A friend asked me for advice on studying in Vienna vs Prague - just the kind of incentive I needed to spin the wheel of memories.

Here’s the question..

..which boils down to “I wanted to ask if you’ve ever been to Vienna before and did you like it?”

I traveled to both Prague and Vienna, and if I were to choose where to stay longer, I’d probably choose Prague. But that may very well be because despite my very best efforts, my experience of Vienna remains incomplete.

If you’ve never been there or heard about it, you might want to start with a video (shamelessly pimping a website) or a lonely planet guide.

I got to Vienna first in the previous millennium, in my first eurotrip, right after Budapest, having started by train in Bucharest. Back then, unlike today, the train was an acceptable way to travel in Romania. I visited it a few more times in subsequent trips.

I’ve good memories with Austria, but they’re mostly with the mountain side and involve an ex-girlfriend. My memories of Prague are much better, perhaps because they’re intertwined with Rocco Ravishes Prague. Considering how anal-retentive Austrians are (or, better said, are stereotyped to be), perhaps Rocco should’ve ravished Vienna; he would’ve enjoyed more as well.

The one story I would share here, before leaving the computer, has to do with my first lunch there. There was cheap food at the hostel, but I wanted to try a schnitzel. I got to a restaurant, fought with an incredibly poor customer service, ordered my schnitzel seemingly against the waitress’ will (heh, had my little triumph there), then had to answer to a bunch of fake drunks, after telling them that I’m Romanian, “why did you come to my country?”. I didn’t have to, of course, but at first I was under the impression that I’m interacting with the locals.

[to be continued]

Sources / More info: lp