Our last stop together on our European tour was Vienna. Along with hearing that it is a beautiful city to visit, Alex also has an old friend who lives there. So we spent the weekend visiting friends and exploring the city. How lucky are we to have friends spread out across the globe?
A running theme of our Vienna trip was the morbid undertone of the city. Vienna is known for its many underground crypts, massive boneyards, and the largest cemetery in the world – all very creepy but worth a visit! The underground crypt we visited was huge with room after room filled with coffins ranging from a simple bronze box to insanely ornate designs. They were actually beautiful coffins, I had never seen anything like them. After the crypt, we visited something similar under the Vienna cathedral. This crypt was bigger, but didn’t allow photos. Notably, this area was used as a mass grave for the poor whose bodies were stacked in large rooms under the church. Periodically, as the bodies decayed, they would send prisoners into these rooms to retrieve, clean, and stack the bones to make space for more bodies. These bone rooms were wild to me, so freaky. I couldn’t help but sneakil a photo.
Last on our tour of death was the Vienna Central Cemetery – one of the largest in the world. We spent hours wandering around finding famous graves and looking through row after row of old headstones. We also stayed until dark and almost got trapped inside until we found an emergency exit. I was ready to scale the fence, I wouldn’t make it overnight in a cemetery.
Aside from the creepy stuff, we enjoyed a few other touristy things in the city as well. We took a ride on a giant old Ferris wheel. We toured the Museum of Natural History which had a super impressive collection of basically everything. And we also walked through the cathedral and climbed up the tiny spiral staircase that goes up the tower for a beautiful view over the city. It feels like we have climbed a lot of church towers in our travels together. Every time we are climbing up the seemingly endless dizzying path I can’t help but think that a version of hell has to be a neverending spiral staircase that you are forced to walk on forever. Anyways, it didn’t go on forever and it was worth the effort.
And, of course, we walked around the city nonstop including a little downtown tour from Alex’s friend, Christopher. I ooh’d and aah’d all day every day at all of the beautiful buildings, sculptures, big plazas, and tiny streets. It’s a lovely city to walk around in and so impressive.
We obviously ate our hearts out in Vienna. Our first stop was at a place not far from where we stayed and we felt like it was only appropriate to start our visit with a schnitzel. Bologna salad, goulash, sushi, more schnitzel, and even a home cooked meal were among the specialties we enjoyed in Vienna. We loved eating our way around the city!
On the night before I left, Christopher and his wife Christina brought us out to the vineyards on the outskirts of the city. The rows of grapevines sloped down the hills with small kiosks along the path selling wine and snacks. We got a table in the grapes and enjoyed our treats with a beautiful view of Vienna. It was not far from the city, but provided such a nice and relaxed outdoor experience. It was the perfect end of a fabulous city trip!
Wandering Between Meals 
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