WIEN! Reached Vienna and had another minor episode at the immigration but all's well and good. First thing I saw on the train is this whole area of steel structure (probably just cos it's night so I can't see the concrete) with tilted side lights that gave this place a very futuristic first impression (abit like transformer also). Had to do a few train changes including getting off the S-bahn and change onto U-bahn and their U-bahn (intra-city one) is super efficient! Every station is on average 1 minute apart which makes the 4 stations I'm supposed to take super fast (I was running late); they also have magazines by the side for people to read while traveling, really cool idea that Singapore can consider!
Anyway, met Hanni, Mayer and Xinyuan and headed for their apartment. Chit chatted quite abit before Mayer decided that the room is too small for three so he moved to his gf's room, I still ended up on the floor but at least don't have to squeeze with Hanni (and her getting the bed might not be a good thing...). Cold hard ground was cold and hard; woke up every hour to wear new later of clothes and even until now I still feel the ache from the hardness. Lol.
Woke up the next morning and left Mayer's room; took the U- and S-bahn without ticket (as we would for the remainder of the trip; so far so good for me but as I'm typing Hanni is still traveling so not so sure bout her); brought a €1.20 pizza slice that was cheap for me but ex for her; and we checked in. The "room" was super awesome! Spacious and filled with lots of games; it's actually meant to be a games/party room for the host. Settled some admin then headed back out to meet Mayer after his lessons but we took the wrong train (doesn't always happen but yea, it did). Reached to change for S- to U-bahn and I saw that there's line U3 and U4 so I asked her, "we taking what U what ah?" And she almost-instantaneously replied me "Bahn!" -.- joke of the trip. Hands down.
Looks super awesome, doesn't it?!
Had oriental lunch with Mayer then did a "tram tour" with the "tour guides" who were not exactly very well-versed with the area hahahah. Walked around the city center and visited our first Xmas market (about 8-9 in total, and visited 7 of them!) Had Goulash and hot wine!
Apparently Budapest ones are nicer!
Cup so nice we went back the next day to get another one so that Hanni can keep one
As the weather turned cold, we started to enter shops for the warmth: Starbucks; some famous chocolate cake shop; and Naschmarkt (outdoor but not so windy)!
Eventually, we headed for the Natural History Museum and it turned out to be a pretty good decision even though I was kinda reluctant initially. It's basically minerals (spent way too much time looking at these dead things); meteorites (real ones!); environmental science (Goldilocks zone; primordial soup, Biosphere 2.0 etc.); and archeology stuff (where there's a wheel that you spin to control time... Literally "一转就一百万年" lol) etc. Then we finally moved up to those currently living ones and skimmed through them cos the museum was closing soon and we had one last "Human Footprint" to visit (super awesome satelite photos of civilization)
Thermal imaging! Guess which is me and who is the other person haha
Dino being too damn high...
After museum is... Xmas market! This time in front of Rådhaus and is probably the largest one in Vienna, and Xinyuan/mayer's friend, fellow NUS-peep Jean Yee joined us. And yes, food!
After all the food and drinks, we headed back to put party room together to Bang! Yes, the super annoyingly noisy game. Haha. Hope we didn't annoy our host too much... Mayer and gang then went back while we turned in "early" to wake early for Bratislava.
BRATISLAVA. Capital of Slovakia. When we alighted it was just rundown and dead (really like abandoned town; and partly cos we alighted at the wrong stop haha but since we were early, we slowly walked over to the historic center). Historical centre was not too bad! At least better than I expected, and initially it was really quiet but it just turned into a bustling town in a matter of minutes. Of course, Xmas market!
And nice Mojito... Warm ones as the usual here.
And Hanni went over to "meh" the mehs -.- super fluffy and cute though haha. Last minute realize I got the tour starting point wrong and went into a frantic search, hard as it might be to admit, Hanni saved the day! Tour turned out to be... Blend. Mostly cos we were both too lethargic and tired to concentrate and were just restless throughout the whole tour (and guide wasn't impressive; no tip, as Hanni's usual style)
Had some Slovak lunch before we headed up to the castle
And that marks the end of our Bratislava day trip!
Headed back to Vienna and went to the Belvedere Palace near our place and Xmas markets!
Even the gate got feel
4th Xmas market in Vienna (excluding the 2-3 we saw in Bratislava) and...
Yes, more food. Couldn't find the potatoes we wanted though (this one is relatively small), so we decided to go back to the city center to hunt for more markets (we realize people also does Christmas market hop here, cos they all holding different mug designs specific to the market around). First was ice cream hunting (closed); then Am Hof where we found super delicious Caramel Vanilla waffle; then Freyung, which was kinda closed; then the one beside Freyung (don't remember the name) and also found nothing...
So we went back to the Stadspark one (to get Hanni's mug, as aforementioned), then eventually to the Rådhaus one and finally...
Bacon with onion and garlic sauce! I wasn't even that hungry... Walked around the market aimlessly and had some HTHT with Hanni (kind of the highlight of the trip actually, at least for me; and also related to my revelation about traveling I'll state below!) before we decided to leave...
Next morning, Hanni left so stealthily I didn't even know she left, only to wake up to a message saying she has left. I woke up in shock at 7am thinking she overslept (was secretly slightly happy), only to find that she's gone (slightly disappointed; slightly) and that marks the beginning of my solo trip...
Nua-ed in the apartment cos it's just too nice to nua (also cos I decided to not go back to the city centre for the museums) and finally decided to leave at around 12 after chit chatting abit with one of the hosts. Headed down to Schönbrunn Palace which I later get to know that it's actually an UNESCO heritage site (meh, so many had been disappointing). BUT, when I went in it was really impressive; not the palace (really, meh), but the garden was super huge and nice!
Not only so, they have a maze!! (That was closed, sadly...) According to my host, it's supposed to be much nicer in summer... I cannot imagine. But as I walk, something resonated in my head, "wish you were here"...
There's also this hill that you can climb up to have a nice view of the whole Vienna with the palace front as the foreground, and of course, fit Jason went up! But it was a foggy/rainy day so it wasn't picture worthy, I'm sorry. Xmas market below was not very big too (probably cos I've seen too many of them that they are much less impressive now); kids chior were performing; and I had to force myself to some food (only food I ate today actually):
But didn't manage to occupy myself for 4 hours as planned; left in 2.5 hours. Super efficient train system also meant I reached the railway station for my train to Budapest 3 hours early... So I just stoned in the station until it got too cold and I went up the station... And found a macs with free wifi! Headed back to the train station and here we (I) go!
--
I realize traveling, for me, is about the time spent with my companion; and solo traveling meant there suddenly wasn't a purpose to my trip anymore... All I'm left with is the sound in my head. Some people say it's "reflection;" I call it a mentally-challenging situation (not retarded but just very difficult on my mind). I love it when I get to know more about the people who are with me, all while exploring a new place together. When I woke up to an empty room, I immediately started to miss the catch up with Mayer, and the HTHT with Hanni just hours ago...
Maybe it's because I was kinda aimless; nothing really planned to pack my day, enough for my mind to wander into the negativity. Maybe tomorrow will be better since I've my itinerary planned out (kinda). Maybe, I'll start to enjoy talking to myself...
