Living The Dream
Listening: Rawkus rock playing in my hostel pub. It's annoying
So yesterday was an experience. I went to five or six places that were featured in the movie "Before Sunrise," just as I had hoped to.
I started by going to Cafe Sperl, the scene in which Jessie and Celine pretend to call their best friends back home. It was completely different than I had pictured it. You can remember the funny upholstered booths, and those were the same, but the rest of the place was laid out differently from what I imagined. There were pool tables in there and it was just weird. Another thing that I found out about cafe culture is that you seat yourself. I was standing waiting for someone to seat me for quite some time. I'll post a pic of the meal there sometime soon. It wasn't all that great, but the atmosphere was.
After that, I found the "ALT + NEU" record store. I took a pciture of the outside, because it was closed on Sunday. In fact, almost all stores are closed on Sunday. It was like a ghost town in the shopping district that I have to go through to get to the city center. I went back today and it wasn't anything like the insides that we saw in the movie. Alas, there was no listening booth. It made me sad as hell. I was really hoping to get a picture in the listening booth.
On my way to the Albertina Museum, I walked through the Burggarten where I ound all sorts of people just lounging around on the grass, talking or reading. It was kind of like the oston Common, but seemingly more oasis like and less urban. At the far end of the Burggarten, I found a large glass structure. It looked a lot like a greenhouse. One side housed a rather large cafe that I found later on was attached to the Albertina Museum and then on the left side, there was the Schmetterling Haus.
The Schmetterling Haus' big insignia was a butterfly, and low and behold, when I went in, it was a giant butterfly zoo. I paid my five euro and entered the Haus. Inside it was steamy. There were all sorts of exotic flowers and plants. It felt like I was in the middle of a rain forest. They even had a fake giant tree that you could walk up so that you could get a better look at the room. Disney would be hard pressed to make a room as cool as this. Here's the great thing about this place. As you walk around, there are butterflies of all shapes, sizes and colors all swirling about you. I had the best time watching these two black and electric blue butterflies chase each other around the room. Occasionally, one would land and the other would fly away, but soon enough, they would be back chasing after each other.
Schmetterling Haus
Butterfly!
After my little detour away from the "Before Sunrise" tour I was creating, I walked to the Albertina Museum where two scenes in "Before Sunrise" take place. The scene where they're talking about the time they spend together not really existing and the scene where Jessie quotes the poem that says "And the years shall run like rabbits" were both filmed on this little balcony overlooking the Opera House. I ended up going into the Albertina to see an exhibit of portraits. There was one portrait that was a picture of the most beautiful girl that I had ever seen. I tried to find a postcard of it, but they had none. It made me sad. Also in the Albertina they had an exhibit of this one political satirist. These were some of the funniest characatures. I laughed my ass off all of the way through the hall.
Following that, I headed over to find the Kleines Cafe, where the "Stardust" scene happens and then to the Zollamsbrucke where Jessie and Celine meet the two men in the play. I really wanted to have my picture taken on the bridge. I think it would have been funny putting up my index fingers like horns and gatting a picture saying "I'll be the one with the horns." However there was no one about to take my picture.
From there, I walked to the Danube where I tried to see if tickets were available to the IMAX Robbie Williams Live in Berlin concert that played for one night only. Alas, no.
Upon slight disappointment, I took a walk down the Danube Canal on the city center side. I could tell that once I started walking, that I was walking on the more commercial side of the river. There were boats all along the banks that boasted restaurants, biergartens or Donau Canal Cruises. The other side was virtually boat free, and just as pleasant.
As I walked along the Danube from east to west (and I did walk the entire length of the city along the Danube), I caught view of some people dancing inside one of the boats. It was almost as if they were doing lindy hop, but no one was ever caught doing a swing out. It was strange. I think they called it boogie. I ended up going in to watch for a few seconds, but I had to leave my keys so that I would come back and pay if I wanted to stay. I think I got asked to dance in German, but I couldn't be sure. I asked the woman if she spoke English and she said no. That was the end of that conversation.
Dancing!
Pressing on, I walked as far as I could down the Danube and then crossed it into the second district. I got lost around there for a while, as most of the second district wasn't on my map. I do, however, with all evidence to the contrary, have an excellent sense of direction and I found myself at the Prater just before sunset. After a short, but really one sided arguement with myself over whether to drop seven and a half euros on riding the Riesenrad, I went for it. I mean, how could I really not have. I ended up being in a big car with a family of six and two couples, one of which was the textbook definition of PDA couple. I can't say that I blame them, but c'mon. There were kids under sight years old on the car.
The sun set as I rode the ferris wheel all of the way around. I could see all of Vienna from Stephensdom to the Hofburg. On the other side, the carnival lights below flashed and whirred. It was nice. I can see how the Riesenrad can be a romantic spot.
Riesenrad!
After sighing several times, I pushed on to check out the carnival area. I found some key amusements that were in "Before Sunrise" including the "Punch Belly" game that Jessie and Celine dance in front of and this strange spinning bouncing thing that people dance on. It was funny because as I was watching this ride, three soldiers got on and they couldn't even stand up on it while girls were turning, leaning and doing all sorts of moves. It was altogether pretty amusing.
Punch Belly!
By the time I left the Prater, it was half past seven in the evening. It had ben quite a while since I had anything to eat, so I caugh the U-Bahn back to Stephensdom and found my way to Figlmuller.
I was referred to Figlmuller by Matthew, the White Sox fan from Chicago who had been living in Vienna for some time. Actually, I think it was his girlfriend who mentioned Figlmuller first. Needless to say, this team didn't steer me wrong. I ordered the Figlmuller Schnitzel with potato and field salads. Keep in mind, I had never had Weiner Schnitzel before in my life. I was expecting a relatively thing piece of pork breaded and fried, much like the Japanese Tonkatsu, but with finer breading. This thing, however, was GIGANTIC. It was about one inch bigger than the plate and the plate was a normal sized dinner plate. It must have been at least a foot in diameter. Crazy! It was served with a piece of lemon to squeeze over it. I felt like the acid balanced out he saltiness of the breading and really setting it apart from the Tonkatsu comparison. Also, the Schnitzel was so thin that I was surprised that they were able to keep the piece of pork without having holes or gaps in it. It was good stuff. I completely planned on getting Sachertorte when I was there, but I was just too full to order it.
Figlmuller Schnitzel mit Potato und Field Salat
By the time I got back to the hostel, it was around eleven in the evening. It was early, so I went to the pub to drain a pint or so. Now, over seventy-five percent of the people at Wombats are Aussies. They were all over the pub and so on and so forth. When I walked in there were two Japanese girls holding up he bar. I never did get the nads to go and see if they spoke English. I did try to talk to this Swiss girl. She was with another girl who was obviously flirting and talking with this other guy. So, I just went over and decided to try to start a conversation with the one that looked bored and ignored. I go over and say, "Hi, I'm ZEN!!! Where are you from?" She answers me in a single word: Switzerland and then turns away. It was so lame and so unfriendly. Dang, all I wanted to do was to socialize with someone. So, after two pints, I headed back to my room to crash out.
As I looked at my pack in the morning, I realized that I needed to do laundry. I was on my last pair of socks and, really, if you walk as much as I had been walking over the past week and a half, you wouldn't want to wear socks more than once. Trust me. So I spent the morning doing laundry and then headed off back into the city center.
Over the last couple of days, I had walked through the shopping district a number of times. There was this one store that caught my eye. It had all sorts of high end (for me) watches like some Dolce & Gabbana, Guess, and a bunch of European brands. It looks as if my watch is on its way to shit the bed, or at least the band is, so I figured there's no harm in looking. I didn't buy a watch, but I did, however, buy a bracelet. I had been looking for simple silver bracelet that was masculine for a long time. Apparently there's a designer in Austria called Xenon that makes a lot of cool stainless steel jewelery. I found a piece that I liked for a price that I was willing to pay, and now I have a cool new bracelet. It rawks. I might head back over to the shop today to look at other stuff too.
By the time that I had finished poking around the shopping district, it was time for a really late lunch or an early dinner. I headed over to the Kleines Cafe for a meal. I ordered Rindfleisch mit Salat and Queen's Bitter Lemon Soda. I had no clue what Rindfleisch was, so I figured why not. It turned out to be chunks of beef mixed together with a tomato based sauce and rice. It was hearty and warm and provided just the right comfort level to be eating outside on a brisk Vienna evening.
Rindfleisch
From there, I walked to the Maria am Gestade (Maria on the Strand) Church, where Jessie makes fun of a monk in "Before Sunrise" and where Jessie tells the tale about his friend tricking a homeless man over the hundred dollar bill. The church itself is pretty cool. It literally pops out of nowhere.
Maria am Gestade
After that, I took the tram that travels around the ring to the Vienna City Hall and Parliment. It was there that I met a really cool person. We were both trying to take a picture of City Hall when I said to her, "It's impossible to get a picture of this building." So it turned out that she was an American who was in town for business and now is in town for fun. I ended up showing her where Figlmuller was and she showed me where to get Sachertorte. We grabbed a few drinks and desserts. It was fun stuff. It was good to socialize with someone again. It's so hard to find someone in the Hostel that I have something in common with. A lot of the people there are kids. When I say kids, I mean children. It can get kinda old and kinda lame. I'm hoping to find more likeminded people in the next few cities.
Danah & I
Anyhoo, it's time for me to start my last day in Vienna. I have to meet Matthew and I think his girl for dinner tonight around five and then I catch my train sometime after eight in the evening tonight from Westbanhof. I'm off to check out the Belvedere Palace.
So yesterday was an experience. I went to five or six places that were featured in the movie "Before Sunrise," just as I had hoped to.
I started by going to Cafe Sperl, the scene in which Jessie and Celine pretend to call their best friends back home. It was completely different than I had pictured it. You can remember the funny upholstered booths, and those were the same, but the rest of the place was laid out differently from what I imagined. There were pool tables in there and it was just weird. Another thing that I found out about cafe culture is that you seat yourself. I was standing waiting for someone to seat me for quite some time. I'll post a pic of the meal there sometime soon. It wasn't all that great, but the atmosphere was.
After that, I found the "ALT + NEU" record store. I took a pciture of the outside, because it was closed on Sunday. In fact, almost all stores are closed on Sunday. It was like a ghost town in the shopping district that I have to go through to get to the city center. I went back today and it wasn't anything like the insides that we saw in the movie. Alas, there was no listening booth. It made me sad as hell. I was really hoping to get a picture in the listening booth.
On my way to the Albertina Museum, I walked through the Burggarten where I ound all sorts of people just lounging around on the grass, talking or reading. It was kind of like the oston Common, but seemingly more oasis like and less urban. At the far end of the Burggarten, I found a large glass structure. It looked a lot like a greenhouse. One side housed a rather large cafe that I found later on was attached to the Albertina Museum and then on the left side, there was the Schmetterling Haus.
The Schmetterling Haus' big insignia was a butterfly, and low and behold, when I went in, it was a giant butterfly zoo. I paid my five euro and entered the Haus. Inside it was steamy. There were all sorts of exotic flowers and plants. It felt like I was in the middle of a rain forest. They even had a fake giant tree that you could walk up so that you could get a better look at the room. Disney would be hard pressed to make a room as cool as this. Here's the great thing about this place. As you walk around, there are butterflies of all shapes, sizes and colors all swirling about you. I had the best time watching these two black and electric blue butterflies chase each other around the room. Occasionally, one would land and the other would fly away, but soon enough, they would be back chasing after each other.
Schmetterling Haus
Butterfly!
After my little detour away from the "Before Sunrise" tour I was creating, I walked to the Albertina Museum where two scenes in "Before Sunrise" take place. The scene where they're talking about the time they spend together not really existing and the scene where Jessie quotes the poem that says "And the years shall run like rabbits" were both filmed on this little balcony overlooking the Opera House. I ended up going into the Albertina to see an exhibit of portraits. There was one portrait that was a picture of the most beautiful girl that I had ever seen. I tried to find a postcard of it, but they had none. It made me sad. Also in the Albertina they had an exhibit of this one political satirist. These were some of the funniest characatures. I laughed my ass off all of the way through the hall.
Following that, I headed over to find the Kleines Cafe, where the "Stardust" scene happens and then to the Zollamsbrucke where Jessie and Celine meet the two men in the play. I really wanted to have my picture taken on the bridge. I think it would have been funny putting up my index fingers like horns and gatting a picture saying "I'll be the one with the horns." However there was no one about to take my picture.
From there, I walked to the Danube where I tried to see if tickets were available to the IMAX Robbie Williams Live in Berlin concert that played for one night only. Alas, no.
Upon slight disappointment, I took a walk down the Danube Canal on the city center side. I could tell that once I started walking, that I was walking on the more commercial side of the river. There were boats all along the banks that boasted restaurants, biergartens or Donau Canal Cruises. The other side was virtually boat free, and just as pleasant.
As I walked along the Danube from east to west (and I did walk the entire length of the city along the Danube), I caught view of some people dancing inside one of the boats. It was almost as if they were doing lindy hop, but no one was ever caught doing a swing out. It was strange. I think they called it boogie. I ended up going in to watch for a few seconds, but I had to leave my keys so that I would come back and pay if I wanted to stay. I think I got asked to dance in German, but I couldn't be sure. I asked the woman if she spoke English and she said no. That was the end of that conversation.
Dancing!
Pressing on, I walked as far as I could down the Danube and then crossed it into the second district. I got lost around there for a while, as most of the second district wasn't on my map. I do, however, with all evidence to the contrary, have an excellent sense of direction and I found myself at the Prater just before sunset. After a short, but really one sided arguement with myself over whether to drop seven and a half euros on riding the Riesenrad, I went for it. I mean, how could I really not have. I ended up being in a big car with a family of six and two couples, one of which was the textbook definition of PDA couple. I can't say that I blame them, but c'mon. There were kids under sight years old on the car.
The sun set as I rode the ferris wheel all of the way around. I could see all of Vienna from Stephensdom to the Hofburg. On the other side, the carnival lights below flashed and whirred. It was nice. I can see how the Riesenrad can be a romantic spot.
Riesenrad!
After sighing several times, I pushed on to check out the carnival area. I found some key amusements that were in "Before Sunrise" including the "Punch Belly" game that Jessie and Celine dance in front of and this strange spinning bouncing thing that people dance on. It was funny because as I was watching this ride, three soldiers got on and they couldn't even stand up on it while girls were turning, leaning and doing all sorts of moves. It was altogether pretty amusing.
Punch Belly!
By the time I left the Prater, it was half past seven in the evening. It had ben quite a while since I had anything to eat, so I caugh the U-Bahn back to Stephensdom and found my way to Figlmuller.
I was referred to Figlmuller by Matthew, the White Sox fan from Chicago who had been living in Vienna for some time. Actually, I think it was his girlfriend who mentioned Figlmuller first. Needless to say, this team didn't steer me wrong. I ordered the Figlmuller Schnitzel with potato and field salads. Keep in mind, I had never had Weiner Schnitzel before in my life. I was expecting a relatively thing piece of pork breaded and fried, much like the Japanese Tonkatsu, but with finer breading. This thing, however, was GIGANTIC. It was about one inch bigger than the plate and the plate was a normal sized dinner plate. It must have been at least a foot in diameter. Crazy! It was served with a piece of lemon to squeeze over it. I felt like the acid balanced out he saltiness of the breading and really setting it apart from the Tonkatsu comparison. Also, the Schnitzel was so thin that I was surprised that they were able to keep the piece of pork without having holes or gaps in it. It was good stuff. I completely planned on getting Sachertorte when I was there, but I was just too full to order it.
Figlmuller Schnitzel mit Potato und Field Salat
By the time I got back to the hostel, it was around eleven in the evening. It was early, so I went to the pub to drain a pint or so. Now, over seventy-five percent of the people at Wombats are Aussies. They were all over the pub and so on and so forth. When I walked in there were two Japanese girls holding up he bar. I never did get the nads to go and see if they spoke English. I did try to talk to this Swiss girl. She was with another girl who was obviously flirting and talking with this other guy. So, I just went over and decided to try to start a conversation with the one that looked bored and ignored. I go over and say, "Hi, I'm ZEN!!! Where are you from?" She answers me in a single word: Switzerland and then turns away. It was so lame and so unfriendly. Dang, all I wanted to do was to socialize with someone. So, after two pints, I headed back to my room to crash out.
As I looked at my pack in the morning, I realized that I needed to do laundry. I was on my last pair of socks and, really, if you walk as much as I had been walking over the past week and a half, you wouldn't want to wear socks more than once. Trust me. So I spent the morning doing laundry and then headed off back into the city center.
Over the last couple of days, I had walked through the shopping district a number of times. There was this one store that caught my eye. It had all sorts of high end (for me) watches like some Dolce & Gabbana, Guess, and a bunch of European brands. It looks as if my watch is on its way to shit the bed, or at least the band is, so I figured there's no harm in looking. I didn't buy a watch, but I did, however, buy a bracelet. I had been looking for simple silver bracelet that was masculine for a long time. Apparently there's a designer in Austria called Xenon that makes a lot of cool stainless steel jewelery. I found a piece that I liked for a price that I was willing to pay, and now I have a cool new bracelet. It rawks. I might head back over to the shop today to look at other stuff too.
By the time that I had finished poking around the shopping district, it was time for a really late lunch or an early dinner. I headed over to the Kleines Cafe for a meal. I ordered Rindfleisch mit Salat and Queen's Bitter Lemon Soda. I had no clue what Rindfleisch was, so I figured why not. It turned out to be chunks of beef mixed together with a tomato based sauce and rice. It was hearty and warm and provided just the right comfort level to be eating outside on a brisk Vienna evening.
Rindfleisch
From there, I walked to the Maria am Gestade (Maria on the Strand) Church, where Jessie makes fun of a monk in "Before Sunrise" and where Jessie tells the tale about his friend tricking a homeless man over the hundred dollar bill. The church itself is pretty cool. It literally pops out of nowhere.
Maria am Gestade
After that, I took the tram that travels around the ring to the Vienna City Hall and Parliment. It was there that I met a really cool person. We were both trying to take a picture of City Hall when I said to her, "It's impossible to get a picture of this building." So it turned out that she was an American who was in town for business and now is in town for fun. I ended up showing her where Figlmuller was and she showed me where to get Sachertorte. We grabbed a few drinks and desserts. It was fun stuff. It was good to socialize with someone again. It's so hard to find someone in the Hostel that I have something in common with. A lot of the people there are kids. When I say kids, I mean children. It can get kinda old and kinda lame. I'm hoping to find more likeminded people in the next few cities.
Danah & I
Anyhoo, it's time for me to start my last day in Vienna. I have to meet Matthew and I think his girl for dinner tonight around five and then I catch my train sometime after eight in the evening tonight from Westbanhof. I'm off to check out the Belvedere Palace.
posted by ZEN!!! | 16:27
4 Comments:
hi jason,
i'm living vicariously through you. just wanted to tell you, i don't know if they make wiener schnitzel more than one way, but i've always heard that it's made (and made it myself) with veal. i've never heard of it with pork. of course, you're the food guy, but i'm a big fan of german food so i just thought i would throw that out there.
have a great time,
steph
someone's dropped off the face of... blogger. did you catch the bird virus????
write dammit! WRITE! (i do, so should you)
I am certain that the tour around the place must be exciting. It's always fascinating to go to areas where famous films have been shot.
did it once. tour is definitly fun
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