Interrail day 18, 19 & 20 - Vienna

Staying in Austria, I moved on to Vienna after Salzburg. This time, I was incredibly well hosted by my lovely Filipino friend Jekk.

When I arrived, I was lucky to be welcomed by a nice lunch prepared by Jekk. We relaxed for a bit, then went out towards the end of the afternoon to try to find an extra mattress for the night! We explored the city by night for a bit, and had dinner in the most reasonably priced place we could find.

The next day, we went out after a brunch go explore the city again.

As we are both new to Vienna, we tried to see the main landmarks.

As you’d expect from a capital, there’s quite a bit to see, from museums to a palace to the parliament.

We went inside a few of these but most had an entrance fee so we stuck with the outside.

We did go inside the impressive Stephansdom cathedral, but a lot of it had to be paid for.

We finished the day at the Austrian Parliament. That was a great discovery!

All of it was free of charge, but unfortunately we missed the last guided tour of the day, so we couldn't go inside the hemicycle.

There is still a lot to do apart from that. They created a few games and activities to learn about the Austrian democratic process and lawmaking. There’s even a photo exhibition to show major recent history world event that shaped today’s world and Austria, along with a presentation of previous years’ winners of the Global Peace Photo Award.

If you’re ever in Vienna, I definitely recommend visiting the Austrian parliament.

After this day of exploring, we went back home for dinner. I was delighted to have my wonderful host cook a delicious meal!

The next day, we went out after brunch again, and spent most of our time in the Schönbrunn Schloss and its immense gardens.

As for a lot of other landmarks, you have to pay to visit inside the buildings, but there’s already plenty to enjoy outside!

We enjoyed walking through the gardens, all the way up to the Gloriette, and sat down in the shaded grass for a bit.

We then made a stop to see the impressive Vienna city hall and the Votivkirche, before heading back home for a snack before I had to leave to catch my night train to Hamburg.