This post is part of the ‘Go with Oh’ series. I choose to use their writing prompts to kick off this blog because their goal is so in line with my own constant travel mission: to experience local life at a grass-roots level. As I sift through past experiences in some of Europe’s greatest cities to put together my own European bucket list, I’m uncovering much about I’ve changed as a traveller and a person over the years.
I have been to Vienna only once, and I can literally say that it was a magical experience. An utterly last-minute trip, I joined my ex-boyfriend’s father and brother to track down their lost family.
Arriving late and extremely drowsy on an over-night train, it was honest to god a dream come true that they were actually there to meet me when my train pulled in three hours late. With no accommodation lined up, I slept at the home of my ex’s distant cousin and was carted around to the best local coffeehouses.
I have been wanting to go back ever since and see if it is all as surreally perfect as I remember. Here are five things I’d love to do when I get there:
1. Spend All Morning in A Coffee House Reading the Newspaper (or Heady Literature)
I know there is a whole mystique of extreme intellectual conversations happening in these famed coffeehouses. But my German is rusty. I would be delighted to just have a quiet morning to myself with a transporting piece to read. And to osmotically soak up whatever genius is around. Of course.
2. Learn the Viennese Waltz
It would be a bit of a lie to say I have never done the Viennese Waltz. But I don’t really count being dragged around the room by an overly-excited male a good learning process. I’ve mastered so many other partner dances—tango, swing, salsa—that the waltz feels like just the goal and challenge I need.
3. Dress Up Like a Fairytale Princess and Go to a Ball
Now I know that this wish list item seems a tad less attainable than the last, but I can tell you that these balls do happen and the dresses do look like Disney princesses. Once upon a time, I met an Austrian professor in a café who promised to take me, but like most fairytales, that didn’t quite go as planned.
4. Watch the Opera From Comfortable Seats
It’s actually not all that hard to get tickets to the gorgeous opera house in Vienna last minute. It’s just hard to get seats. They offers a surprising amount of quite reasonably priced standing room. But sadly, I’m getting old, and I just don’t think I’m up for that. I want to put on a nice outfit with uncomfortably shoes and make a big fancy night of it. (This is beginning to be a reoccurring theme here . . .)
5. Take a Class in Viennese Pastry Cooking
Now, I feel that it’s important to note here that well I am a pretty well-regarded cook, I don’t really do pastry. So this course would be more research, exposure, and out-pouring of respect than something I’ll necessarily replicate at home. But until I can find a reliable source of poppy seed strudel in New York, I’ll definitely give it a go.
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