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Vienna Day 1: First Impressions and Failed Adventures

I am IN LOVE WITH THIS CITY!! It is beautiful, affordable for tourists, and Serbian is as prominent here as Spanish is in the US. This means that I can get away with not knowing German! In fact, I got a hot dog today from a street vendor and I was overwhelmed by the options and worried that I'd get something spicy, but fortunately the vendor spoke Serbian so he explained to me exactly which wurst was the best. haha.

First, we arrived at the flughafen and took the CAT (City Airport Train) to downtown Vienna. Then a short metro ride took us to Kettenbruckengasse, the metro station nearest our hostel, which is AWESOME!!

We are staying at Wombat's Hostel. This is my first hostel experience and I LOVE it! The lobby is set up like a lounge, with lots of comfy couches and nooks to sit in and use the wifi, which is accessible only from the lobby. There are also lots of computers you can pay to use. When we checked in, there were tons of young people hanging out in the lobby. It got me planning an inter rail backpacking trip with my friends - they would love it!

Our Wombat’s was located next to a market that sold everything from souvenirs to Middle Eastern food. Our room also had a view of architect Otto Wagner’s beautiful Majolikahaus.

My mom had read about a good Austrian restaurant nearby in a guidebook, but when we got there it was closed so we went to a Chinese buffet instead… I’m not complaining.
While my mom and sister were finishing up eating, I wandered around the restaurant a bit with my camera. I found a really cool passageway that takes you up stairs and through courtyards filled with cafes and shops. It ends on Mariahilferstrasse, the Viennese equivalent of London’s Oxford Street in terms of shopping.

After lunch we walked to the Albertina Museum, which was very well advertised in the airport. They had an amazing collection from some very colorful artists… Monet, Magritte, Picasso, Kirchner, Kokoschka, and more. There were also a few masterpieces by Durer. The museum was perfect.

Next we wanted to take the ring tram, which gives you a nice panoramic tour of the city, but we got on the wrong one and ended up in the middle of nowhere. However, what we found in the middle of nowhere was a cool new Hundertwasser project in progress near some energy buildings.