A few summers ago, I spent two weeks at Vienna in Austria, which turned out to be one of the most vibrant experiences of my Europe trip. Although I did the typical tourist activities, I also spent a lot of time alone in the city.
1 One of the many things that makes Vienna such a beautiful city is its rich culture and architecture, rooted deep in its heritage. A great contrast to the historical architecture — and personally one thing that really appealed to me, was the unique graffiti I found on the walls and under the bridges in this cultural hub.
2 On my trip, I went to see the Vienna Boys’ Choir, one of the best known boys’ choirs in the world and The Vienna Philharmonic, an orchestra considered one of the finest in the world; these shows, albeit typical tourist attractions, were fantastic and spotless. But, what really stood out was a modern ballet group that performed Carmen and other Opera pieces with their own spin on each of them. The choreography was cutting edge contemporary, leaving the audience in awe with a spectacularly portrayed contrast between modern contemporary and classical dance.
3 My mother’s obsession with the great artist Gustav Klimt, led us to the Belvedere Museum where we saw the permanent installation dedicated solely to Klimt’s work. It was a once-in-a-lifetime surreal experience.
4 Although beautiful, my teenage soul could handle only so many museums and so, while my mother went off to multiple other exhibitions, I put on my rollerblades, and skated around the city of Vienna, free and safe. I came across the Skatepark Hutteldorf, enormous and intriguing, where I met all sorts of people on wheels. The following day, we went to a Flea Market in the middle of the city, where there were all kinds of unique and vintage things being sold, from vinyls to handmade Turkish jewellery, to beautiful bohemian clothes and I picked up a leather bag that had an image of The Beatles on it.
5 One cannot talk about Vienna without mentioning the fantastic food, and one of the best meals I ate there was a spontaneous night in the city at a restaurant called Motto am Fluss that served local and global cuisines in an iconic boat-like building, on the bank of a Canal, with a beautiful view of the water and some brilliant graffiti art.
— As told to Anoushka Shyam
