Saturday June 2nd

Belvedere Palace

After some much-needed rest Friday night, I woke up early Saturday morning ready to see more of Vienna. Because our bike tour of Barcelona was so well-received by the group, our professor scheduled a bike tour of Vienna for Saturday morning. Luckily I really enjoy the bike tours regardless of weather because it rained off and on for about the first two hours of our riding around the city. Even with the rain pounding down at times, I had a blast biking around and seeing such sites as the Museumsquartier, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Belvedere Palace, and many other significant buildings. Having traveled and visited many cities in Europe in the past four weeks, I think the best and quickest way of seeing as much of a city as possible is taking a bike tour. While the visits to the different sites aren’t quite as in-depth, you see a ton of places and you’re not wasting time walking to and from the different destinations. Even with Saturday morning’s rain, I had a great time pedaling around the city.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

Following a couple hours of biking, we were all starving so the group broke up for the day to grab late lunches. A few of us saw a little village of shops and pop-up restaurants close to St. Stephen’s in downtown on our bike tour which piqued our interest, so we decided to hop on the subway and head back to grab some lunch. The area reminded me of Market Square in Knoxville, only more crowded and with more food vendors. Once we arrived I checked out a few of the different food stands before I ordered a bratwurst hot dog and a massive pretzel. The hot dog was actually very interesting because rather than a bratwurst on a bun, the hot dog was instead a bratwurst placed inside a hollowed-out piece of bread.  After a tasty lunch, a couple of us walked around and shopped in the downtown area for a while before heading back to the hotel.  

After showering and relaxing around the hotel for a while, three other guys and I decided to head back downtown for dinner and a few beers since the group wasn’t meeting until 10:30 Sunday morning. I was actually fairly surprised that there really weren’t a ton of options when it came to bars in downtown Vienna. In most of our previous stops you couldn’t throw a stone without hitting some type of watering hole. The four of us ended up going to an Australian bar, where they thankfully spoke English, and drank a few beers before calling it a night. 

 

As I said in a previous blog entry, I have been very impressed with Vienna. The subway system is incredibly easy to use even with the language barrier, the food is extremely affordable, and the overall city feels clean and nice. After the hustle and bustle of very touristy stops prior, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Vienna.