In the end Vienna became the destination of choice to close out 2018. After flipping between Amsterdam and Reykjavik back and forth for a while, I left it until booking it to make a decision. As I’m about to decide, Vienna pops up as I’m browsing the internet and the idea of Vienna at New Years appealed to me. It’s as if it was a sign that I should choose Vienna instead. I don’t know if any of you believe in fate, I’m unsure if I do either. Let’s put it this way, there’s little chance I would’ve believed you if you said to me last yeasr that I would go to Vienna for the start of 2019. After a 90 minute delay on the flight, we arrived in Vienna at the beginning of the evening. By the time I arrived at the Wombat City Hostel, there wasn’t really much time to go out and explore. Even if there was, the day caught up with me and I was happy to chill with a couple of beers in the bar at the Hostel. That allowed me to get the rest I needed to get up early and get some early exploring done before stopping off at the Hundertwasserhaus. This is colourful residential apartment building designed by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and is occupied by residents who are allowed to decorate the outside as they wish. Take a walk round the block and you can see different colours and designs. It’s one of the most unique residential buildings I’ve seen. It’s a chilled for a popular spot which makes a change from the standard rush and bust that you’d usually get at a popular tourist spots.

There are several places to get a good shot of Hundertwasserhaus which is useful, and it means you’re not waiting to get a good picture as opposed to if you were at somewhere like Christ The Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. I went off to the Spittelau Waste Incineration Plant on the recommendation of one of the receptionists at the Hostel. While I found it odd at first I became intrigued when I was told this building inspired the Hundertwasserhaus, and was also designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I’m not sure how many Waste Incineration Plants I’ve seen if any, but I doubt you will see a more colourful, well decorated one than this one outside Spittelau Station. You wouldn’t spend more than 20 – 30 minutes unless you fancied doing a lap around the Plant.

Despite the rain getting a bit heavier and freezing conditions, I thought it was a good idea to walk around and cover bits of central Vienna. After a while in the cold and rain I started contemplating some of the decisions I made in my life, as I wondered why I decided not to go somewhere warm, with a white sandy beach and a clear blue sea for New Years. After getting drenched and feeling numb because of the cold, I stopped off at Aida Café for some cake and a hot chocolate to warm me up. I didn’t know until I arrived in Vienna, apparently eating cake in a café in Austria is a traditional must thing to do in Austria. Think of it as the equivalent of going to Italy and eating pizza and ice cream. Or going to Germany and eating a Bratwurst. Or going to Belgium and drinking beer, and eating chocolate…I’m sure by now you’ve got a rough idea of what I mean.

Aida Café was nicely located opposite the famous Vienna Opera House and luckily I got a seat next to a heater to dry my hat, gloves and jacket and get warmed up. Choosing a cake wasn’t easy, even with the help of a German and Luxembourg couple sitting on the table next to me, narrowing down options wasn’t easy. Mind you I didn’t care how long I stayed in the café because I was staying warm.

I love the atmosphere at Christmas Markets and while I like the food and looking around them, sometimes I’ll go because of the vibe. I don’t know if any of you feel the same, but going around Christmas Markets and soaking in the atmosphere helps me forget about how cold the Christmas holidays are. The first thing you notice when you get here is how beautiful a setting a Christmas Market is with the Palace as a backdrop, especially under the lights. Even after Schonbrunn Palace closed I stayed for bit, you can’t help but admire the architecture.

By this point it was more than 24 hours since I arrived in Vienna and I hadn’t sampled any traditional Austrian food.  I went to Amerlingbeisl which to give you a heads up wasn’t easy to find. I think this is down to the area being dark, but all I can remember was having to walk down a path in between two shops to get to Amerlingbeisl. From what I gathered Amerlingbeisl also has a food stall outside during the day time. I tried the beef goulash as it is a popular traditional dish. The beef was accompanied by a dumpling and paprika sauce. I’m not really that big on dumplings but it really complimented the dish, not to mention how nice the paprika sauce was.

I went back to the bar as the Hostel to meet with Aoife and Leanne, both from Ireland. We met the day before in the bar not long after I checked in. I went to grab a chair in the area they were sitting in, did the usual polite thing of asking them if I could take it. As I have the chair in my hand about to walk away, we end up having a brief conversation about travelling, and then travel plans. Then it turned into a conversation about food, and before you know it we’re sitting talking for a couple of hours about all sorts of random shit. I’m sure it’s happened to all of us when we travel, but I find it cool that you can meet others in all sorts of random scenarios. I’ve had my fair share of meeting people randomly on my travels, and part of me is curious to find out the most random way you’ve met someone else abroad. So feel free to share your story of anyone you’ve met randomly when you were travelling, and you get bonus points if you’re still in touch with that person. We stayed drinking at the bar for longer than we anticipated before heading out. After a bit of late night exploring in Stephensplatz, we found ourselves in an American bar. It looked pretty cool but was really cramped. If you’re a cocktail lover, you’ll love this place. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the bar so Aoife and Leanne, if you’re reading and remember feel free to let me know.

I didn’t stay for too long because I had to check out the next morning. Walking back to the Hostel was another excuse to look around Vienna and from first look it seems a safe place to walk through at night. After checking out I went to the Weiner Rathaus (Vienna City Hall). I was told the main Christmas Market in Vienna was here. The first thing to do is find a stand with some food, and it was here that I would try a kasekrainer. Think of a bratwurst but with cheese inside the sausage, I mean how good does that sound!?

I never knew such a thing existed. When I took a bite I could taste the cheese even if I couldn’t physically see it in the sausage meet. I can’t recall seeing kaserkainers in Germany. If they don’t exist in Germany then may I kindly suggest to the Germans to start getting these sold on their markets. There was preparation work going on to set up the stage and sound testing for the evening to see out the last day of the year. Along the main road off the Rathaus there was a 5km or 10km race, I think the finish line was nearby as the road was closed off and guarded.

Nearby there was another market in between the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum) and Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History Museum). It was a much smaller market, nothing impressive compared to the other markets I’d seen. The majority of the stalls from what I gathered were selling ceramic products rather food, or mulled wine which I can’t stand.

Not far down the road near Karlsplatz is the Naschmarkt. This is the most popular market in Vienna and boasts over 120 stands with a huge variety of food, drink and a popular flea market on Saturdays. A heads up if you go to Naschmarkt, it gets really cramped because there isn’t much space to walk between the stands, and of course take the market’s popularity into consideration. I took my time to look around, not that I had much choice! There was so much to see, it was hard to pick something to eat. After seeing how popular the Twist Café stand was, I decided on something different and go for something sweet.

Twist Café sells baumkuchen. I was told originates from Hungary by the Hungarian lady behind the counter. In case you’re not familiar, baumkuchen is a spit cake and you can have with a variety of fillings. Being someone who only eats chocolate as far as desserts are concerned, nutella was the obvious choice of filling. Despite not being into bready desserts, it gets a thumbs up. It is not something I would usually order. The nutella with it was good, though it would have been nice to have a little extra nutella inside the baumkuchen.

I went for a walk along the Donaukanal to check out some street art. When I checked into the Hostel I noticed a booklet on the street art in Vienna. On first thought looking at the booklet, the street art scene seemed fairly big. The booklet was made by one of the staff from the Wombat City Hostel. It was the first thing that caught my eye when I arrived. It was an impressive looking collection. In recent times I have come to really appreciate street art a lot, especially the creative behind it. I don’t know what got me into it, how my love for street art started or why. I’m sure you will find street art all over Vienna. You will find a lot of it walking on the path along the canal which stretches what felt like a couple of miles. The area was a beautiful setting with the sun shining over the canal, even if it was cold.

Granted I didn’t explore all the street art Vienna has to offer but I can’t imagine many places, if any will be a match for variety and quality compared to what you’ll see at the Donaukanal. Next up was Hofburg Palace. I went past it earlier but it was too crowded at the time and I thought it would be better to come back in time to watch the sunset.

Home to the Austrian Crown Jewels, Hofburg Palace is one of the biggest palace complexes in the world with the oldest parts dating back to the 13^th century. I found the perfect spot for some chill time on the statue of Archduke Charles which was opposite the palace.

With the sun beginning to set it was a good time to reflect on the year gone by. Like everyone else we all experience our ups and downs but we are a lot luckier than we realise. As long as you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food on your table, it’s a lot more compared to what many millions of people around the world have. Having gratitude has helped me immensely with all aspects of my life. It helps put everything into perspective and I find myself enjoying and appreciating life a lot more as a result. I stayed for an hour and a half watching the sunset over Hofburg Palace. It didn’t feel long, the time flew by. It is true when they say time flies when you’re having fun. There isn’t much that compares to appreciating the sight of old school architecture while watching the sunset in the background. I went to 7 Stern Brau for dinner and a beer. 7 Stern is known as one of the few true breweries in Vienna. I was told 7 Stern is the place to drink authentic Viennese beer, Austrian wine and a good place to eat traditional Austrian food. I ordered a pork schnitzel and asked to swap salad with chips (because why wouldn’t you!?). I didn’t get to try schnitzel the traditional way when I was Germany, so I wasn’t going to miss out on eating it Austrian style.

While waiting for my food I got talking to Isabell, who was on the table next to me. She’s from Germany, and like me is a solo traveller visiting Vienna for New Years. I find when I travel, most people I meet are usually in a group of 2 or 3 plus. It’s refreshing to meet people who travel solo because I find it easier to relate to them. Anyway back to the schnitzel, it tasted as good as I imagined. I can’t believe I left it so long to try one, taking into account I spent nearly 3 weeks in Germany a few months before and didn’t eat a proper schnitzel (apparently the one I had in Dresden wasn’t a traditional one). Now you wouldn’t go into one of Vienna’s well known brewery’s and not drink a beer. I couldn’t decide on a beer, there was a lot to choose from and the lack of knowledge about the beers on offer was making it harder to choose. Isabella was drinking hanf and recommended it to me. Hanf is a sweet beer and not too high in percentage.

I’m no beer connoisseur and would choose a cider every time. There are very few beer brands I will drink. Hanf is something I could drink again, it has a sweet pleasant taste to it. If you’re a beer enthusiast reading this, I wouldn’t debate trying hanf based on what I’ve said. Not that any of you would but I wanted to throw it out there in case. After a brief respite at the Hostel, I went back to the Rathaus to see out the remaining few hours of the year. I met with Aoife and Leanne, we got a good spot not far from the stage where the live band was playing.

This wasn’t the only place with a live band and a concert. There were concerts at many locations and different events and parties to cater for the 700,000 plus people who were celebrating New Year in Vienna. As the Rathaus got busier, we made our way towards the Burgtheater where there was more space and a place to sit. By 10:30pm the whole area was packed out. We were joined by Nelly and Isabell. Nelly, who was staying at the same Hostel as Isabella is from Peru and living in Finland (that’s a unique one!).

A nice touch by whoever was in charge of the music, after the countdown and 20+ minutes of fireworks, we were treated to some classical music. This was a nice change to the usual party music you would get during the celebration. You could say the classic choice paid homage to Austria’s musical heritage. What amazed me about New Years in Vienna is how clean it was during the peak of the celebration with more than 700,000 people around the city. You could barely see any litter and if there happened to be anything on the floor, it was gone before you knew it.  Huge credit to those tasked with keeping the streets clean with limited space to work with. Another thing to mention is how good people are to each other here. There was so many people and not a hint of a fight or brawl breaking out. People here are respectful to each other, interact with each other and it seems everyone enjoys dancing with whoever they see. At one point the five of us ended up in a big circle dancing with about 30 or 40 people. If you are in the police force and were given the job of patrolling the streets on Vienna on New Years, it would have been one of the more pleasant, hassle free shifts you would have wished for. I went back to the Hostel to kill time before going to the airport to catch my flight home. A big thank you to the staff at the Wombat City Hostel for letting me shower and refresh myself despite checking out earlier. It was unlikely I would have a chance to sleep by the time I got home, and a shower can make a huge difference before going flying on little to no sleep.

And in a flash 2018 was over. I didn’t know what to expect from Vienna nor did I think I would end up loving this place as much as I did. Although I never got to see any opera or see places such as Belvedere Palace or spend more time at Schonbrunn Palace, it gives me a reason to come back even if there isn’t a need for one.

If you want to see opera in the famous Opera House, book tickets in advance as it sells out quickly. I knew when I booked to come here it was unlikely I would find any available tickets. You can buy standing tickets for 4 Euros on the day of a show, but only if you’re willing to stand for up to 4 hours. I bet like me, most of you won’t want to ponder standing for that long in the middle of a big crowd. There aren’t enough words to describe how good this placeis. Vienna has some of the nicest architecture you will ever see and it’sarguably one of the best located places in Europe. You can drive to Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary in a few hours from Vienna. For someone use to seeing road signs for Haywards Heath, Burgess Hil, Lewes, Eastbourne and Crawley, I found it really cool to see road signs leading you to Prague and Budapest. If you plan to travel around Europe I would suggest starting in Vienna.