Vienna came second in the ‘most liveable city’ next to Melbourne the year I moved to Austria, so it seemed only fitting that we visit my parents for a weekend during their Eurotrip.
Therefore, as far as I can tell these must be the requirements for most liveable city:
- There’s people everywhere
- The weather is unpredictable
- It is extremely windy
The day we met my parents it was quite warm so I duly wore a skirt and top with comfy walking shoes. We met msy folks outside one of the subway stations… they were on a cruise. It wasn’t hard to spot them: they were in a large group of pale white people (mostly English) wearing bucket, or cowboy-style hats.
I hadn’t seen them in seven months so there were a few tears upon greeting. Given they’d spent the morning on a walking tour and I’d already done the sights of Vienna, we focused instead on eating, drinking, wandering and taking it all in.
We had lunch in a hothouse… and it was literally very hot, sweaty hot. Then we continued on to Schoebrunn Palace where we took a walk to check out the view. It was about this point we noticed the sky becoming a little darker. We meandered around near the café wondering whether to risk it and run for the bottom, or seek refuge. But when the waiters started packing up the outdoor seating we put our trust in local knowledge and grabbed ourselves an inside table. Then we watched the storm and rain thrash around outside for 45 minutes or so, while eating strudel and drinking coffee.
Then, as abruptly as it had come, the storm was gone and the sun came out. There was still a chill in the air and I borrowed a jacket from my dad which I wore for all of 15 minutes until it was hot again.
Dinner took us to a traditional pub, Mariahilferbrau, where we ate too much food and drank beer from proper giant Austrian glasses.
Thomas and I walked my parents back to their boat and were met by their fellow passengers with the familiarity of long-lost relatives. As I’d thought, my parents had been telling everyone on board about their ‘daughter who lives in Austria’. It was nice to be a minor celebrity for a while.
The trip had other highlights including our romantic dinner for two on the Friday night and discovering that the ‘Aussie’ pub in Vienna has grasshoppers on the menu (and you get a certificate if you eat them), but of course the best part was catching up with the olds! And it seems I must be getting old myself since I enjoyed it so much!
an aussie in austria 