Viennese Escapades
As some of you might have known, we were headed for Vienna last Wednesday. Boarded the train to Mainz and then another 10.50 Euro bus ride to Frankfurt Hahn Airport. We got into BTS Airport (Bratislava) 
and then got onto yet another bus to Vienna. As it turned out, we arrived early enough to not have to stay at the train station since the public transport system hadn't shut down for the night yet. As it turned out, someone was still staying at Bryan's place so Serene put us up (Thanks so much!)... 
...and we ended up bumming at her place for 4 nights, albeit the mini cramped up conditions on the floor, exacerbated by Jingzhong when he arrived the next night. One of the highlights of the first night was our 2300h meal of kasekrainer (bratwurst with melted cheese within.) bloody excellent stuff I tell you, and in our state of hunger, it tasted even better!
Spent some time chatting before going to sleep and then BREAKFAST! yum. we had microwaved waffels with honey, 
and then the hardcore touristing began, or so we thought. Well, we started off with a museum...and being us, we couldn't resist playing fools in these hallowed halls of knowledge.
That said, the place was beautiful! I've been to Vienna before but I don't remember it as vividly as I did in these past couple of days. More pictures of the area follows...
Lunch consisted of this apparently traditional Viennese cuisine called Schnitzel. 
It's also a specialty in Germany but somehow the one in Vienna tasted better (and with a higher price too). It was really cool tho, to just sit on the main street (Graben), having our lunch and then a nice beer in the great weather. The sun was out, the temperature was cool and there was just the slightest breeze. While we were nearby, we went to Stephensdom. This is where deja vu set in. As said above, I was here about 8 years ago and at that time, it started snowing just as we arrived. As we approached Stephensdom last Thursday, a sudden image of the Dom with snow covered roof came back to mind. That was the very first time I had seen snow so pure and fresh. 8 years later, I see it in its full glory at the beginning of spring. A breathtaking sight, and thus far, one of my favourite cathedrals.
This is where we decided not to do the hardcore touristy thing on Thursday and instead just roam about, see some sites and chill out at the Hofburg, a main square where people play soccer at or bring their dogs for a run.
We went walking around to Karlskircht and then to the Nasch Markt (where they sell lots of chinese foodstuff and other spices/kebabs etc. etc.) until the night arrived when we met Serene, Bryan and this chap called Ba Lam. The ice cream place that they brought us to was damn shiok. I reckon each cup of ice-cream that we had consisted of at least 4 scoops of ice cream. We actually went back again the next day for more. 
The next day was basically very touristy. We hit the Schonbrunn Palace...
The gardens at the Schloss Schonbrunn was also beautiful as you can see above. Therefore, we could not resist but pay tribute to Ben and Cowan's posterkid past. (kudos to JZ for the good shot, which I'm still waiting to arrive.) hahahaha.
...and then the Belvedere Gardens...
... and finally, dinner with a much larger group! We even met an SMU student that I'd never seen before in my 2 1/2 years. Apparently she knows who I am by proxy of Chui Ling. Ben and JZ had a good laugh when they saw my eyes spring open upon hearing that she's actually from SMU cos I had no idea she existed...
...Group Photo!
Well, we went snowboarding and stuff, as shown in the next entry, but when we got back, we got fined 40 Euros each for not getting the internal metro ticket. Quite sore about it, but that said, we still decided to make the rest of the trip worth it. This meant we woke up the next day, bummed around for a little bit, and then went for a SUSHI BUFFET!!!!
And that pretty much summed up our Vienna trip... 
... filled with beautiful landscapes and architecture, adventure, good food, and new friends. In fact, on our way back, we met this girl, Doris, who's working on a social project in Luxembourg and was in Vienna to do an exam with hopes of qualifying for a ergo-therapy course.
And what would the end of a trip be, without a taste of typical Slovakian beer at the airport? =P 
and yes, we spent a night at the Mainz train station. This is us at about 0230h in the morning....
and then got onto yet another bus to Vienna. As it turned out, we arrived early enough to not have to stay at the train station since the public transport system hadn't shut down for the night yet. As it turned out, someone was still staying at Bryan's place so Serene put us up (Thanks so much!)... 
...and we ended up bumming at her place for 4 nights, albeit the mini cramped up conditions on the floor, exacerbated by Jingzhong when he arrived the next night. One of the highlights of the first night was our 2300h meal of kasekrainer (bratwurst with melted cheese within.) bloody excellent stuff I tell you, and in our state of hunger, it tasted even better!
Spent some time chatting before going to sleep and then BREAKFAST! yum. we had microwaved waffels with honey, 
and then the hardcore touristing began, or so we thought. Well, we started off with a museum...and being us, we couldn't resist playing fools in these hallowed halls of knowledge.
That said, the place was beautiful! I've been to Vienna before but I don't remember it as vividly as I did in these past couple of days. More pictures of the area follows...
Lunch consisted of this apparently traditional Viennese cuisine called Schnitzel. 
It's also a specialty in Germany but somehow the one in Vienna tasted better (and with a higher price too). It was really cool tho, to just sit on the main street (Graben), having our lunch and then a nice beer in the great weather. The sun was out, the temperature was cool and there was just the slightest breeze. While we were nearby, we went to Stephensdom. This is where deja vu set in. As said above, I was here about 8 years ago and at that time, it started snowing just as we arrived. As we approached Stephensdom last Thursday, a sudden image of the Dom with snow covered roof came back to mind. That was the very first time I had seen snow so pure and fresh. 8 years later, I see it in its full glory at the beginning of spring. A breathtaking sight, and thus far, one of my favourite cathedrals.
This is where we decided not to do the hardcore touristy thing on Thursday and instead just roam about, see some sites and chill out at the Hofburg, a main square where people play soccer at or bring their dogs for a run.
We went walking around to Karlskircht and then to the Nasch Markt (where they sell lots of chinese foodstuff and other spices/kebabs etc. etc.) until the night arrived when we met Serene, Bryan and this chap called Ba Lam. The ice cream place that they brought us to was damn shiok. I reckon each cup of ice-cream that we had consisted of at least 4 scoops of ice cream. We actually went back again the next day for more. 
The next day was basically very touristy. We hit the Schonbrunn Palace...
The gardens at the Schloss Schonbrunn was also beautiful as you can see above. Therefore, we could not resist but pay tribute to Ben and Cowan's posterkid past. (kudos to JZ for the good shot, which I'm still waiting to arrive.) hahahaha.
...and then the Belvedere Gardens...
... and finally, dinner with a much larger group! We even met an SMU student that I'd never seen before in my 2 1/2 years. Apparently she knows who I am by proxy of Chui Ling. Ben and JZ had a good laugh when they saw my eyes spring open upon hearing that she's actually from SMU cos I had no idea she existed......Group Photo!
Well, we went snowboarding and stuff, as shown in the next entry, but when we got back, we got fined 40 Euros each for not getting the internal metro ticket. Quite sore about it, but that said, we still decided to make the rest of the trip worth it. This meant we woke up the next day, bummed around for a little bit, and then went for a SUSHI BUFFET!!!!
and yes, we spent a night at the Mainz train station. This is us at about 0230h in the morning....
posted by azrael at 11:55 PM
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