Miles in Budapest (and Vienna)

Week 5... I cannot believe time has gone by this quickly and that we are already about to head to Vienna. Our last few days in Bonn are approaching and I am going to miss it so much. But it is time to stop thinking about the end and instead treasure the last 2 weeks we have. 

Day 29 (June 24):

Today we had a few lessons and then we had our predeparture meeting for Wien (Vienna). It was Maddie’s birthday, so the AIB celebrated her with cake and it was really sweet. Class ended around 2, so a big group of us decided to go back to the Birkenstock Outlet store in Bad Honnef. I told myself I didn’t need more shoes, but my self-restraint was lacking so I bought a couple more pairs (one for me and one for my sister). After the Birkenstock Outlet, we headed to the BIergarten and celebrated Maddie with a couple drinks. Then we went home, and Carmen made a wonderful dinner of pasta with shrimp. It was soso good. We had some more cake to celebrate and then Maddie and I had to pack for Vienna. Our taxi was coming to pick us up at 4:30 am the next morning. 

Day 30 (June 25):

4 am Maddie and I woke up and hopped in a taxi to the old AIB. There we met as a group and took a bus to the Cologne/Bonn airport. The flight went fairly smoothly and I managed to finesse my slightly larger than accepted carry-on on board. We got into Vienna and took a couple trams to Hotel Deutschmeister. There we were able to eat breakfast and get ready for the day. We started the day off with a tour of the city with Dr. Schnabel. Dr. Schnabel is a colleague of Dr. Wasser’s and he is also a plague doctor. He showed up in the whole beak mask outfit and it was fun to have him take us around the city. 

Dr. Schnabel:  the plague doctor

I had been to Vienna 2 years prior, but it was very interesting to learn the significance of certain parts of the city that I had seen before, but simply walked by. Dr. Schnabel gave us different types of plague medicine to help us stay safe from the bubonic plague some of it included little boy pee, mint, cloves, and vinegar. We also got to try the famous Salzburg candy, Mozart Kugel, and it was delicious. The first stop on the tour was a beautiful lecture hall in the old University of Vienna medical building. It was so ornate with beautiful paintings on the ceiling. It was really cool to get to see what it would be like to learn in a room like that in the past.

Beautiful lecture hall

 Dr. Schnabel took us through the city center and we walked by places like St. Stephens Cathedral, the Spanish Riding school, and the Hapsburg palace. After the tour, we ate lunch and got some pastries from Demel Hofzuckerbacker. Then we went to St. Michael’s Kirche and got to see the interior of the church. We also went down into the catacombs and got a tour around them. I have never been in catacombs before and it was very interesting to see them, but kind of creepy. There were a lot of wooden caskets and bones piled up. We saw three well preserved mummies which was pretty cool. After the catacombs, we went and had a group dinner at the Goulash Museum. I had never had goulash before because it usually always had red meat, but there was a vegetarian option, so I went for it. THE FOOD WAS SO GOOD. 

Goulash is good.

Goulash tastes like home and leaves a warm feeling in you. It’s what you want to eat when you’re sad, happy, cold, or whatever. We also got to order dessert, so we got chocolate goulash, apple strudel, and emperor’s mess. The apple strudel was delicious and so were the other desserts. After dinner we all went back to the hotel and passed out. 

We love ze apfel strudel.

Day 31 (June 26):

We started this day by going to the pharmacy history museum which was interesting. There were a lot of preserved items and a room full of different herbs that are used in medical practices. We also went to a church and got to see the Josephinum from the outside (sadly its being renovated right now). After this, we had a free day. We went to the naschmarkt (a huge outdoor market) and walked by all the stalls and I got a yummy falafel wrap. 

Naschmarkt

After lunch, we went to see the National Austrian Library. It was gorgeous. Probably the most beautiful library I have ever been to. It would be so cool to just go into one of the hidden reading rooms and spend the day reading in there. The library was designed in a very ornate baroque style. I think when I grow up, I am going to design a library like that for my house. It’ll probably make me broke, but I think I’m okay with that.

This library is goals.

 After this we went to Café Central, a famous coffee shop Freud and others used to frequent. For dinner, I took everyone to an Indian restaurant called Nirvana. When my family and I went to Vienna a couple years ago we probably went to Nirvana like 20 times (okay exaggeration.. but still). It was some of the best Indian food we had ever had. So when I saw that I would be back in Vienna, I made sure to stop by. Of course, the food was just as I remembered: DELICIOUS. I think I shed a couple tears not going to lie. 

I was so happy.

After dinner, we went to Loos Bar, recommended by a very nice Austrian Maddie and I met in Munich. It had a nice vibe and we even saw that some famous people had been there before.

Day 32 (June 27):

This morning we did some tai chi and then went to the Narrenturm or fool’s tower. We got a tour through the fool’s tower by a University of Vienna medical student. This place was very interesting. It used to be a very progressive psych ward where people with mental and physical disabilities could go to seek help. Back then people with disabilities were made fun of and exiled from society so it is interesting to see a place like that exist. In the tower, there are 5 floors and a lot of wax casts of problems that actual patients had. They were so intricate and there were so many of them. It was crazy to see all those documented issues, especially because it was interesting to see the havoc some easily treatable diseases today, can cause if they go too far. After the tour, we went and ate at a Pakistani restaurant that had some good food. We went back to the hotel and were given time to relax until our lecture on Freud. This was pretty interesting considering Freud lived in Vienna for a long time and his apartment is still here today. We learned about him and his concept of psychoanalysis and then we went to the Freud museum. Usually it is in his old apartment, but since it is being renovated we saw a mobile version of it. After this we went back to the hotel and got ready for the concert in the evening. Everyone got dressed up and it was nice to see everyone at their best. 

Concert at St. Anna's

We went to St. Anna’s church and listened to some classical musical played by a quartet. The church was beautiful, and it was nice to hear the pieces by Mozart. After the concert, I grabbed a falafel sandwich and then we headed to a bar and went out to dance. 

Austria has the steepest/longest escalators ever

Day 33 (June 28):

This day was our last day in Vienna. We went and did Tai Chi in the pretty Stadtpark and it was really funny because this little kid saw what we were doing and started copying the moves. Not going to lie, he was pretty good. Then we went to the House of Music and got to learn about the famous Vienna Philharmonic and composers like Haiden, Mozart, and Beethoven. After the Haus der Musik, we had lunch and then went to the Natural History Museum. I loved this place. The highlights tour was super interesting and our tour guide was really nice. We got to see the Venus of Willendorf, which was very cool, because it was the first piece I learned about in art history in high school. 

Venus of Willendorf

Dr. Wasser also took us around the museum and he showed us a Southern elephant seal and I was shook. That thing was massive. I didn’t know that a seal existed that was that size. It was mind boggling. 

Okay tell me this seal isn't massive

After the natural history museum, we went back to the hotel and grabbed our things. Then we headed to the train station and hopped on our train to Budapest. We arrived late and took a tram to the hotel. Right as we walked in, our jaws dropped. The hotel was so nice and we all felt underdressed in the clothes we were wearing. They treated us really nicely, that’s for sure. After settling in our rooms, we ventured out to find food and ended up walking through the old Jewish quarter. There was a lot of cool street art and the restaurant we ended up at had really good music. After food, we went back to the hotel and passed out.

Parisi Udvar... our hotel

Day 34 (June 29):

On this day, we woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel. At breakfast, we started talking to the family next to us and it turned out the lady we were talking to was an anesthesiologist. We had an interesting conversation with her about practicing medicine and the realities a woman has to face when pursing a career in medicine. It was an eye opening talk and they were really friendly people. After that, we headed out to explore the city. We saw the parliament building, which was gorgeous and then walked to Buda by crossing the stone bridge. 

Beautiful parliament building

We walked up to fisherman’s bastion and got a very beautiful view of the city. From there we walked around some more and then ate lunch at a place that happned to be a Michelin recommened restaurant. I had the chicken paprikash and it was so good. 

Budapest has the best food

Then we walked to the Buda castle and walked around the whole area. I really enjoyed exploring Buda. It is a beautiful city, with a lot of old structures. It is very different looking than Germany and Austria with red tiled roof building and a different vibe. 

This place is gorgeous

After exploring Buda, we walked back to Pest and relaxed in the hotel for a couple hours before heading to dinner. 

View from Budapest Castle

We went to a restaurant in the old Jewish quarter and it was delicious. After dinner, we went to a local bar and then headed to the ruin pubs. The ruin pubs were so cool. They were in abandoned apartments and were basically like mini bars connected together. We stayed out late that night like the Europeans do and I didn’t go to sleep until 5 am. It was a great night. 

Yeah sounds about right.

Day 35 (June 30):

Our last day in Budapest was spent at the famous Budapest baths. It was nice to float around in the water especially on such a hot day. I will say, it wasn’t as nice as the Badehaus, but it was still super relaxing. 

Bath house!!!

After swimming, we went and saw the St. Stephen’s Basilica which was massive and gorgeous. 

Massive basilica 

Then we got cinnamon sugar chimney pastries and they were delicious. We walked around some more and went to some souvenir shops and then got our stuff and headed to the airport.

yum

 At the airport, our plane got delayed by an hour and we didn’t get into the Cologne airport until 1 am. We took a taxi home and passed out.

To wrap things up... I am in love with Budapest. Vienna was incredible too and it was very interesting to be able to go back but view and learn about the city in a different way. Only two more days left in Bonn and three days in Berlin, I cannot handle this.