A Spontaneous Trip to Vienna

Honestly, we hadn’t even planned to visit Vienna until a couple of weeks ago. Our original intention was to go to Innsbruck for a hiking vacation. The unexpected early snowfall forced us to discard that plan and reconsider our options. What should we do instead? My wife suggested a short trip to Vienna. I had been to the city several years ago, but only for a business trip. My wife had also visited Vienna ages ago and didn’t remember much about it. – So why not go there? And we could even go there by train directly! My wife took some time to evaluate the best days for a short getaway. The plan crystallized: we would travel to Vienna by train, stay for three full days, and return home on the fifth day.

On Sunday morning, we set out on our adventure. We traveled to Munich, where we changed trains to head to Vienna. After settling comfortably into our seats, an unexpected announcement startled us: The train crew informed passengers that the so-called Deutschland-ticket (an economical ticket allowing travel on all regional trains in Germany at a fixed price) was not valid on this train. Oops! We suddenly found ourselves on a train without a valid ticket. My wife quickly adapted to the situation by purchasing the appropriate tickets online. Thank you, internet! This could have turned into an expensive mistake otherwise. Luckily, the rest of the journey proceeded without any issues.

Upon arrival in Vienna, we made our way to our hotel, which was conveniently located just about 10-15 minutes by foot from the main railway station. Shortly after checking in, we headed straight into the city center. Exiting the subway at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, we found ourselves directly in the midst of a Christmas market.

The transition felt abrupt, as we had left home in an autumnal mood, only to step right into christmas-time. The sights and sounds of Christmas festivities engulfed us from the moment we arrived. We spent the evening leisurely strolling around the cathedral area and also ventured inside the cathedral. Everything we encountered was quite lovely and impressive. We were really eager for the days to come and explore the city!

After some time, we decided to return to the hotel. The evening had turned a little foggy, creating a unique atmosphere. I attempted to immerse myself in the mood for street and architectural photography. Upon reviewing my results from that night, I discovered that many of the images looked best in black and white, emphasizing the atmospheric quality of the scenes.

Well – stay tuned for some more blog posts about Vienna! I will just share a couple of the photos I took throughout the visit. On the one hand, they aren’t all THAT good. I’m just not really used to street- and architecture-photography. On the other hand: There are so often so many people on the photos, and for privacy reasons, I can’t simply publish them.