Vienna and Munich

Lightning in the distance, seen from the Isar River

I'm sitting inside watching the 5th or 6th flash thunderstorm we've had in Munich this month. They're pretty cool: first the wind picks up mysteriously, then the heavy clouds quickly and suddenly roll in, the sky often turns a funny almost greenish color (tonight it's actually stayed pretty normal grey though), then it sprinkles for a minute or two before begging to drop massive torrents of rain. The thunder and lightning pick up and continue for about 20 to 30 minutes, then the whole thing blows away and the weather is fine again, often even sunny. I think it's really cool, but I also haven't been caught outside in one yet.

I got back from Vienna almost two weeks ago, and in the few days I was there I had a blast. Some photos...

The Melk Abbey, or Stift Melk, located along the Donau just over an hour west of Vienna.

An UNESCO World Heritage site, and home to one of the most beautiful libraries I've ever seen.

Hundertwasserhaus, still a low-income housing block despite being one of the most visited buildings in Austria.

And a stairwell of the Kunst Haus Wien...a Museum of all of the works of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, plus they had a great Picasso exhibition.

A view of part of the Hofburg Imperial Palace, which along with the rest of the inner city is also an UNESCO World Heritage site.

Side view showing the beautiful tile roof of the St. Stephen's Cathedral in the center of the Old town.

A snapshot of Viennese coffehouse culture. My plum strudel and melange, the typical Viennese coffee prepared with hot foamed milk, and always accompanied by a glass of water.

My friend Nico looking appalled at the sight of a 18 euro liter of water at an upscale supermarket in Downtown Vienna.

We did buy one thing at the supermarket though: Marzipan in the shape of an apple, a mushroom, and a black fig. Only 2 euros a pop, and delicious!

We ate them after a great meal at this traditional Viennese wine cellar restaurant.

Viennese Opera House. A highlight of our trip was getting to watch a ballet, Romeo & Juliet, here and feeling mighty hoity toity.


A cool piece of modern architecture located just across from St. Stephen's cathedral at the very center of the city.

Cool looking record shop. What I love about Vienna--the mixture of old, grandiose and new, hip, modern. This is an image that is sadly lacking in Munich.

Vienna was an awesome city, and even though I was there only a few short days, it may have overtaken Berlin as my favorite German-speaking city. Perhaps this isn't so surprising, considering that Vienna is now the city with the highest quality of life in the world (or so some fancy consulting firm has absurdly determined). Anyway, Vienna has so much going on it makes Munich feel provincial, and the old town is full of beautiful, monumental buildings. Real Wiener Schnitzel is also really, really tasty--and much better than the stuff I've ever been served anywhere else.

Real Wiener Schnitzel. The portions are also massive.

After getting back from Vienna, I almost started to list off the reasons why I don't like Munich, and why I found Vienna so much better. However, as usually happens, just as I was getting down about Munich, it went and surprised me with something cool and different...

This Thursday we had another public holiday (one of Bavaria's charms is the ridiculous amount of holidays the workers here get....I believe 12 per year), and I went with a friend to a street festival near downtown, and it was awesome! Food and drinks and lots of music, including a live band, and the atmosphere was just great, with a nice mix of people. As it turns out, this is just the beginning of what could be called "street festival season" (i.e. summer), and there's tons of festivals coming up all over the city--fish markets, beer garden festivals, the music fest put on by my university, and more. I'm so glad that summer is just getting started, and that I'll be here to enjoy it in Munich.