Vienna .. auf wiedersehen

Ahmed, my Egyptian contact told me once when he heard me speaking, broken Arabic in an Egyptian accent, “if you stay here for a month more , you will speak like a local”  ..the love for a language can make the toughest of them all, easy to learn and a country or a place is no different.

Austria and the city of Vienna is one such place. No I mean in the opposite. No matter how beautiful a city is ,if you cant get yourself to love it ,it simple doesn’t work.

I came here to Vienna first in 2009. When I arrived at the train station it seemed like a regular European station ,when I stepped out and walked on its streets ,the buildings were just so beautiful ,each of them seemed like a palace. Renaissance style was invented in Italy but it seemed it was fully adapted by this city. On my first night ,I remember I felt nothing ,this night in Vienna felt flat after Krakow.

The next morning I just stared at the beauty of this city ,whether in its buildings or its parks. I tried to fall in love with it ,atlast it came from similar quarters ,when I went to a wine growing region nearby got drunk on cheap wine. Cheap and Vienna don’t match but there they served wine in a steel jug. Can you imagine the cost of wine in a jug was less than that of a glass in the city 4 star hotel. Well all those buildings and their shining façade and after all my trips  (this being the fifth time) .. All I remember of this city, is the sun shining on that steel jug that day.

Vienna has a museum quarter a booming restaurant scene and lots of opera houses .. it all seems like a beautiful woman whom you never connect with.  I am glad I am moving out of here. Tonight is my last, here in Vienna and I dunno if I would ever come back again(we are quitting on Vienna and putting in Croatia for our Autumn 2012 onward tours).

I thought I would feel a little about this city on this last night here. But all I can say is auf wiedersehen .. thats 'bye' in german for you ..