the heart of the empress elisabeth beats in vienna, the most beautiful city in the world.

i do not believe that to be able to experience the culture of a country or a city, one must go to museums, spend a high amount of money to see artworks from the great masters, of course, it is a part of culture and history, but for me, i will never learn anything inside a four cornered room with lifeless objects staring at me. the greatest experience of all, is to go outside, by foot, roam the city, doenst matter if i get lost because it is the true beauty of traveling and the most  important part is, to be able to speak the language and get to know a person living in the city i am visiting.

last night, it was very hard for me and ariel to sleep, since i am not used to sleeping in new environments and ariel not being able to sleep because our sleep rhythm is very different, he sleeps early in the evening because he works early in the morning, while me sleep so late like 2-3 am because i work late in the afternoon.

we were both like zombies in the morning as we both didnt had any good sleep! hahahaha and i was chatting on the net until 2 am! well, i was sorry for that.

today, i planned riding the subway in vienna, which was my favorite thing to do, then go to west bf and buy train tickets to budapest, hungary for saturday, meet one of my friends in vienna, arthur AND EAT AT KFC! hahahaha.

i am staying at simmering bezirk (borough) in vienna, its a little bit far from the central station but near to the airport. would you believe it will take 13 subway stops just to get to west bf?! and 9-10 stops to the center of vienna?! hahahaha that how far where my friend ariel is staying.

my station is at enkplatz station, from there, i bought a 72 hours ticket to all the transportation in vienna - buses, metro and trams for only 13 euros. the good thing about the metro in vienna is that its open from 4-5 in the morning until 1:00 am and every 5 minutes there is a subway coming, so if youre late in a meeting or in classes, you can never blame the transportation system as you are always on time - the austrians are always on time! a bit freaky, but thats the way they are.

i was wriggling with excitement! as if i have worms in my pants! hahah and BIG SMILE on my face! this is it! i am back again in vienna! it wasnt hard for me as the memories kept coming back, the familiar sights and places and stations that i know of and the wiener dialekt of the metro saying all the stops! the man still has the same voice! hahahaha i just love vienna and everything about it.

so i got up at west bf station, the station has all the connections to western europe and some cities in the east like budapest and bratislava. i got a little confused and went up the wrong street. i asked an old woman the directions going to mariahilferstraße, because i was a little bit disoriented with the constructions around it! and i went to the wrong exit too ^_^ hahahaha, she was so nice and told me the directions, i thanked her.

then i finally saw the familiar buildings and followed it towards west bf, but the problem was that west bf is under construction so the building is obscured from the view, nevertheless i found the bloody entrance! hahaha.

i went to the  reisebüro and asked for tickets to budapest - the cheapst, the problem was that all the 19 euro specials were sold out, the available one is for 34 euros, a bit pricey, but what the hell?!? having fun doenst cost any price!

so i bought the ticket and reserved a seat which costs 3 euros. now everything was set! then as i got out of the central station, it started to rain, not just only rain but it was also very windy!i didnt wore my 2 layered jacket, i only wore the thin one but with a knitted pullover inside.

but just across west bf, is my favorite street in vienna called mariahilferstraße. rain started to pour so heavily, so i decided instead of walking further, i will eat lunch at kfc, the reason why i like kfc in vienna, is that they serve chicken with rice, i ordered two pieces of chicken and one cup of rice and lots of gravy and poured it all over! hahaha yes messy but oh so yummy!

i ate at the second floor, so i had a good view of mariahilferstraße, it is the shopping street of vienna, but not the über classy shops, more for average people, but then, i can see that vienna, is a very rich city, not stylish, but there's something in the air. well after all, the empress elisabeth, with her eccentric views, made and constructed vienna to what it is now. rich and elegant.

but then as i was eating, something caught my eyes, someone was moving awkwardly in the streets, i just ignored it for a second, but i couldnt helpt looking at it again AND stared, i thought it was a street artist or pantomime, but i was wrong, it was a beggar - a woman and she was contorted, walking on her both arms and legs, while the other hand was asking for some money. i squirmed at my seat. looked at my junk food, that costed me almost 10 euros and i dont even eat the meat part of the chicken only the crispy skin and throw it after, and she, was helplessly begging for a little money in the streets where people just passed her and ignored her, and to top it off with the heart wrenching episode, it was raining, and she doenst have much cover on her.

enkplatzt station! beautiful isnt it?!!

i tried to looked away, but my eyes kept looking back at her, suddenly, she was not alone, as another beggar was walking on the street, this one was much more even worse, she had her pants cut off in her other leg showing that it was BADLY BURNED, my god.  i was like, thinking, here i am, gloating that i am back in vienna, with magnificent edifices that i fell in love with and yet, am i back to imperialism? the time when marie antoinette said "let them eat cake?"

as i was pondering over rice and gravy, i couldnt not help to see the beauty of it. it is a contradiction that puts me back to reality, to pull me from the highs i have and brought my feet back to earth. that everything must not be beautiful to be beautiful.

familiar buildings to mariahilferstraße.

do not mistake me, i am not the high and classy person, but what i saw is a paradigm of truth in the world and i was only for an hour exploring vienna and i know more is yet to come that would surprise me.

after my strange lunch, i went back to the metro and rode until stephansplatz station where the magnificent st. stephans cathedral is located, before the modern architectures came, it is the highest structure in vienna, and it was made like that because, it is also used as a watch tower of the firemen to have a view all over the city in case there is fire.

walking around the cathedral was a mess, i dont have a thick jacket and no cap or bonnet or hood. i was wet all over,and i was afraid to turn on my camera because somehow it will be damaged by the weather that wont cooperate.

as i walked, fast and middle paced towards the hofburg, i couldnt helpt staring at the wonderful end of the century belle epoque buildings, we have belle epoque buildings in düsseldorf too, but the ones in vienna are so massive! like giant cakes!

the hofburg is the offical resident and apartments of the the last dynasty of the habsburgs. around it were austrian carriages called fiaker, funny because fiaker is a hungarian word, but the empress loves hungary so much. the fiaker can take you a tour around vienna, i dont know how much it costs, because i dont want to ride it! hahaha.

at the hofburg, i was already looking for a toilet, because i really needed to go, the chill in the air didnt helped either! hahaha, i remember there are toilets at the back of the hofburg, then memories camed flooding me again, two years ago, i was in the hofburg with ariel and went to the toilet, it was a pay toilet but we didnt paid, then an old woman who was in charge of cleaning and collecting the cons came running and scolded us for not paying! hahahaha. but when i was there it was under repair! great, now what?! i looked for bushed but there were not as its still winter and treed were leafless! hahaha

so i was in pain and looking for a bar or cafe - CHEAP ONES because around the hofburg are very expensive cafes, well i found starbucks, not really a fan of it, but no choice, inside, i ordered lemon cake and green tea, the staff, woman - wasnt really friendly, it reminded me of the story of the son of the empress elisabeth - prince rudolph who disguises himself as a commoner and mingle with the peasants in disguise haha ok ok ok  mouth shut, i will tell the story in the next blog ^_^

it was like, the woman scorned me that i looked like i couldnt afford anything, well i really cant afford anything thats why i went to starbucks! hahahahaha ^_^

went to the toilette, ate and drank the tee and i went off. i decided to go to the town hall of vienna, because it is just at the back of the hofburg, i was only halfway there when i turned back, the rain was so hard and i am really really wet and i dont want to get sick!

i went back to the flat and refresh myself, as i am meeting arthur in the evening, we were supposed to have dinner together, but he came late from the university and he said he will show me vienna in a different way, i am so excited about it! because he asked me where i had been to vienna and i told him all the highlights that i had been, so another side of vienna that he will show me.

arthur lives in the meidling bezirk, it is not far from schönbrunn castle which i am going the next day.

a good vantage point!

we went to his home, its not a flat, its a house, a big house with a magnificent grand piano in the living room.

then arthur told me, that he is going to play a private concert for me, i was like, whattafuck?! are you serious?! well, he also needs to practice as he is going to have a solo concert in the university the week after our meeting. so i was dead excited, arthur doenst like taking pictures of him, but i forced him to be videoed while he played, he finally agreed but told me to promise him that i will not post the videos of the piano pieces that he will play in the concert, of course i said yes. so i will only post videos that are not to be played in his concert.

as arthur was magically playing the piano with mozart and beethoven pieces.

the contorted beggar in the street.. :(

everything was too much for me. now, everything was ostentatious and grand, while earlier, i saw hungry people on the streets!

i just cant believe, i saw everything in one day! the common vienna and the impressive vienna, as arthur, a viennese was playing his heart on the grand piano.

the heart of the empress beats in the most beautiful city in the world. beautiful, just beautiful.