a lot to discuss.

Graz, you were gorgeous and completely under-rated.

Three hours went by too quickly, as train trips usually do. The countryside provided wonderful views enroute to Vienna. (Sidenote, we are purposefully going to new cities – meaning we have not visited before. The only exceptions so far have been Bangkok and now Vienna. We just had to make an exception, it’s a favorite European capital city).

Everett’s first impression, “Are we in London?”

The Vienna metro system was abundant and we easily navigated to find our “platz.” Just as we arrived at our station the rain came down hard. It was difficult to find our apartment and we became drenched. We stayed on a beautiful local plaza just a short train ride from downtown – the location turned out to be a perfect one.

It had been twelve years since our last visit, but the city didn’t seem as Austrian as we remember it. The city has become much more multicultural with more foreigners – for example, there were both Arab and Somali markets on our block.

We went to Figlmuller for a nostalgic visit: we were there to appreciate the wiener schnitzel. The line was out the door and around the corner as hundreds of people queued in the rain. Luckily, we had reservations and skipped the line. Ken pulled up a picture on his phone from twelve years ago and told the waiter, “I’ll have this again.” We all agreed Figlmuller was the Undisputed Champion of the Five-Day Schnitzel Challenge. A second visit was in order the next day.

We found Ken’s grandma’s childhood home (now used as a school) and enjoyed the park near her house. We walked in the rain all day, but didn’t care in the least. Ken, on his new running kick, had been waiting months to buy specific shoes and he finally was able to find Zero running shoes. Vienna had everything you could ever need.

We wandered the historic downtown streets and pretended we lived there – all the while feeling the romantic nostalgia of the past. Unexpectedly, we stumbled upon a huge festival called “Wings for Life,” a charity running event to find a cure for spinal cord injury.

Vienna, there is no other in comparison to you: You were a shining star, around every corner a more magnificent building than the last. Not one single tout tried to bother us. No one stared. Everyone just let us be - such a nice feeling. If it wasn’t so expensive, we could stay forever. Five days in Austria and it just wasn’t enough.Lue lisää