Vídeň, Wien, Vienna!

My obssession to visit Vienna started a decade ago after watching the movie Before Sunrise. Maybe it was the movie's plot which heightened the romance emitting from every corner of the city onscreen but whatever it was, it made a 21-year-old girl dream of ferris wheel rides, cobblestone walks, museum visits and hopefully finding Mr. Right. Less than a decade later I did meet my Mr. Right but not in Vienna. Sometimes the reality is far better than the dream, though sometimes it's the other way around. Such is my Vienna experience.

I found it too crowded, too busy, too big. I guess one of the reasons why I didn't like it much is because I had a splitting headache the whole time A and I were there. What a bummer! Blame it to Central Europe's menopausal weather. Its mood swings are terrible-- 34C today, 15C tomorrow. Still Vienna is undeniably beautiful. Here are the sights we saw:

The Schönbrunn is one of the places we visited that I really like. It has a zoo, a botanical garden, a palace, a garden with flowers of multitude colors with the view of the Gloriette sitting magnificiently on top of the hill. The climb to the Gloriette is worth it. The view speaks it all. There are also parks where you can relax after a long walk. We saw several squirrels not in the least shy of people.

Stephansplatz is probably the most crowded part of Vienna. Tourists, clowns, shoppers are all mixed together in this square. St. Stephen's Cathedral (above pic) is the main tourist spot here. People also come here for its shopping centres.

We spent hours just walking along Mariahilferstrase. If you’re a shopaholic or have the tendency to be, beware of this part of Vienna. It’s a long street with all the shopping centres of the brands of everything you could ever imagine buying.

The best place for us is the Aqua Terra Zoo. It's actually very near Mariahilferstrase. So many animals there and with different kinds of fish that I haven't seen before. Then there's this little monkey that loves to be around with people. The turtles, too, are not at all shy. I don't know why none of the buildings, palaces, museums or gardens impressed me more than the animals we saw in this zoo did. :)

Of course, who could miss Prater (above pic) where the giant ferris wheel is? We didn't ride it though. It's not my kind of fun anymore. This is the lola in me talking. :)

For more pictures of our trip, please click here. Maybe next time my experience in Vienna will be different. Maybe next time it will live up to my decade-long dreams.