Trip Journal: Belgium, Austria and Slovakia

Trip Journal: Belgium, Austria and Slovakiafeatured

I don’t feel like I say yes as much as I should (or even as much as I want to).

I could probably recite to you every opportunity I’ve turned down over the past five years because it just wasn’t something I should do. I shouldn’t spend the money. Or put in for the extra days off. It’s crazy. I shouldn’t do it. Banff. Bogotá. Iceland. Madrid. Portugal. I could have written a book about the around-the-world adventures I haven’t let myself go on.

I have these conversations with my friends all the time. There’s always a new place to go and there’s always a very practical reason not to. After all, I’m not a professional traveler – I’m a professional who travels. I’m a professional at a company with a flexible PTO policy and that helps sometimes, but even that has its limits, you know? I’m a professional first, and since I’d like to keep it that way, I try not to be egregious about taking too much time off.  

At some point over two years, though, I got really tired of saying no. With every opportunity I’ve turned down because of some misplaced sense of guilt – taking the extra days off, spending the money, seeing the world without my family there to see it, too – there’s never been a time where I’ve said no and later on thought to myself Gosh, I’m so glad I didn’t go.

So when my friend Keri got sent to Belgium for work and asked me if I wanted to tag along, I was really tired of saying no. I had more than enough miles to cover my flight, the hotel was covered and I’d never been to Belgium before. And Keri and I have very similar travel goals (read: our goal is to travel everywhere and visit as many countries as we can get to!), so I knew we’d have one crazy adventure beyond Belgium.

There was only one thing… she left for Belgium the same day I flew home from Spain after my Horizon cruise. It was crazy. It was completely unlike me. Go to Europe for two and a half weeks, come home for a week and then go back to Europe?! Who DOES that?!

And that’s exactly why I did it.

Many people (ahem, Hi Mom) tell me that I have time to travel, that I rush into some of these trips and that I can travel when I’m older, when I’m retired or at least more settled… but what if that day never comes? What if it does and I have an entirely different set of circumstances that don’t make traveling ideal? Why wait to see the world then when I can see the world now, while I’m still (relatively) young, financially stable and free of any commitments beyond my job and my apartment lease? I don’t want to wake up one day and realize I’ve missed my chance to visit these places and experience all these cultures. I want to wake up any day…every day…and say today is another day I get the privilege of living however I see fit doing something that brings me joy — something that I’ll tell stories about for years to come.

So I booked a ticket to Belgium to meet up with Keri. And because we were both flying all the way to Europe anyways, we decided that one country wouldn’t be enough – we wanted to go bold. So we tacked on a trip to Vienna. And one morning while we were in Vienna, we woke up and decided to daytrip to Bratislava to visit a donut shop I saw on Instagram. Who wakes up and decides I think I’ll go to Slovakia for some donuts today? Exactly.

My itinerary looked like this:

  1. Fly from Chicago to Finland
  2. Connect in Finland to Brussels
  3. Take the train from Brussels to Antwerp to meet up with Keri
  4. One full day to explore Belgium: Antwerp to Ghent to Brussels back to Antwerp
  5. Fly from Brussels to Vienna
  6. Daytrip: take the train from Vienna to Bratislava
  7. One full day in Vienna
  8. Fly from Vienna to London
  9. Connect in London to Charlotte
  10. Connect in Charlotte to Chicago

Sound exhausting? There aren’t even words. Oh, and I worked most of the days we were there, too. By the time we were getting back to the hotel in the evenings, the work day was starting back home in Chicago and I’d log on to get my work done.

Even with the late nights? Still worth it. So here’s how it went…

Belgium

How we got there:

So Keri was already in Belgium, which meant I was traveling halfway across the world solo. I’ve done plenty of flights by myself before, but I’d never flown internationally by myself before. I had a stockpile of American Aadvantage miles, accumulated over a few years of flying, plenty of dollars spent on the Aadvantage Citi Card and a generous sign up bonus.

Nine times out of ten, redeeming flights with miles on American will yield results on British Airways, which would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that redeeming on long haul flights with British Airways tacks on hundreds of dollars in extra fees if you connect through Heathrow (which is…every flight from the US to Europe via British Airways). In a stroke of divine intervention, after a day or two of searching, I found availability on Finnair, one of American’s oneworld partners, and quickly booked that up.

So on a Monday evening, I took the El to O’Hare after work and made my way to Terminal 5, the International Terminal. Can you believe in my entire life, of all the flights I’ve taken, I’d never flown out of O’Hare’s international terminal?! It was a little thrill, for sure, if for nothing else, there’s an RJ Grunt’s there and that’s my favorite Chicago burger joint.

…I didn’t eat at Grunt’s though. Instead, I made my way to the Air France lounge because I was flying business class! I figured if I was flying over an ocean, by myself, overnight, I may as well have a lay flat bed, right? Logic. Anyways, Finnair doesn’t have its own lounge, but it offered access to the Air France lounge, where they had a full make-any-drink-you-want bar and a ton of snacks, a hot bar with soups and pasta dishes and a fridge full of pre-made sandwiches and salads from another one of my local favorites, Goddess and Grocer. I grabbed a plate and a glass of red wine and tried to settle my nerves. I was *so* excited, but also so nervous to be doing this myself.

When boarding began, I noticed the business class section was a little light on passenger load. It turned out, on the entire flight, there were only 60 passengers! Isn’t that crazy? So even if I didn’t have business class, I probably could have made a poor man’s air couch with my own row and been fine, but let me tell you: business class on Finnair was an experience!

The business class cabin had a staggered seating arrangement, where one row would have two seats by two seats by two seats and the next would be one by two by one. The one seat rows (“throne seats”) weren’t any bigger in seat width, but had much more personal space on either side of the seat. I grabbed one of these at booking, and it was perfect for traveling by myself. The seat reclined into a full lay flat bed and had a large seatback screen with plenty of movies to keep entertained with, as well as options to view cameras on the tail and belly of the plane (pro tip: don’t watch these during takeoff).

As I was settling in, a flight attendant came to offer me a glass of fruit juice and hand me an amenity kit and slippers (both featuring patterns by my fave Finnish designer, Marimekko), as well as a menu for dinner and breakfast.

If I could have flown around the world in this seat, I would have. The eight and a half hour flight from Chicago to Helsinki was just not enough! The seat was so comfy (both upright and reclined into a bed) and I actually got a decent night’s sleep, arriving in Finland nice and rested. The service was top notch – my glass never went empty and I never wanted for a single thing. And the food. My goodness. Airplane food isn’t always the best and I wasn’t expecting anything gourmet, but everything was so delicious. The amuse bouche? Served in a crystal bowl. My gin and tonic? Best one I’ve ever had. And when dessert came and I was pondering which option I wanted, they just brought me everything on the dessert menu *and* matched a wine pairing to it. How do you not love that?!

I woke up to the sun rising over the Atlantic, filling the cabin with these gorgeous pink hues. A hot breakfast and tea service were served as we glided closer to Helsinki.

We arrived in Finland in the early morning hours and the airport was quiet of the usual hustle and bustle you’d find in an international airport for a major city (except for the whizzing by of flight attendants on Finnair-branded razor scooters!). I made my way through border patrol, got a new stamp in my passport and made my way back into the main terminal. Before I headed off to the Finnair lounge, though, I made a stop in the Marimekko shop (her patterns are just so fun and remind me of our trip through Scandinavia in 2017!) and at the first convenience shop I saw so I could pick up an obscene amount of Lakerol – Stephanie’s favorite Scandinavian candies (fun story: when I flew home, the TSA agents in Charlotte hand searched my backpack because I had so many boxes of these candies and they thought I was smuggling back drugs. That was a fun convo…).

The airport kind of reminded me of Ikea, with it’s simple designs, neutral colors and themed spaces. I love Ikea, and Scandinavia for that matter, so it was so much fun just being in the airport. I love airports. Is it just me?

I had a few hours to kill before my connecting flight, so I made my way to the Finnair lounge, which was lofted on top of the main terminal. The lounge was massive, with multiple rooms, living walls, massage chairs that claim to counteract the effects of jetlag and best of all, an expansive spread of Finnish delicacies. I logged on to work and updated a few of my decks in between nibbles.

The flight from Helsinki to Brussels was much, much shorter than my inbound flight, clocking in at two and a half hours. I was flying business class on this leg, too, but my seat was just a regular seat. Maybe a little bigger. There were no seatback TV’s or power outlets, but I did have a window seat to keep me entertained. And even though the flight was short, we were given plenty of food, including a bag of pretzels served with any drink we wanted (champs please!) followed by a full hot meal. I had pre-ordered a vegetarian meal since options on these short flights can be limited and I’m a picky eater, and my meal looked much better than what was served to everyone else and was crazy filling!

Smooth skies led us to an on-time arrival and before I knew it, I was in Belgium.  Keri was staying in Antwerp, a charming town about 40 minutes away from the Brussels airport. A taxi would have been the easiest option but I really don’t like taxi’s because they’re expensive (especially in Europe) and because it makes me a little uneasy when I’m alone in a foreign country where I don’t speak the native language (which in Belgium is Dutch). Thankfully, like most of Europe’s major metropolitan cities, Brussels has an extensive train system that will take you right from the airport directly to many of the surrounding cities – including Antwerp. There were tons of signs around the baggage claim area, as well as an automated ticketing machine. It couldn’t have been easier (especially for an aforementioned someone traveling internationally for the first time alone who speaks not a single word of Dutch). And, plus, while the drive to Antwerp is around 40 minutes from the airport, the train ride is less than 25 minutes and it only costs something around €12.

Antwerp Central Station is located in the heart of Antwerp’s Old Town and it is a stunning station. Something about it just conjured up this old time nostalgia of classic train stations with ornate details and high ceilings. And like a true pal, Keri came to meet me at the train station and helped me with my luggage on the 20-minute walk to our hotel.

Where We Stayed:

Because I was tagging along on a work trip, where we stayed in Belgium was already decided by the nature of the trip: we’d be staying in Antwerp, which happens to be the second biggest region in the country. I don’t know if I would have chosen to stay in Antwerp before my visit, but I’d definitely choose it again now that I’ve been there.

We stayed at the Hilton Antwerp, which was smack dab in the center of Old Town, within walking distance to anywhere and everything. There were a ton of cafes and shops steps outside the hotel and the city of Antwerp is just so charming. Best of all, though, was that while Antwerp is full of all of the great things I love about metropolitan cities in Europe, it was so much quieter than Brussels. The streets weren’t jammed full of people, the pace was a little slower and that really gave me the space I needed to see and experience all that it had to offer. The food, the architecture, the magnificent structures, the culture…that’s all there. But the aggressive street vendors, super commercialized tourism, sites too full of people to truly see what’s in front of you – Antwerp was wonderfully void of any of that. And with it’s central location and easy transit to both the airport and nearby cities of interest (Brussels, Ghent and Bruges), it was the perfect home port for our trip.

What We Did:

Snapped the Antwerp Sites

I didn’t have a ton of time in Antwerp – a few hours the night I arrived and a few hours the next night – but thankfully, Antwerp is small and easily walkable. The main attraction is the Cathedral of Our Lady, a church built in the gothic style that was built in the 1500s. We had a nice view of it from our room, but seeing it in person lit up at night was an absolutely magnificent sight! The Grote Markt, Antwerp’s town square, was another one I really enjoyed. I’m a sucker for unique architecture and the buildings in the Grote Markt (and really, throughout Belgium) were largely designed in that distinctive Flemish Renaissance style, so regal and elaborate. But the most interesting site in Antwerp was the Nello & Patrache Statue of a little boy cuddling his dog, a tribute to the book A Dog of Flanders. The sidewalk forms the blanket that’s draped over them and it’s a piece of public art that’s really so innocent and tranquil.

Took In Belgium’s Unique Architecture via Canal

Much like Copenhagen (one of my favorite cities in the world!), one of the best ways to enjoy Belgium’s unique architecture is by canal, and there are two primary Belgian cities tourists (like me!) flock to for some scenic canal time: Bruges and Ghent. Most tourists will go to Bruges because it’s the more well-known of the two. Keri and I headed to Ghent for a couple of reasons, namely that it’s less crowded than Bruges and because it’s a college town (Ghent University has more than 43,000 students!), prices were a little lower, too.

Ghent was a short train ride from Antwerp (just under an hour, with trains running direct between the two cities) and we were immediately smitten with the calm, cool vibe. We wandered around on foot for a few hours, eating waffles grilled fresh on street carts and snapping pictures of the colorful streets. Ghent is a city you could easily lose yourself in for hours. We did, and enjoyed every second of it!

But before we left for Brussels, we had to get in a canal cruise. Touring Copenhagen’s canals was a highlight of my trip back in 2017 and at €7.5, it was a downright steal. Once our boat filled up (ten or twelve people – it wasn’t a ton), we set out down the canal for an hour long tour. Seeing the town on foot was special on its own, but seeing it from the water was truly magnificent. The architecture is just so unique and the buildings are so colorful. I couldn’t stop snapping pictures. Our guide would slow the boat in some spaces to give us the history of what we were seeing (like Gravensteen, a medieval castle that dated back to the 1100’s!), or point out interesting pieces of life in Ghent (like the signs from residents protesting the very boat tours we were on because they believe the noise pollution is disruptive). And, making things even better, even though the weather had been cloudy and gray all morning, by the time we got on our boat, the sun finally peeked out. I couldn’t imagine any better way to enjoy such a lovely place.

Mom and I will be on the Mardi Gras inaugural (did I announce that yet? If I didn’t, surprise! We’ll be on the Mardi Gras inaugural), and the day we dock in Belgium, there’s a strong likelihood you’ll find us in Ghent, on a canal boat, probably with a waffle in hand.

…and Did Some Shopping, Too

Ghent was filled with cafes, beautiful architecture and history – all things I love. But if you know me well enough, you know that this girl loves to shop and I can’t leave anywhere without buying something to bring a piece of these new places home with me. In Ghent, that meant picking up a box of Belgian chocolates. As we were walking across Korenmarkt (the city center), I could smell the heavenly aroma of chocolate before I even spotted Chocolou, a local chocolatier. We just had to stop in and it was the most adorable shop with a super friendly owner, who offered us samples and masterfully hand-selected a mix of different confections based on the preferences I gave her. I brought back a pretty heavy box of chocolates (€11! Can you BELIEVE?!) that I pecked at for weeks after I got back home. It was like having a little bit of Belgium back home with me.

And then there was Primark.

Have you heard of Primark? I never had before this trip, but Keri knew of it from her trips to London and she was obsessed. It’s like this H&M slash Monoprix lovechild with trendy clothes, shoes, accessories, even home goods, and it’s all super cheap. I think I spent, like, €70 and I came out with a haul – sweatshirts emblazoned with cute sayings like Bonjour Weekend (perfect for my trips to Paris!), the cutest pajama sets, swim cover ups with neon tassels, cotton maxi dresses, face masks, shoes…I did some damage.

Visited the Big Sites of the Big City

I couldn’t visit Belgium and not see those beautifully guilded buildings of the Grand Place in Brussels.  Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels form this almost perfect triangle on a map, so we started our day in Antwerp, we spent most of the day in Ghent and then we detoured to Brussels on our way back to Antwerp.

The ride to Brussels took just under an hour and left us right in front of the Brussels Stock Exchange, which was a rather regal looking building with tall columns and many steps where a good number of tourists seemed to congregate. Everything we wanted to see was well within walking distance and since we knew we didn’t have many hours of daylight left, we set right out for the Grand Place.

Known as the Grote Markt locally, the Grand Place is this central square that’s boxed in by some pretty opulent structures – the King’s House, the Town Hall and a number of guild houses. Each structure is unique, but incredibly ornate, many of them decorated in regal gold accents. When we visited, golden hour was setting in so everything was swathed in rich sunlight or harsh shadows – an absolutely stunning juxtaposition!

After the Grand Place, we set out for our next destination, the Manneken Pis, a statue that was a quick walk down the street. Or, at least, it should have been a quick walk, but in typical fashion, with so many streets leading out from the Grand Place, we headed down the wrong one and the walk took a little longer. But, also in typical fashion, a wrong turn led us down a busy street filled with (more) waffle shops, (more) chocolate shops and we even came across this beautiful shopping plaza with a beautiful glass ceiling. When I Googled it, I realized we had come across Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert – the oldest shopping mall in Europe! If you’ve read enough of these, you’ll know that few things bring me as much joy as a good shopping trip, so coming across this place as randomly as we did was such a pleasant surprise.

We snapped our pictures and then continued on our walk to the Manneken Pis. So, you’ve probably heard of the Manneken Pis. Less formally, it’s known as the peeing statue because, well, that’s what it is. The current landmark that draws millions of visitors annually (I’m not kidding – millions of people go to Brussels to see a statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain and I can’t cast stones because I’m now one of them!) is actually a replica. The original bronze statue was made in the early 1600s and now sits in one of the city museums. It’s kind of funny – the Manneken Pis has no real historical significance. It wasn’t crafted by a famous artist and it doesn’t have any wild and crazy stories behind it. Rather, it’s quirkiness just kind of embodies the unique spirit of the city and as part of that, the statue has more than 800 (!!!!!) costumes. That’s right – millions of people every year flock to a statue of a boy peeing into a fountain because it gets dressed up in these seasonal costumes that range from soccer jerseys to formal tuxedos to service uniforms. There’s even a published calendar online of what outfits he’ll be wearing on what dates. Unfortunately for us, he wasn’t dressed up in any of his costumes when we visited. More disappointing was coming up to the site and realizing just how small the statue is (basically the size of an American Girl doll, if not slightly larger) and how small the viewing area is. People were even pushing and shoving to take pictures with it! Isn’t that crazy?!

Brussels was interesting to me in that we were able to see the biggest main sites in just a couple of hours and we left feeling completely satisfied with what we saw and how much time we spent there. Don’t get me wrong – I could have spent hours more diving deeper into the culture and the history – but I also didn’t feel like I lost out on anything by not spending more time there.

Ate All the Stereotypical Belgian Food

If you go to Belgium and don’t have a waffle, were you ever really in Belgium? I had three food priorities for my trip: frites, waffles and chocolate. I scratched beer off the list because, for the life of me, I still can’t drink beer without my face scrunching up like I just sucked on a lemon.

My first night in Antwerp, we headed to a nearby frites stand for dinner (#vacationdiet y’all!). There were dozens of them in Antwerp and man, they do them so right. Hand-cut, fried to order, crunchy and salty and, you guys, they serve them with so many different sauces! I skipped the mayo-based ones because mayo is a no-go for me, but there were still so many others – flavored ketchups, fancy mustards and all kinds of tasty concoctions that pair perfectly with those fresh frites.

On day two, we started with waffles and coffee at a grab and go shop on our walk to the train station. They weren’t anything fancy, but they were warm and sugary and while I’m sure they’d be nothing special to most, I thought they were SO good!

And then, when we were in Ghent, we were just walking through town and this aroma hit us – this sweet waft of sugar that permeated the air. Waffles, freshly baked on a street cart. But Nicole, girl, you just had waffles for breakfast before you left Antwerp. Yep. Sure did. And then I had street waffles for lunch. Regrets? Zero. And, for the record, Belgian waffles do, indeed, taste better in Belgium.

And, fun fact about Brussels: it has more than 135 restaurants per square mile, one of the highest densities of restaurants in the world. And we totally intended on having a nice dinner while we were there…except we were so full from our breakfast waffles and our lunch waffles that we couldn’t even think about dinner. Something to aim for next time.

Austria

How we got there:

After a day and a half in Belgium, we were off on our next adventure. We packed up our bags, had the hotel concierge call us a taxi and headed off to the airport. With Keri’s work in Belgium done, we took off on a long weekend to Austria. I wish there was some spectacular reason we chose to go to Austria, but there really isn’t one. Airfare was cheap. Neither of us had been there. I grew up watching The Sound of Music on a bizarrely regular basis. Mostly, it was just a new place to explore that sounded really nice.

The flight from Brussels to Vienna was a quick hour and a half. We flew on Austrian Airlines and the plane was comfortable enough – the leg room seemed decently adequate, but I’m just over 5’3, so leg room is rarely an issue for me anyways. With the quick air time, in flight service began shortly after we leveled off at cruising altitude, and I was really pleased that in addition to offering a complimentary beverage, we were also offered a choice between crisps (that’s fancy Euroslang for potato chips!) or Manner sticks (wafers with hazelnut spread that are drenched in chocolate – I was obsessed with these for the rest of our time in Austria and brought a very large bag of them home!).

I must have dozed off because it felt like minutes after we leveled off, we were beginning our descent into the Austrian countryside. It was gray and rainy, but we were just so excited to be there and add a new stamp into our passports.

Once we made it through border patrol and down to baggage claim, we contemplated our options for getting to our hotel. We could take a taxi or a shuttle, but the cheapest and quickest option was to take the City Airport Train, which went directly from the airport to the city center. Fortuitously for us, Wien Mitte, the station where the train dropped off in the city center, was below a shopping mall that was literally across the street from our hotel. €11 per person and 16 minutes door to door? It was a no-brainer. The train ran every 30 minutes, but I think we waited no more than 10 and were quickly on our way.

Where We Stayed:

Vienna is a large, cosmopolitan city and we had a wide spectrum of options for places to stay. We settled on the Hilton Vienna because I was working on a status challenge with Hilton and the hotel was located right smack dab where we needed to be. The shopping mall at Wien Mitte, where the express train from the airport ends at? Right across the street. The Hop On Hop Off bus stop? Less than a block away. Shopping, dining, sightseeing – the Hilton was at the center of the action, perfectly situated in Vienna’s Landstraßedistrict.

We booked an Executive Room so that we had access to the lounge (which would take care of breakfast and a light dinner) and when we checked in on the Hilton app, we could choose what room we wanted. Keri let me do the honors, so I booked us on the same floor as the lounge (which put us on one of the higher floors) with a view facing Stadtpark, one of Vienna’s beautiful parks. The décor of the room felt a little dated, but it was clean and spacious, and that view more than made up for an 80s-inspired color scheme! The only issue we had was we had chosen a room with two beds and when we arrived, the beds were made up as a king. Housekeeping was quick to fix the beds back to match our request while we were out at the Naschtmarkt and when we got back, we also found a welcome treat: they had put out a display of those Manner bars I was quasi obsessed with from the airplane, as well as some bottles of water and a welcome letter thanking me for my loyalty.

As for the lounge, we had breakfast there every morning, drinks and snacks there every afternoon and a light dinner every evening and the offerings were plentiful and super tasty! My favorite was the cheese plate they’d put out in the evening. They had this truffle brie that rocked my world. I’d make a little cheese plate, grab a glass of champs and we’d sit at a table next to the window and stare out at the city below. It’s one of my favorite memories from this trip.

What We Did:

Noshed Through the Naschmarkt

If you put me in any city for a few hours, I’m guaranteed to find my way to three things: food markets, murals and super cool coffee shops. Within two hours of our arrival in Vienna, we scratched the first two off that list with a visit to the Naschmarkt.

The Naschmarkt is an outdoor market with more than 120 (!!!!) stalls, shops, cafes and bars that span all kinds of international cuisines and delicacies. Cheese shops, bakery stalls, floral carts, spice shops, textiles and souvenirs – it’s a one stop shop. There are sit down restaurants, grab and go carts, even stalls where you literally just pull up a stool.

Oh, and there’s some pretty interesting murals, too, adding some quirky ambiance.

The Naschmarkt was just under a half hour walk from the hotel, right near Karlsplatz in the city center, and in many regards, it reminded me of Seattle’s Pike Place Market. It’s large and expansive and runs such a large gamut. You could sit down for a nice meal, or do your grocery shopping for the week. You could grab a Viennese sausage, or you could grab dolmades and baklava. We were just in the mood for a snack, so we settled at a cheese shop, creating our own mini cheese snack boards to enjoy outside as we took in everything around us. 

Wandered Through the Streets and Parks

One of the things I enjoyed most about Vienna was that everything is so ornate and regal. It’s almost like walking through the pages of a fairy tale. There are castles and gilded cathedrals, and perfectly manicured parks with the most stunning floral gardens. Everything is just colorful and grand and for a modern city dweller like me who stares up at monochromatic skyscrapers every day, it was awe-inspiring.

I loved walking down the streets, turning a corner and seeing an extravagant opera house or a row of pastel-colored facades. I loved walking into a park and finding myself surrounded by rose bushes and floralscapes. Vienna is so easy to navigate on foot and the surprise and delight of losing myself in its beauty was worth the trip alone.

My favorite park was Stadtpark, which felt like a very small Central Park, with the dense green trees and many benches. I feel like you can tell a lot about a city by it’s parks and public spaces and Vienna felt very…calm. Quiet and clean, peaceful and safe. Vienna wasn’t bright and bold, but rather subdued, majestic. It was a vast departure from the western European countries I’d visited previously, but one I appreciated nonetheless. 

Explored the City in the Best Way Possible: From the Top of the Hop On Hop Off Bus

If you know me at all by now, you know that I am super biased and that my favorite way to see a city is from the top of a Hop On Hop Off Bus. On a beautiful day with a nice breeze, there are few better ways to pass a few hours than gliding through the streets on a double decker bus, learning about the city’s history and yes, even the super cheesy music tracks that play in the background. Because our time in Vienna was limited (two and a half days, one of which we earmarked for a trip to Slovakia), the Hop On Hop Off bus allowed us to see and learn as much about Vienna as we could cram into a day. And, bonus, it stopped right across the street from our hotel!

Our one-day ticket offered us unlimited access to four lines and I think we managed to ride three of them, hopping off frequently to explore the different sites and monuments. We got to see the Imperial Palace and the State Opera, we walked through the gardens at the Schönbrunn Palace and got to see Heldenplatz (Heroes Square), the University and even the Himmelstraße wine district on our way up to Kahlenburg (which, by the way, we would have spent at least half a day at if we had an extra day to spend).

We didn’t get to explore everything, but at the very least, I walked away feeling like I saw everything.

Got a Birds-Eye View from Kahlenberg

I’m a sucker for a view, and in Vienna, there’s one place that offers a view better than the rest: Kahlenberg.

Kahlenberg is a hill on the outskirts of the city, with a primo top-down view of the entire cityscape of Vienna. You can see the palaces and the Danube and on a clear day, you can even see out to the mountains.

The Green line of the Hop On Hop Off bus stops at Kahlenberg and you don’t need a ton of time to explore – maybe an hour. There’s a church and a couple of cafes at the top, but the main attraction is the view point and it is truly breathtaking!

Experienced Vienna’s Coffeehouse Culture First-Hand

So like I mentioned earlier, if you put me in any city, I’ll immediately gravitate towards three things: food markets, murals and coffee shops. I’m a sucker for a good coffee shop. I love coffee culture. I love how coffee is a medium for connection and how that’s nurtured in different ways in different countries. 

Coffee culture and the mundane experience of literally just getting a cup of coffee is something truly unique in Vienna, and if you visit Vienna and do nothing else, please go visit a traditional Viennese coffeehouse. It’s such a cornerstone of culture that UNESCO put it on their National Agency for the Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Not a specific coffee house – all of them. The experience of visiting a coffee house is so ingrained in Viennese culture that just the act of it has it on a UNESCO list.

On that list, UNESCO describes the coffeehouse as a place “…where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill.” Here in the US, we pop in and out of coffee shops as the need for caffeine consumes us. Sometimes, we stay longer and linger over the newspaper or meet a friend, but more often than not, we grab a coffee, we take it to go, we enter, we leave, it’s five minutes and onwards. Our coffeehouses here are dark and small. In Vienna, some of these coffeehouses are grand spaces, with high ceilings, subdued lighting and comfortable furniture. They’re like your grandma’s living room, comfortable and a little worn, inviting you in to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and spend a few hours inside, where you can enjoy a cup of coffee with a slice of cake, read a newspaper or catch up with a friend. Some of them have outdoor seating, where you can enjoy your coffee while you watch the world pass by in front of you. The coffee menus are expansive, often times offering more than a dozen different kinds of drinks. I opted for any drink topped with whipped cream because, you know, #treatyourself.

My favorite coffeehouse was Café Prückel, which we visited on our last evening in Vienna. It’s not the most famous of Viennese coffeehouses, but it’s been in business for over 100 years so it had to be good. The ambiance gave me major nostalgia vibes, reminding me so much of my grandma and how she decorated her homes, and the coffee was spot on. It was the perfect experience to end our time in Vienna with.

Day Trip to Bratislava and Discover a New Country

Whenever I visit a new country, I have a tendency to see what other countries are immediately nearby. The allure of being able to cross new places off my list is more often than not, impossible for me to ignore. So when we realized that Bratislava was a short one-hour train ride away, we kind of jumped at it. And, bonus, there was this gorgeous donut shop in Bratislava that I saw on Instagram and I’d been dying to visit. So yeah, long story short, we decided to go to Bratislava to cross Slovakia off of the countries we’ve been to list and visit a donut shop.

Here’s what I didn’t realize about Bratislava: one, it’s easy to get to (literally just over an hour door to door), two, it’s small and easy to navigate but most importantly, three, it’s relatively untouched by tourism. I’m sure there are hotels (we didn’t see any big chains, though I’m sure they exist), but it’s not exactly a tourist hub for Eastern Europe. Because of this, we walked around and just kind of felt like locals. We didn’t see any tours or tour busses, no one else with their cameras around their necks, just local residents going about their every day. For me, that made it such a special experience.

From the train station (which was incredibly small, especially compared to the one we got on at in Vienna), we took a bus to the city center. The bus was easy to navigate and super clean and comfortable to ride on.

Once we got off the bus, we immediately went to La Donuteria Bratislava for coffee and donuts and it was every bit as good as it looked on Instagram. We grabbed a table outside and it was absolutely perfect — the weather, the people watching, the donuts…days honestly don’t start much better!

We spent the rest of the day walking around, trying to take in as much of the city as we could walk to. We visited the Blue Church and Šafárikovo Námestie, a gorgeous square surrounded by buildings splashed in vibrant colors. We walked across the New Old Bridge and saw that distinctive UFO-shaped restaurant. We didn’t make it up to Bratislavský Hrad (the Bratislava Castle), but I loved Bratislava so much that I’m sure I’ll be back, and a visit to the castle will be at the top of my list.

Before we left, we had a late lunch at another restaurant I found on (surprise, surprise!) Instagram – Café St. Germain. It was a little hipster — the ambiance was like eating in a really cool book shop — and the food was SO good. Like, it’s been months and I’m still thinking about the goat cheese dip.

I didn’t think I’d ever have a reason to travel to Bratislava or visit Slovakia, and after a day just walking around, I keep trying to think of ways to go back. I think I mentioned it before, but my grandma was born in Poland and came to the United States as an adult during WWII. Obviously Poland and Slovakia are very different, very separate countries, but there was something about being in Slovakia, with its understated elegance and the fragrant lilac bushes that adorned the parks (the same ones she grew in her backyard!) that reminded me so much of her, and made me feel very much at home.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

And then after six days and four countries, it was time to fly home. Keri and I parted ways at the airport in Vienna and I headed off on…a very long journey home.

Since I was flying on miles anyways, I contemplated booking a business class flight home, but ultimately decided to just fly coach home since it was a daytime flight and it was better if I didn’t sleep through it anyways. And since booking with miles limited my options, I ended up flying from Vienna…

…to London (where I had just enough time to do some duty free shopping)…

…to Charlotte (where I made it clean through customs but got stopped going back through TSA because they thought all that Lakerol candy I was bringing back from Helsinki for Stephanie was drugs, leaving me with just enough time to grab some Carolina BBQ)…

…finally home to Chicago…17 hours later!

Stephanie picked me up at the airport with a very large McDonald’s iced tea (my guilty pleasure…shhhhhhhhh) and a bag of Taco Bell fresco tacos (don’t judge me – after nearly a month in Europe, save for a week in between trips, literally all I wanted was Taco Bell) and took me back to my apartment and…that was it. Another adventure in the books J

((Until the next one, anyways))

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