Week 2: Settling into Vienna

TLDR: Vienna is cool but Stefan is sick so we can’t do much

Arrival

We arrived in Vienna a two Saturdays ago. We stayed for one night in the airport hotel, and the next day got a ride to our Airbnb from our host (!). When he first offered to pick us up from the airport, we were a little weirded out. Is this a sign that he’ll hover too much, be too nosy, or (gasp) want to be friends with us? How sad that such a gracious gesture was so unusual that our first reaction was to question it! But we were pleasantly surprised: he is super friendly, totally not intrusive, and clearly a seasoned Airbnb host.

Another nice gesture: upon seeing how sick I was (I had lost my voice), he took a detour to his wife’s pharmacy and sent us off with some herbal cold remedies. By taking us to a pharmacy on a Sunday, he was technically breaking the law: most businesses are required to remain closed on Sundays (clearly this ain’t the land of unbridled capitalism). Herbal remedies are apparently very big here. I’m not sure the N-acetylcysteine fizzy drink did anything to clear my sinuses, but it was tasty!

Lodging

The apartment itself is in a medium-sized building with around twenty units. The decor is straight out of an IKEA catalogue: modern and minimalist. Most of the furniture, counters, rugs, and appliances are white, and the floor is blonde wood. It has strong hospital vibes: a far cry from our eclectic living room in Seattle with the teal couch, knick-knack filled shelves and orange patterned curtains. I miss our art, creaky floors, and wall-to-wall bookshelves. But, I shouldn’t complain too much: this place is larger than our Seattle home and everything is in perfect condition. The insulation actually works (which means I don’t need my wearable sherpa throw) and I can turn around in the bathroom without bumping into the toilet.

The only exception to the roominess is the kitchen. It is tiny and lacks good cookware, which is pretty standard for Airbnbs. No serious cooking will be happening here! Store-bought knödel it is!

The neighborhood

Our apartment building is surrounded by other apartment buildings. No single family homes in our immediate neighborhood. There are several beautiful parks within a five minute walk of us, many shops, and several bus stops. We are within a thirty-five minute walk of Grinzing, or Vienna wine country.

The city on the whole is family friendly, very walkable, and extremely safe (which, as a female runner, is tremendous). There is no part of the city I feel unsure about exploring, which is rarely true, and very exciting! My experience of the buses and trains so far has been amazing: they run on time, are very clean, and get you within a five to ten minute walk of anywhere you need to go. Buying tickets is very convenient and can be done on an app.

Our neighborhood in particular though seems a bit sleepy and geriatric (think: rich retirees). Vienna is organized into numbered districts, and we learned that we live in the 19th district, apparently the ritzy somewhat boring part of town. The more happenin’ part of town is the 1st or 2nd district. Our pick was completely unintentional, of course, and guided by trying to find an apartment that had an office set up. Unfortunately there’s only so much you can glean about neighborhoods from the internet!

A couple of blocks from our apartment is a shopping strip with several high-end clothing stores, a few grocery stores, and even a coffee shop clearly catering to expats like ourselves: the entire menu is in English, and they boast sustainably sourced coffee beans on their window.

I was of course drawn to it like a moth to a flame. The barista didn’t even try German with me and even asked what kind of milk I wanted, well-versed in the millennial proclivity for oat over cow milk.

It’s hilarious to be so squarely pegged as exactly what I am: an oat-milk-latte-drinking-sustainability-performing millennial with enough disposable income to spend seven euro on a coffee. Kyle Chayka wrote an interesting piece about these cookie-cutter coffee shops and what might be driving their eery sameness. That’s the funny thing about travel: you hope to get an authentic sense of a place, but you are, ultimately, a prisoner of yourself. Big cities used to tourism know exactly how to cater to you, delivering a hermetically sealed, wrapped in English, mediocre-American-ham-sandwich version of their place. You realize you’re not special: just another aging millennial trying to briefly transcend your mindnumbing routine.

And I’m 1000% here for it. Please don’t make me speak German.

I ordered an “orange espresso,” thinking it was some fancy orange-extract-infused espresso like a Valencia latte (we are in Europe after all). It was literally espresso mixed with orange juice and it was foul. I drank it, though, because I wasn’t about to throw away a perfectly good source of caffeine and vitamin C.

Highlights

Grocery Stores!

Another funny but nice thing: we are surrounded by grocery stores, literally six (!) within a ten minute walk from us. And not just like, tiny independently owned bodegas: these are large retail, chain grocery stores with a full selection of items. We’ve been to the grocery store nearly every day, buying items in small batches. The selection of Ritter sport chocolates and Bonne Maman jams is especially thrilling, as is the Nutella ice cream, vat of sauerkraut in the produce section, käsekrainer (sausage stuffed with cheese), and incredible selection of breads and cheeses.

Pistachio everything

I’m not sure if it’s the Turkish influence (there is a significant population of Turkish immigrants in Austria), but pistachio gets a lot of hype in cafes and bakeries. Finally, it’s getting the credit it deserves!

Vienna running collective ❤️

Running groups are a great way to meet new people, and I was happy to learn that Vienna has many. The Vienna Running Collective came up as a top result in my google searches so I decided to go to one of their social runs last Sunday. I had a great experience!! I was super nervous at first about not being able to speak German, but I figured it was a good sign that the website was in English.

This turned out to be true: the organizer spoke in English, and went out of his way to make the newcomers feel very welcome. As he led us through a pre-run warm-up of high knees, squats, and calf stretches, my nervousness melted away and I thought to myself: I’ve found my people. I chatted up a friendly stranger on the run who gave me tips about gyms in the city and invited me to train with the group for the Vienna city marathon.

I will write more about the running scene in Vienna in my next post, as I have a lot to say. But, for now: I’m hopeful I can meet some friendly people through VRC!

Lowlights

• Stefan is now very sick with the thing I just recovered from, which is delaying any serious Vienna exploration. For now, we are confined to walking and shopping.