Vienna, Austria

Vienna is one of those places difficult to describe. There's so much to do and see that the list would be endless. I moved to Vienna without knowing really much about the city. I'd been learning German for four years before I moved to Vienna, and one of the things that I did know was that the dialect was different. At the beginning, I found it hard to understand what people were saying. The intonation was different, some words had a different meaning than in Tirol, and some things were totally unintelligible to my ears. But I got used to it, I survived and learned to love it all.
One of the most remarkable things about Vienna is the Musikverein. It has been ranked among the best top three classical music concert halls in the whole world. Enjoying a concert at this hall is a must-do in this life, and I am grateful I've had the opportunity to enjoy many. And, actually, if you don't want to spend a lot of money, you can always buy a "Stehplatz" for just five euros. The drawback to buying one of these tickets is that you will be standing during the duration of the entire concert. There will always be an intermezzo, of course, and you can use this time to walk around the building, enjoy some sparkling wine at the bar and take photos. During any concert the ushers will want to make sure that you are not using your cellphone to record the event or take pictures. It's understandable and I agree with this. Some people disregard these rules, and the consequence is that an usher might approach you and invite you to walk out of the room. And don't even dare say no! Without knowing it, you are accepting the T&C of the hall when you buy your ticket.
Important note: if you want to buy something at the bar, make sure that you know what you are getting before the bartender takes your order. If you are still thinking about your options when a bartenders is ready to take your order, they will simply ignore you and take the order of the next person. Austria is not necessarily known for its customer service attitude. Bartenders, waiters and waitresses are usually very short-tempered and they won't appreciate your wasting their time. They will appreciate being tipped, though, which usually amounts to 10% of your bill. How do you tip? Just have a look at your bill and mentally add 10% to it and that's the final amount.

Where can you eat? Well, the list here is endless. If you can afford just any price, look online for a nice restaurant and that's it. But what about being on a budget? Well, I can certainly give you a cool tip: There's a restaurant called Wiener Deewan. It's a Pakistani resturant and they serve both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. How much is a dish? As much as you want to pay. There are no minimums nor maximums. You can pay as little or as much as you want. But just out of respect for the food you are getting, I would never pay less than 5 euros for my meal. Here's how it works: you walk in, grab a plate and cuttlery, put food on your plate, sit at any table and that's it. Water is for free and you can have as much water as you want. And you can have as many helpings as you want, including dessert. This is not a joke, I promise. The staff is really friendly and the atmosphere is fantastic. You will usually be sharing a table with someone else, so don't worry if you are sitting by yourself and then someone approaches your table and sits at it: It's OK, it's tradition. They will ask you first if the seats are open, though.
Another place worth trying is Vienna's Stiegl-Ambulanz. It's a pretty cool retaurant where you can have their famous "Rippeln" (spare ribs). If you are two people, go for the "gross" helping, and you will get two stacks of spare ribs, coated in BBQ sauce, and roasted potatoes and three little ramekins with an assortment of sauces. It's not expensive at all. You can have a really good meal for two for less than 20€. The restaurant sits in what used to be the premises of the Vienna General Hospital. Once your meal is over, take some time to go for a little walk around the place. There are a driving school, a hospital, the restaurant I just mentioned, some departments of the university and some open air book fairs.

What else can you do in town? This question is too big to be answered here. I will simply tell you some of the options that I think I would like to hear about were I tourist. Of course you can visit just about ANY of the amazing museums, palaces, cafés, restaurants and et cetera. If you happen to be there in the summer time and it's not raining (which happens very often), go to the Donauinsel. It's not the most amazing place to go swimming, but it's OK if you are not a very demanding person. Do it the Viennese style: make it to the Donauinsel, take off your trousers (and pants too if you are OK with it!) and jump into the water. The water is clean and will surely cool you off. How many times will you have the possibility of swimming in the Danube? Also, one of my favourite activities was running in the premises of the Schönbrunn palace. You can get there by bike, by bus or you can take the tube (U4 Schönbrunn). It's very easy to get to the park behind the palace. Just follow the crowd of people that get off the tube and walk toward the building. Walk through the gate at the entrance and the first thing you will see is the palace. On your left you will see a big archway, walk through it and about 50 metres ahead of you, you will see the entrance to the gardens, this will be on your right. Make it to the gardens and start jogging here. It's impossible to get lost. The park is huge and also challenging. There are some rather steep pathways but I am sure you will certainly enjoy them! And the best thing of all is that all of this can be done for free, no fees whatsoever, except for the bus or the tube fares. If you want to use the underground in Vienna, I highly recommend reading the website of the Wiener Linien to find the latest and most accurate information about using the metro.
Feel like you want to enjoy some reading under the shade of a tree? Sure, why not! Make it to Volksgarten, grab a drink and a snack, take your favourite book or magazine with you, and enjoy the view of the amazing roses around you. Mind you, I am not talking about the disco also named Volksgarten, I am taking about the park. If you want to know more about all the parks in Vienna, here is the list with descriptions of the parks and directions in English to get there.

You will be surprised how cheap it is to be a tourist in Vienna! When I first moved there I thought that life was going to be a lot more expensive, but then I realised that Vienna is really, really cheap compared to even smaller towns. If you know that you will be walking around most of your day, go to any supermarket (I'd highly recommend Billa, though!) and as soon as you walk in, you will see bags with a sandwich, a soda, a piece of fruit and some sort of candy for less than three euros! And that can be a really good meal. Of course it's not like sitting at a 5 stars restaurant, but it's plenty of food to keep you full of energy throughout the day. There are fancier supermarkets and cheaper supermarkets, of course. The bottom line with really good quality products is Hofer, an Austrian branch of the German-owned Aldi. The most expensive supermarket is Merkur. They have a nice selection of products but they lack in customer service. I insist a lot on customer service because I believe that if you are going to pay higher prices, you also want to be assisted nicely. But that's just me and my view of customer service in general.
Also, you can use some of the city bikes. This is not something I would recommend using unless you are a resident in Austria. If you are interested in getting a bike to move around town, here is the link to Vienna's City Bikes. Read the T&C really carefully before you decide to enter your credit card number. For non-residents using these bikes can be a pain in the neck just because of the bureaucracy that you have to go through when you subscribe!
And if you are looking for free (classical music) concerts, consider the possibility of attending one of many events hosted by the different departments of music of the University of Music and Performing Arts.
There's something that I would also recommend doing: go to one of the many public swimming pools. This is something that you cannot miss! They are all super clean, the quality of the water is amazing and the history of each building is fascinating. When you purchase a daily pass, you will have access to the locker rooms, the showers, a whirlpool and the water slides, mostly used by children but not exclusively! Adults can also use them.

What is the weather like? This one is a tricky question. The summers are usually mild to hot (25ºC to 30ºC) and the winters not extremely cold (-3ºC to -10ºC). It tends to rain pretty often in the summer time, and it's a really good idea to have an umbrella with you all the time. Even if the sky is blue and you think it will be wonderful all day long, my advice is the following: take an umbrella with you. Buy a small, portable umbrella, put it in your backpack and keep it there just in case.

It's a pretty challenging task to tell you everything about Vienna. It's just an amazing city and you will be surprised to find out that when you thought you knew it well, there's one more thing to see.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave a comment! Thanks for reading!