It is already March and the semester break is over. However, in between traveling, having guests and writing my BA thesis, my blog had to stay silent for a while. After I am officially tired of doing research and quoting linguists 24/7, I am back with a story about my trip to Upper Austria and Hallstatt.
Wonder (2017)
Back in the day when I was still in high school I heard about the book by R. J. Palacio ‘Wonder’. Since I was (and still am) I huge book worm I immediately bought the book and read it over the course of a few days. I remember how emotional I got, while reading page after page and not because it was a sad book, but because it was so heartfelt and represented in such a genuine way the feelings of that little boy.
I Puritani and the screens at the Wiener Staatsoper
Going to the opera is one of my favorite hobbies and what better place to do so than the Wiener Staatsoper? I consider myself a regular visitor and by far I have seen a great variety of operas. For the longest time, however, I was not able to go an see a performance (half a year if I have to be precise) but on Sunday I was back at my second home for I Puritani.
Murder on the Orient Express (movie)
Maybe you have already read about my story about Orient Express and you already know I was looking forward to the release of the movie this month. Well, you probably also know that whenever you make plans, life laughs in your face and then all the things you scheduled so neatly in you head never happen. Take this for an example – I was looking forward to going and seeing “Murder on the Orient Express” as soon as it came out, but of course being sick for two weeks and having pre-holidays deadlines prevented me from going to the cinema. So all of that meant that I can only see the movie the other day on one of the last projections. Still, I loved the film and I decided to share a brief review with you and try not to spoil it for you.
Christmas Cookies (and no, not gingerbread)
You may hate me for what I am about to say, but … gingerbread cookies are overrated. Few years ago when I was doing my Christmas baking I was really excited to make this recipe and guess what – in the end they turned out the same as the Spekulatius that you get in every other Billa. Of course you can imagine that I was incredibly disappointed, but last year I found another recipy that was incredbile and so delictous that I could not share it with you. As you can imagine I made it once again this year and I made a double batch since with my family the cookies are never enough.
Secret Vienna: Vienna Behind the Scenes Tour
After the tour at Zentralfriedhof, I was so impressed with what Secret Vienna has to offer, so once I got invited to another ramble around Vienna, I could not resist but join again. This time our walk was around the city center, revealing interesting hidden corners and lesser-known streets that I have always passed by, but never seemed to walk through. Let me tell you just this one thing, once you start living here, you go through the same paths every day and even if it is sad to admit it, with time you lose your adventurer’s spirit and occupied by your mundane daily routines, you forget to look past the tip of your nose. Therefore, thanks to this tour with Secret Vienna, the explorer’s spirit in me was once again awakened.
My Spotify (November 2017)
As you may have figured by the whole ‘Opera’ section on my blog, I am a keen classical
music fan. This, however, does not at all mean that I do not enjoy what is currently on the charts and I try to keep track of the newest trends. I would say that I love music in general and I listen to all sorts of things. Recently, with the weather changing to utterly cold and extremely dark too early in the day, I have been listening to some depresso tracks, but of course, also to some, which are on the more positive side. Today, it is November 2017, and I will tell you what I have been listening to lately.
Café Mozart
You know … when in Rome, well in our case Vienna … you cannot pass on those places which are just screaming “Come in! Get a cup of steaming coffee and some strudel!”. I have written a post about Viennese Coffee Culture where I talk a lot about why cafés are something special here and I mention some of the most iconic ones. Well, Café Mozart is in line with Café Central, Landtmann and Sacher and has been around for quite a while (it has been known as Café Mozart since 1929). Situated at the very heart of Vienna behind the Vienna State Opera and across from Albertina, it offers a cozy, luxurious atmosphere, which allures its guests to prolong their stay here for as long as possible.
Weltmuseum
This is one of the most recent and oldest museums right now in our beautiful Vienna. Huh?! Yeah, I know it sounds, let’s put it like that – weird, but since its new re-opening, it is the ‘newest’ museum in Vienna, yet, actually, it was first opened in the beginning of last century. After it has been closed for renovation since 2014, now it has been open to the public again. The grand reopening was on the 25th of October and on the 26th everyone who was interested was granted a free admission on the National Holiday. And of course, your girl was the first in line (well, kind of, there were other enthusiasts as well). After staying in line for about fifteen minutes, we were finally admitted and I was ready to start exploring.
My Favorite Places to Take a Walk in Vienna
If you expected something groundbreaking, I might disappoint you just now. I am a very conservative person and I stick with the things I like (if you have read my last post you know), but if you recognize yourself in this description as well, feel free to read on.
As I have mentioned before on the blog, walks are my remedy for sadness, boredom, bad mood, plus they are a great way to move a little bit, especially if you are not in the mood for doing sports (I certainly do not imagine myself going to the fitness after finishing writing yet another paper). So it doesn’t matter if you live in Vienna, you are visiting as a tourist or randomly passing by our beautiful city, I want to tell you about my favorite places for a stroll here.
Viennese Mademoiselle 