Hola todos,
None of us could sleep in, despite the super late evening. (We got to bed around 1 am post-race!) My dad was in post-race physical overdrive, and I think the rest of us were just so thrown by the busy day previously and everything we had coming up. But we still took our time for a leisurely morning before checking out of the Airbnb and heading off to Vienna. We also took this time to plan out what we wanted to do and where to go our first afternoon in the city.
The view out of the Airbnb in Klagenfurt will be missed...
The drive back to Vienna was about 3.5 hours and was incredibly picturesque—so many shades of green, lots of castles, and beautiful rolling hills.
We checked into our Airbnb to drop off luggage, but before we could get going on our real Vienna exploration, we had to return the rental car. Which shouldn't have been that hard. But none of us speak or read German and we had to navigate unfamiliar one-way city roads and weird-sounding street signs the old-fashioned way (no data or Wi-Fi meant no GPS-based directions!). It was a bit stressful, but hey—at least we didn't crash into anything or anyone. We did finally get everything checked in and situated without any significant drama, and our Vienna adventure could finally start!
The neighborhood of our Airbnb. We were in the 3rd district of Vienna, just a few subway stops from the city center. Perfect!
It was mid-afternoon and so we needed to check out parts of the city that weren't going to close soon. We purchased week-long subway passes (the same price as 3-day subway passes, weirdly enough) and got a picture of a subway map. There are so many stops that make downtown Vienna super accessible for tourists.
Our first stop was Prater Park, a large green space with tons of roads and paths that are free of car traffic—bikes, runners, and roller blades only! It also has a large amusement park attached to it with a ton of different rides. Even on a weekday afternoon, this amusement park was fairly busy. I can only imagine what it is like on weekends!
(Of course I found ice cream!)
Next up was the independent nation of Kugelmugel, which is located in Prater Park. Yep, you read that right. Kugelmugel is an independent micronation with a couple hundred citizens and a fenced off area in Vienna. Just read this link for the information. I guess it has its own embassy in Vienna, although we didn't manage to find it.
Small but mighty—the mouse that roared, anyone?
We walked along most of the park back to our Airbnb (which my dad's legs handled pretty well, given his race was yesterday!) and then we rested a bit before heading out to dinner.
The view over a bridge near Prater Park. Gorgeous.
We grabbed dinner at Stadtwirt, a restaurant in our neighborhood with local Austrian food and outdoor seating. The food was delicious and the weather was great for outdoor dining. It was kind of weird to not feel pressured leave quickly after finishing our meal to open the table up for other diners. There is a big dine-and-relax culture here. I could definitely get used to this!
Featured dish of dinner: Wiener schnitzel! Breaded and fried veal traditionally served with seasoned potatoes and a lemon wedge.
Even though this was a super low step count day (what, with the drive and all), we were all pretty tired from our long race day and early morning. More Vienna was waiting to be explored tomorrow!
Besos,
Tina the ExploraDora
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