Learning to be Alone

Just me, Schönbrunn, and the city.

Much of my adventure has been a whirlwind so far. I have been going here and there for weeks now. This past weekend though I remained in Vienna. And it was great. It was only my third weekend of actually staying here and also my last. Bittersweet but I believe I made the most of it.

 

Liechtenstein Castle-- one of many. Oh and they have their own country.

Every city has must see and do sights and activities, Vienna is no different. This past weekend I conquered the Albertina art gallery, Schönbrunn palace, attended a mass at Stephan's Dome, and did some off the beaten track tourist activities. And you know one of my favorite parts about it all? Most of my time was spent alone. Weird, right? I will expand on that later though.

A Rembrant and the entry to the Albertina.

So, the Albertina. World renowned. Containing Rembrants, Monets, Picassos. I am not much of an art buff, but I was impressed. Well, I was impressed with the pieces themselves. I do not think the museum is curated all too well. I have been to the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna's fine art museum) three times already, and I think it was curated much better to be honest. Regardless, spending a few hours looking at the masterpieces and letting my mind wander in the silence was pretty much a perfect afternoon for me.

Floh Markt-- Flee Market

Saturday I was supposed to go to the flee market and Schönbrunn palace with a girl from my UW group. She overslept so I ended up venturing out by myself. The fleet market was bustling as it usually is on any given Saturday morning. Didn't end up with any awesome finds, but just walking the aisles is the reason I go anyways. 

Traveling alone? Gotta love them selfies! [also asking people to take photos is great too!]

At around noon I took the U-Bahn to Schönbrunn. Attempted to get student rate ticket for the tour but apparently my Husky Card doesn't prove anything so I had to pay regular price [insert frustrated Stacie]. Luckily it was only two euros more. Unluckily since it was Saturday I had to wait two hours before I could actually tour the palace. Luckily the palace grounds are huge so I just walked around for two hours exploring! (We are now in the positive zone in regards to being "in luck"). Honestly though, just exploring the gardens and the grounds ended up being cooler than the tour itself. When I finally got to go into the palace I felt like a farm animal being herded along. A million people in a tiny corridor typically doesn't flow too smoothly. I am glad I did the tour, I just wish I would't have chosen a Saturday to do it. Walking the grounds was still really nice though!

Sunday the girl who overslept the day before, Katie, made it to explore more of Vienna with me. We first went to Stephan's Dome for their mass. The Viennese Philharmonic performs every Sunday which was amazing. The performers are incredibly talented. We only stayed for a bit of the actually message since neither of us are Catholic. We could understand the priest pretty well though because he was speaking in High German. Anyways, we left the heart of Vienna and went out to the countryside of Mödling. We went to an underground lake, the See Grotte, and one of the Liechtenstein's numerous castles. It was really nice being out of the inner city. Fresh air. Nature. Birds chirping. Pleasant. 

Found my Austrian floral meadow. You bet I twirled.

Okay, so back to my statement about enjoying being alone. Friday and Saturday I went out and ventured by myself. My mother will attest to the fact that I have been a pretty independent lady for quite some time now, but I usually like having someone to go out with me when I explore. I have started to realize though that there is a lot of value in being able to do things by yourself. When I leave Vienna in a few weeks I will be forced into this option, but I am pretty excited for it. I will get to make my own agenda  of whatever I want to see, do, and eat. I also won't have anyone slowing me down, which has happened a fair amount when traveling with my UW group.

oops. On the way back to the Inner City, we got on the train headed the wrong direction.

Happy mistake considering we found this!

I still have to get over the challenge of going to restaurants alone though. I was thinking about it, and I have never gone to a restaurant by myself before. I am really not sure if this is weird or not. Regardless, I expect to go to at least a few restaurants alone when I venture out. I mean the plan is to go to Belgium along the way, and I can't miss out on waffles! 

So to get the gist of this post: 

• Staying in/around Vienna is cool
• Exploring is often cooler than the activity intended 
• Being alone isn't the worst