My Frugal Trip To Vienna, Days 2 and 3!

I have been in Vienna already 3 days, and its been a great trip so far.

First off, I have to say that this is my first time staying in a hostel, and I'm sad that this is only my first time, because I feel like I missed out on so many fun things I could have done my last trips, because staying in hostels is so much more fun than staying in AirBnB's not to mention cheaper.

 I've been having a terrific time meting and spending time with people from around the world, from Brazil to Chile to Morocco to Iran to Italy to Russia to Greece to Korea to the Philippines to Singapore, and its just been a wonderful experience. I highly recommend if you're traveling alone to stay at a hostel, because it's just so fun and a great way to not feel alone while traveling.

Second, I've been enjoying Vienna as a whole. There are so many weird street signs, or at least weird to my American sounding ears (like bike stands with Gute Fahrt written on them, meaning a good ride). The architecture is "standard European", similar to what I saw in Belgium, and there are lots of very old and pretty buildings.

From what I've discovered, most museums here cost at least 10 euros each, so I've been very selective about where I'm going, and will probably visit a museum or two, but I'm first aiming to do free things.

I did a free walking tour and learned a lot about Austrian history, but the tour I did completely ignored the 1900s so I'm probably going to do another walking tour and hopefully get a more rounded experience.

On the walking tour I learned about getting standing tickets for the opera, for a fraction of their regular prices, which I may do one of these days. I had considered doing it today, but I ended up being exhausted and missed that, so another day.

There is this really strange old clock in Vienna, called the ankeruhr clock, that you read differently from any other clock. There's 12 figures from Viennese history who go around and just appear at their appointed hour, with a Roman numeral above their head saying the hour, and the figure has an arrow connected to it that moves across a line marked with 15 minute intervals to tell you the minute. At noon each day there is a "show" where all the characters go around "quickly" so you can see them all, and it's put to music. I went there to see it, and it was ok. There were many tourists there, and it was an experience I was glad I went to, but it wasn't anything spectacular. But its free, so if you're looking for free things to do in Vienna, that is one of them.

After that I had intended to go to one of the palaces, but my feet were already tired, so I passed this "danube canal cruise" that offered a guided tour as well of the things along the canal. It was a little pricey at 23 euros for 80 minutes, but because my feet were already tired and I wanted to be able to stand for the standing opera, I decided to do it. But it was a mistake. It was basically a restaurant on a boat, and though they told me I can bring my own food, they had me eat it outside where it was chilly, but inside it was really extremely hot. And the "tour" that they promised literally comprised of 4 recorded messages first in German than in English about 4 of the places we passed.

The rest was just quiet, and boring, and it lulled me to sleep enough that I realized I needed to go back to the hostel to take a nap. So I did that, and when I woke up I hung out with the people at the hostel, which was great.

Other things I got done were arrange my trip to the Alps for Sunday, buying a round trip train ticket, booking snow shoes and a sled via the help of the people at the front desk at the hostel. I've also been doing some grocery shopping and cooking, and I've been pleasantly surprised at prices especially when people warned me how overpriced Vienna is.

I'm looking forward to the rest of my trip here. I'm trying to ignore the Coronavirus situation, which is affecting flights and will require me to be in quarantine when I get home, something that was announced yesterday, but I figure if I'll anyhow be in quarantine, might as well enjoy myself while I'm here.

I can't wait to update you about the rest of my trip to Vienna!