The following weekend I was off again. This time I finally got to Vienna. Kirstie and I were becoming more and more frustrated that we hadn’t visited what is our nearest big city. It is only two hours away on the bus, the ticket is ridiculously cheap and its not like we don’t have the time. We had no excuse. We booked our ticket. It was our new friend Irma who was the original catalyst to our eventual decision. Irma is Hungarian with lots of her friends studying in Vienna. When we told her how quick and cheap it was to travel there from Brno, she was determined to get there as soon as possible. Therefore, with Irma leading the way, the following weekend we were on the bus. One of our main problems preventing us from going to Vienna sooner was the expense of staying there. However amazingly this problem never materialised because thankfully we ended up staying with one of Stefan’s friends. What a stroke of luck that was. Tim, Stef’s mate, is working as a choral singer in Vienna. He has a small group who sing Renaissance music. Kirstie and I had quite a few questions about such a career; he was very obliging in answering them. Tim was also a very generous host, and we ending up staying for two nights, saving us a lot of money. Furthermore, he lent us a guide to Vienna, and gave us lots of useful advice.
Vienna is a great city. It has all the beauty and grandeur of Prague, but with an edge. It seems the art scene is more open and interesting, with galleries and exhibition on every corner. The city also doesn’t feel crammed with tourists, I think due to the fact that it is quite a spacious city. None of the Prague style narrow lanes. Kirstie and I spent most of the time going from gallery to gallery. Stopping in cafes every now and again, eating lots of schnitzel and spending far too much money. Best not to think about it. We met up with our friend Irma a few times, and she took us to some of the places she knows. All in all we had quite the insiders visit to Vienna. We got recommendations and advice that made our stay so much more interesting. I have a special thanks to my friend Daniel, who lives in Vienna; he sent me an e-mail with loads of places to go!
There was only a week or so left in Brno after Vienna before I was due to fly home for Easter. Not too much happened in this time. Our friends Lena and Filip held an exhibition at our faculty and I visited a cave complex north of Brno called the Moravian Karst. The caves were impressive, but having seen a fair few caves in my time, they don’t really excite me any more.
Easter- ate far too much, spent far too much money, had an amazing time!
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