I traveled to Austria (alone)
- Kristin Ehlert
- Dec 10, 2019
- 7 min read
Bonjour à tous!
I am reporting live from the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and I am alone. I mean I’m surrounded by other people, families and couples traveling and either leaving home, going home or somewhere in between. This weekend I decided (sort of impulsively) about a month ago that I had to take advantage of the opportunity of living only about an hour away from one of the most central airports in the world.
Right now in France, everything is on strike. You can read about it here. A month ago, I had no idea that all of France would be striking. I honestly didn’t think I was even gonna make it to the airport this morning because I wasn’t sure there would be even one train leaving from Lille to CDG airport this morning. I booked a bus as well just in case there would be no trains running. Pretty much every government worker in France right now is striking for an indefinite amount of time because Macron wants to make people work longer and reduce the pensions. There was a huge protest in Lille and other cities around France and a lot of public transport has been shutting down.
Update: Tuesday, December 10th... it's 4 days later and I am back in Lille. All I have to say is Vienna has got to be one of the most beautiful and friendly places in Europe. I decided to travel to Vienna alone because I have always wanted to visit but wasn’t sure if I would ever get the chance to go there with friends (I especially wanted to see the Christmas markets) so I found a cheap cheap airline ticket about a month ago and boy, am I glad I did that.
Leading up to the days to my departure, I was n-e-r-v-o-u-s. Actually more like N-E-R-V-O-U-S with all caps. I don’t think I realized it at the time but I was getting really comfortable here in France. I like my bed, I like spending only 10 euros on vegetables at the market and not spending money on going out to eat. I was nervous to completely throw off my budgeting but I came to realize that this is an opportunity of a lifetime and I’ve been good about not going out to eat a lot and I eat only pasta and zucchini everyday (yes everyday lol) in Lille so it’s ok if I buy an expensive latte in Vienna and take that cooking class I've always wanted to haha! I boarded my flight on Austrian Airlines and it was a wonderful easy flight. I only brought a backpack with me so I stored it under my seat and honestly I still over packed. My number one essential for this trip was my portable charger, especially since I was traveling alone, I did not want to be stuck alone in Vienna with a dead phone. Also, my phone is old and the battery goes quick (I don’t want to buy another one because I really could care less about having a high tech phone).
As I arrived in Vienna, I took the CAT (airport to city train) which was only a 16 minute ride. I hopped off the CAT and bought myself a 72 hour public transport ticket for 17 euros (well worth it) this way I could hop on and off any trams, buses and U-Bahn’s (underground railways) I wanted without worrying about buying one each time. Once I got this figured out I headed to my hostel which was the HI Myrthengasse Hostel, toward the southwest. The neighborhood I was in was quiet but not too quiet and had many restaurants with locals. I was not at all in a touristy part of town which I personally loved. I walked into my new home for the next 4 days and met a new friend named Catalina, she was from Portugal. I had no plans for my first night there so I asked if she wanted to walk around and we started talking about our lives etc. what we do and why we were in Vienna and then we stumbled upon a Vietnamese restaurant not terribly far from our hostel. We each got local beers, shared some incredible spring rolls and Pho. After our dinner we went to the nearby Christmas market (a lot less busy than the main one’s near big museums and monuments) and we drank Glühwein (hot wine) and chatted some more. She had decided very last minute to travel to Vienna because the plane ticket was ridiculously cheap from Portugal and Vienna has always been on her list. She told me about her life and how she is a veterinarian with her own practice in Portugal, near where she grew up. She was very interested in Eastern medicine because she suffers from MS and she found that using methods of Eastern Medicine helped heal her chronic pain from MS. It was so interesting talking to her about this and her journey to help her pain.
The next day, I got up around 10 and checked out the local coffee shop/breakfast place near my hostel. This place was super relaxed, laid back and people were dining, drinking coffee and some were reading. I decided to read a little bit and watch some youtube and enjoy a long morning in this Cafe that claimed to be “like a living room but with service” (yes this came straight from their menu). After I explored the Christmas market in front of Maria-Theresien-Platz and looked at all the ornaments, art and tried some candied almonds.
I took pictures and then decided to wander near St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
Later around 2 PM I booked a history tour about Hitler and Vienna and his life while in Vienna for the majority of the afternoon. It was a walking tour and got to learn and see so much about Hitler’s history with Vienna and also some influences in Hilter’s life that may have shaped him to be the dictator he was. Did you know that Hitler used to draw postcards and was an artist? But he got denied twice from Vienna’s art school. I never knew that.
After the tour, I buzzed over to an apartment on the west side of Vienna because I signed up for a 2 hour cooking class about making Käsespatzle (classic cheese noodle). I had so much fun and I got to meet people from South Korea and London. Also the Käsespatzle turned out WAY better than what I thought I was capable of lol. After the cooking class, I headed back to my hostel.
As I was waiting for the elevator, there was some guy who was also staying there asking me if I had gone to the festival/if I was here for it. This is where my night gets interesting. I said yes thinking he meant the Christmas markets/festival. I asked if he was going to them at that moment as he was heading out and he said yes and asked if I wanted to tag along. I decided sure why not (maybe not my best choice to go tag along with a stranger but everyone in the hostel was very nice and tourists and Catalina and I were gonna go meet up at a market later anyways) so we started chatting and I found out he was from Morocco and so we spoke French and I got to practice a bit and I talked about my travels to Morocco. In the midst of our conversation, he asked me how long I have been salsa dancing for. I was so confused because a) I never once mentioned salsa dancing and b) why does he think I salsa dance? So I told him I have never salsa danced in my life and we both quickly realize by “festival” we both meant completely different things. He was actually talking about the Salsa dancing festival in Vienna. We were close to the festival so I decided I couldn’t turn back and I was hysterically laughing because I was about to try Salsa dancing in t-minus 3 minutes.
We arrive and he introduced me to his friends from Morocco and Paris and then he shows me very simply moves for salsa dancing since there was only like 20 minutes left of “free floor space” for anyone to come and Salsa dance. This space is just a blocked off portion of the outside Christmas market so it wasn’t very formal but I was very clearly not a salsa dancer lol!
After this 20 minute stint of me making a fool of myself, Catalina arrived and we all walked back to the hostel together and Catalina and I went off to a bar to get one beer to talk about what we had done all day. I showed her pictures and she showed me her pictures and it was so nice to see what she had been up to and seen that day.
My last day in Vienna was a very relaxing and leisurely day. I woke up again around 10 am and went to the same cafe I went to the day before and ordered some mind-blowingly amazing porridge.
I then decided to take a bus to Schönbrunn Palace, drank a mug of Glüh wein and watched a children’s christmas chorale performance (mostly signed along to songs because it was deaf children's choir) and it was truly a magical and heartwarming performance. Some kids sang and all of them knew sign language and you could tell they were having so much fun! The crowd was doing “applause” in sign language and it really made me just so happy for these kids who were so proud of their performance :')
After this I wandered through the Palace gardens, snapped some photos, called Jimmy and headed back to meet up with Catalina for an early dinner.
We decided to end our trip where it started, in the same Christmas market we visited the first night but we decided to have ourselves a 3 hour food tour trying schnitzel, bratwurst and nudelin (noodles) (and of course Glüh wein).
The next day, I packed up and headed back to the airport and was on my way back to France. I stopped for one more coffee and pastry at the same cafe and decided to walk to the U-Bahn from my hostel so I could soak up the last bits of Vienna. With the strikes still going on, I then waited 4 hours (after missing a bus back to Lille lol) in the CDG airport for the next train home.
Overall, I had a wildly unexpected amazing solo trip to Vienna and it made me really see what I am capable of on my own. I was nervous that I would be lonely and would have to eat alone and feel overwhelmed. I feel very fortunate and lucky to have met a new friend (S/O Catalina!) and that no travel plans were horribly disrupted. Vienna now holds a such special place in my heart and I can't wait to hopefully go back one day and explore even more :)
À Bientôt,
Kristin
What a fantastic experience! I love hearing about all of your journeys and was curious about what was happening in Lille during the strike. Be safe out there, and keep sharing your great stories!