Tuesday, October 2, 2018

VIENNA + LJUBLJANA


It’s time to tell you all about Part 3 of our Interrailing adventure, which takes place in Vienna and ThatPlaceIStillCan’tPronounce! So far, we’ve had a week on a yacht in Croatia (blog post here / vlog here) and three days in beautiful Budapest (blog post here / vlog here). Now it’s time to take on the land of Weiner Lager - no joke - and climb a million miles up a bloody mountain to a castle on Chris’s birthday…

We arrived into Austria and took the underground and a bus to find our Airbnb. It was a little far out from the city centre, but the public transport in Vienna is so good that it wasn’t a worry. We paid €16 each for a 72hr travelcard, which allows you unlimited trips on the trams, buses and underground system, which puts London to shaaaaame if you ask me. Our Airbnb was really nice, and with it being my first Airbnb experience, I was really pleased. Our host was one of the most flamboyant Austrians one could ever hope to encounter, and bought Chris and I a Magnum each to help us cool down in the 37 degree heat. We had a kitchen in our apartment, so we went to the shop over the road to stock up on stuff we could cook so we’d save money on eating out.

On our first evening in Vienna, we went to the Film Festival that was on; they’d put up a huge screen and lots of seating at the Rathausplatz and played a different concert, opera, ballet or musical each night throughout July. We ended up seeing a Chopin concert, which I loathed an detested (I am an uncultured swine, after all. I don’t see why they couldn’t have played a Nicki Minaj concert or something), but Chris loved. We stayed almost to the end, then went back to the Airbnb to make use of the precious wifi and have an early night. 

On our second day, we’d already decided that we needed to get ourselves to a swimming pool. Vienna was having a bit of a heatwave, and us pasty English were dying a death. We took the tram to Simmeringer Bad, a local’s outdoor pool that was suuuuper cheap to get into and wasn’t overcrowded; there wasn’t a tourist in sight. We spent the morning in the wave pool and swimming around in the rapids, then went back to the Airbnb for a shower. then, disaster struck, the ginge (Chris) had forgotten to put on suncream, and his back was really red and sore-looking. We slathered on an inch of aftersun and headed back into the city to visit the Foltermuseum - the Museum of Torture. It was an OK museum; it has old torture devices and models of people being murdered, but I still think that €6 was slightly too much for adult’s entry. After that, we went for a few (like, seven) double vodka and cokes in a bar, and staggered back to the Airbnb. The day after, Chris’s sunburn had come up in massive blisters, and we decided that a day of just chilling around the apartment was due.


The next day, we tidied up and left our apartment in Vienna, and headed to the train station to catch our train to Ljubljana, Slovenia. We ended up changing trains at Villach, Austria, and ended up in the middle of some fun, traditional festival, so we had a drink and watched while we waited for our train. We were only having two nights in Ljubljana, so I just booked us a very very cheap double room in the Aladin Hostel, and it was ok. The only real problem was that we had one of those Jack + Jill bathrooms that we shared with the room next door, and they managed to forget and LOCK US OUT OF OUR BATHROOM TWICE. Causing both Chris and I to have to run down the corridor and wee in the shower cubicle at 4am. (Is this an appropriate time to hashtag #yolo?)

We were celebrating Chris’s 23rd birthday during our time in Ljubljana, so the day was up to him. He wanted to walk up and see the castle, so we hiked up the side of a bleedin mountain to get to the top. It was really lovely when we got up there, though. The view was amazing, and my makeup had miraculously NOT melted off, so I got quite a nice pic of me and the view. We had a drink each in the castle cafe, recuperated from the ordeal of getting up there in the first place, and then headed back down. 


We found the most amazing burger place for lunch. Oh. My. God. It was really really good. Of course, my inner voice was  s c r e a m i n g  that we should eat some traditional Slovenian fare, but when ya gal wants a burger, ya get ya gal a burger. Pop’s Place is an incredible burger restaurant and craft beer emporium in Ljubljana’s centre, by the river. I had ‘The Boss’, a 200g beef burger with grilled onion marmalade, English Stilton cheese and Truffle Aioli on a brioche bun. It was so delicious that I am still salivating as we speak. I wish I could tell you which burger Chris had, but I only had eyes for mine and literally wouldn’t have noticed if a meteor had landed next to me while I inhaled this beauty of a burger.

After that, we found a cute little pub tucked down a small street. Hilariously, it was called the Cutty Sark Pub, which was really weird to stumble upon, because we live really close to the actual Cutty Sark ship in Greenwich, London, when we’re at home. We had a couple of drinks and then called it a day. We got back to our hostel at about 7pm to pack our backpacks up, shower and sleep so we could get up at 6am the following morning to head to Venice…

Keep a look out for the next post about our month-long eurotrip! 
Next stop: Venice, Italy!


Lots of love,
Jasmine x
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