snapshots | adieu vienna

and so it was our last day in vienna. we'd woken to nicer weather than the day before, meaning we could finally retire the brollies and rain coats, and dress for our final day of sun. we checked out, and decided against the tram; we had about three hours before we had to shoot off for the airport train, and we wanted to get a bit more sights ticked off before we did.

we bid adieu to rathaus and the film festival food trucks still there from the night before, and made our way down past the burgtheatre and parliament building - both grossly ostentatious for the basic and mundane work that goes on within them, and over to maria theresian platz; home of the matching dome: the natural history and fine arts museums on the outskirts of the museum quarter. from there we wandered through burggarten, past mozart's commemorative garden, and up to the palmenhaus.

we stopped in at cafe sacher as instructed by all and sundry; apparently, you cannot be in vienna and not indulge in a sacher torte! it's a must! ok! we must! we shall! we did! etc! 

i'm not a huge cake fan - especially heavy, rich cake, and the sacher torte was definitely one that fit that category. i did indulge in a viennese coffee (finally)(i'd been meaning to for the whole trip, but beer) which was a highlight. rebekah kinda enjoyed the cake, i guess? it wasn't for us. but, it was nice to have a break (we'd been wandering in the sun and we were tiiired ok), a real toilet to freshen up in, and a coffee. plus, there was a puppy.

we carried on from the hotel cafe past the albertina and keisergruft, bound for the next and most incredible stop of the day; stephansplatz.





like, woah. st stephan's cathedral is like, totes massive and gorgeous. and hideous, if you know what i mean. it was dead hard to get a full picture of it because that steeple is like, woah, and won't fit in any kind of picture. and, because there were about forty gazillion other people trying to all do the same thing so no. but, you get what you're given.

we had a wee wander around those back streets near stephansplatz and stumbled upon st. paul's church which - wasn't even the map, but was another stunning piece of architecture. but like, it wasn't even on the map. there must just be so many buildings that the viennese don't think are important enough to go on their tourist maps, that are just like... the prettiest buildings you'll ever see, because they're so insistent that you go and see the big old white buildings. we don't want to just see the white! show us the colours tooooo!

so, yeah. moral of the story: have a wander, you never know what you'll find along the way. from there we made our way to the airport train and then basically spent the next couple of hours drinking beers and eating sausages (something new for us) at the airport until out flight home. we actually had a stopover in cologne on the way back - i'd never been to germany, so i totally added that to my count. i'm at 21 now, if anyone's interested. it's ok though, we're going back to germany in december, so i can totally actually add that to the list then.

so in conclusion, austria was wonderful. it was the prettiest country i've visited so far, and salzburg is most definitely my favourite city of all time. i will 100% be going back there one day. maybe in the cold, so i can see it under a layer of snow? but, to have been able to tick my number one bucket list item off, with my best friend, for my 30th birthday, and with some sun in tow, well... i am one lucky son of a bitch. these last  six months have been some of the hardest and happiest of my life. i will never forget these things.

adventure is good for the soul. do what you love. etc.

i miss you austria <3