Vienna Off The Tourist Track : Why Isn't the Danube Blue?

(Strauss's The Blue Danube begins in the background) 

The story starts with me getting off the train at Vienna's Westbahnhof, carrying an Amplemann wallet I just bought from a souvenir shop in Berlin, with my credit card, some Euro, and some other foreign currencies inside. I was so excited about seeing Vienna. In fact, I had always been dreaming about seeing Vienna. I walked up to the Westbahnhof subway station's ticket vending machine, and put some money in. 20 Euros later, a 3-day transit pass came out. I grabbed the pass, boarded the subway, and just couldn't wait for what was about to happen.....
 
(Skip the Music directly to the Climax, turning the volume to the maximum level) 

In the afternoon on the day before I was leaving for Budapest, I found myself sitting alone on the bank of the Danube River. I still had my Amplemann wallet with me, but I couldn't really do anything. My credit card somehow got stuck into an Austrian Bank Machine, my Euros were down all the way from notes to coins, my 3-day transit pass was about to expire, and I had a whole bunch of foreign currency that I couldn't even spend. Without any hesitation, I went up to a vending machine and bought myself a bottle of Coke. I ended up spending an entire afternoon by the Danube River, because I did not have the money to catch a train to Bratislava in Slovakia for a half-day trip. By the time I was about to leave, I still had this one question hovering in my head......

Why Isn't the Danube Blue?

(Music fades, and suddenly stops)

A cathedral by the bank of the supposedly blue Danube

To this day, I have yet to see another city like Vienna: The statistics and the official tourist map suggested that it was nothing but a small city by any standards. When you actually go there, you will soon realize that this is a grand, elegant city that even a giant empire can call it its capital. I mean, Vienna was at one time the capital city of a giant empire. You could find people almost everywhere. Shops and Cafes everywhere. Tour buses and tourists everywhere. If I didn't hear anyone speaking German, and you told me that I was in London, I would believe you. 

The French Embassy is among one of many great architecture in Vienna

The number of tourist attractions was overwhelming, but only a handful of people could truly experience the real Vienna within the short period of time they stay there. I am not saying the Vienna I experienced has absolutely nothing to do with tourism. However I did enjoy some experiences at some interesting places where are less frequented by other tourists, and totally ignored and was unaware by sightseers who came on one of the tour buses that swarm into the city on a massive scale everyday. 

Sorry, this article is not about places like this........

Being on foot on my own means I get to pick where I want to go and what I want to do, without the influence of the others. Whether that's a good practice or a bad one, it still remains debatable. But that's what I did in Vienna. When I first arrived in the city, it was a hungry afternoon. The hotel I stayed was in the Josefstadt neighborhood, a residential area where local Viennese (well, including the president of the Austria at the time) live but also popular with tourists due to its proximity to the Ring Road and Hofburg. To look for something to eat, I jumped right into the neighborhood and found a small restaurant run by a father and a son. The restaurant owners were fans of the Turkish National Soccer Team and when I stepped into the restaurant, they were watching a match on TV, together with other customers who also happened to be the fans of the same team. I ordered a schnitzel together with my favorite drink at the time : Coca Cola. The son quickly took the order and passed it to the father. The father, who was wearing a Turkish jersey got up, and went straight into the kitchen.  

A residential building in Vienna

To be honest, I felt like I was a total bastard. If I picked somewhere else to have lunch, like some restaurants that opened specifically for tourists, I wouldn't become some guy who interrupted a neighborly / family event. Now because of my schnitzel, the owner had to leave the match and his fellow fans to  fetch me a meal in the kitchen. A while later the father brought the schnitzel out,  delivered the food to my table himself, and returned to the match. The food was great with a home -made feeling and the price was very reasonable. My overall experience at the restaurant was great, especially when I didn't have to speak English there. Well, I don't speak any German, neither do I think the father or the son speak any English. All I did was simply telling the son "schnitzel" and paid the amount of money indicated on the bill.  I could imagine in those places where services are provided in English, you would expect to see a huge flip of the price tag. Plus you will never get see the restaurant owners and a bunch of other guys watching a Turkish soccer match. This is the kind of authentic local experience tourists don't really often see or even expect, and this is definitely something that's money can't buy.

Wiener Schnitzel at Hofburg Cafe.....Alright, I promise this is the last photo about a mainstream tourist establishment you'll see.....

However, the truth is that even if you have lots and lots of money and you are willing to spend them, chances are the expensive ones aren't necessarily the best ones.  While walking from Hofburg to the Opera House, I was stopped by a man who dressed like the clown version of Mozart. The man was trying to sell me some classical music concert tickets and told me that "my trip to Vienna is incomplete" without seeing a classical music orchestra live in action. The man quickly pulled out a booklet, and explained to me that the concert will be held at the lawn of the famous Schönbrunn Palace. I told him that I have already got a ticket to another concert, but he didn't let me go. He told me that the concert was performed by "the best orchestra in Vienna", so I must buy his ticket and see the show or I will regret it for the rest of my life. Then I asked him whether it will be the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna's and also the world's top Symphony Orchestra) performing, he said yes. I told him that I was actually going to see the Wiener Philharmoniker at the Goldener Saal (the place where they have the annual New Year's concert, broadcasted all over the world), he said that there weren't supposed to be any performances for them other than the one he was trying to sell me. I told him that I actually had the ticket. Then he denied that he knew anything about the performance at the Goldener Saal. I further confronted him by telling him that I held a ticket to the Vienna State Opera's performance, in which the Wiener Philharmoniker would participate in the same evening as well. The man eventually gave up, and asked me where I got my tickets. I replied that I booked everything online before I even came to Vienna. He said:

"That's smart. Most of the people (tourists) are clueless and they don't know anything about these concerts at all".

The Musikverein building

The cheapest ticket the man was trying to sell to clueless tourists on a performance by an unheard symphony orchestra at a former imperial palace was 75 Euros. The ticket I got for a standing room in possibly the world's best known classical music hall and a performance by the world's best symphony orchestra? 6 Euros.  

The Famous Golden Hall and part of the Wiener Philharmoniker

And of course, I also went to an opera performance by the Vienna State Opera and the Wiener Philharmoniker. In fact, I dedicated an entire day to music while in Vienna. The opera I watched was Verdi's La Traviata. I can tell you that the tickets weren't easy to book at all. Again, if you are a tourist and suddenly decide that you want to watch an opera, chances are you won't be able to get a ticket (or a reasonably priced ticket). I have concluded that in order to travel local (or local-ish), you must know exactly what you want in that city. No, plan ahead won't make your trip boring, I actually found that plan head will bring even more surprises than no planning at all. If a local who doesn't even know what's in the city, you can't really say that he or she is a local. But if your typical tourists claims that they know nothing about the city, wait.....aren't we expecting them to tell us that?

The Opera House during an opera

As a classical music maniac,  everybody told me since I was a kid that I should go to the Stadtpark to check out the golden statue of Johann Strauss. I did go, and I did see more than what I was told to see.  I spent more time to explore other parts of the park than seeing the statue which was located right at the entrance. There were other statues in the park, which I liked just as much as the golden Strauss everyone came there to see. Most importantly, the Stadtpark, like its name suggests, the "City Park", is packed with Vienna locals relaxing and escaping from their busy city lives. If you want to find out how the Viennese spend their free time, you need to "venture" beyond the little golden statue at the entrance of the park.

The statue of former Vienna mayor Andreas Zelinka, who is of Moravian descent

The Stadtpark is definitely not the only city park in Vienna. Many of gardens and grounds formerly owned by the Austrian Imperial family are now for the public's recreational use and enjoyment. Volksgarten, or "people's garden" was a part of Hofburg, the former imperial palace of the former Austrian Empire. While in Vienna I had heard countless stories about how much the emperors cared about their subjects, whereas in the rest of the world emperors are mostly being associated with some oppressive figures. The park featured some interesting statues and fountains. You will find both locals and tourists alike enjoying this great gift given to the people by the emperors (Emperor's New Park?). 

Volksgarten

Now let's talk about food again. During my time in Vienna, I ended up eating every single meal except two (possibly three) at either one of the following two places: The touristy Hofburg Cafe, or one of many food stands all over the city. The food stands, surprisingly, all sell pretty much the same stuff: Wiener Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Pizzas, Kebabs, Schnitzels, and even stir fry noodles. I don't know whether they are owned by the same owner or from the same chain, but I don't care. The food there are just cheap and awesome (I mean, what else can be even better than that?).  Thanks to easy access to amazing food, I often found myself eating five meals a day while in Vienna. No wonder the city has constantly been ranked as the most livable city in the world.

Just wondering if they all happen to be owned by the same guy

On my last full day in Vienna, I was planning to visit Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia where is conveniently located just 50 minutes away by train from Vienna. To buy the ticket, I must go to  Vienna's Ostbahnhof, which was located right across the street from a very interesting military museum that exhibits amazing artifacts, but receives very few foreign tourists like myself. When I arrived at the station's ticket kiosk, I realized that I did not have enough Euros with me. I had to go to a bank to withdraw some cash.

The Military Museum, formerly a barrack built in Ottoman style

Archduke Franz Ferdinand's personal pistol

The vehicle Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie rode in Sarajevo during the assassination

The bullet and the gun that led to the breakout of World War One. The assassin Gavrilo Princip's picture can be seen in the background

On my way to the bank, I passed through the Naschmarkt. The market is vibrant and I found people from all over the place selling all sorts of things there: from exotic spices to all types of tea and even things like Japanese ramen. The residential buildings in the neighborhood acted more like a scope to the past where people could have a glimpse of Vienna's old glory days. 

The Market

At the bank, I pulled out my credit card from the Amplemann wallet I purchased in Berlin a few days ago. I slid the card into the ATM, waiting for the machine to respond. A long time went by, nothing happened.

Uh-oh..........  

A lady then entered the bank, and fortunately she spoke English. I showed her exactly what I did, and asked her what might went wrong with the machine.

"Oh, you inserted the card into the wrong place. You just put your card into the deposit slot".

Now please give me the honor to tell you that ATMs over there were definitely not the ATMs here at home. 

A residential building in Vienna

She then pulled out her cellphone and called the bank. The call went through and she began to converse with the other side in German. Moments later,   she told me:

"The bank will open tomorrow at 8:30. They are aware that your credit card is in one of the ATMs."

I thanked the lady and then left the bank. I realized that I couldn't go to Bratislava anymore, because I did not have enough Euros to buy myself a round trip train ticket. There wasn't any other things I could do anyways. I thought about going to another opera, but it was unrealistic as an opera ticket could easily be more expensive than a round trip train ticket. Should I convert some of the Polish zloty or Hungarian Froint I had with me? Seriously if I converted them, I wouldn't have enough money in for the next two weeks in Hungary and Poland. As I was battling with myself, a tram passed by, I hopped right on to it.    

Somewhere in the city center...OK, one of the disadvantages of traveling off the tourist map is that you don't always know where you are.....

I didn't know where I was, or where the tram was going, but I ended up getting off at the terminal station. Upon arriving, I realized that I reached a Vienna I had never seen before: there weren't fancy apartments anymore, but the place had concrete blocks where you could tell that an average Viennese would live there. Across the street a group of boys just finished playing soccer from a nearby field. One of them was wearing a Turkish national jersey, which instantly reminded me of the father and the son who run that small restaurant I visited the other day. Many of the residents there were of Middle-Eastern origin, which further convinced me that Vienna was still a very welcoming city, even after the fall of the mighty, multi-ethnic Austrian Empire.

One of the bluest photos I took on Danube River

To further exploit my 3-day transit pass, the only valuable thing I had at the moment, I took the subway all the way to the banks of the Danube River. I looked into the river, and began to think back about what I experienced and saw during the past few days in Vienna.

The neighborhood near the Danube River, which I have to emphasize once again, is not blue

Why isn’t the Danube Blue? Because no river is blue. Things are definitely not always what we think they should be like. We all thought that Vienna is a fancy tourist city like how guidebooks and travel shows attempted to sell to us the first time we saw them. While it is true, Vienna more importantly also happens to be a city where real people live, and where authentic cultures and values of multi-culturalism are alive – It is still the same diverse city during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Most of all, the ATMs over there are definitely different from the ones at home. Without my credit card getting stuck in a foreign bank machine, I would probably never learn the lesson of my lifetime: don’t judge the book by its cover. Well, we don’t really have free tuition or cheap textbooks here at home, do we?