Days 14 and 15: Two Rest Days in Vienna

I stayed in Vienna for three nights at the Vienna City Center Hostel and spent two days exploring the city.

The first day, I rode my bicycle to see all the sights in the city center. Having a bicycle and cycling around in Vienna was great because there were many bike lanes and so many places to see.

I went to Kugelmugel, also known as the Republic of Kugelmugel. It’s a spherical house in Prater Park that’s also a micro-nation. It’s the first micro-nation that I’ve seen.

I also went inside the Esperanto Museum and the Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library. These two museums were mentioned in the book Atlas Obscura and they were quite interesting.

For many places, I simply didn’t have time to go in. I took some photographs from the outside of many buildings. It would take me a long time to see everything that I wanted.

On the second day, I decided to walk 45 minutes all the way to Belvedere Palace. It’s a palace and an art museum that has the famous Klimt painting called The Kiss. Upon seeing the painting in person, I realized that the woman in the painting seemed like she didn’t want to be kissed since she has her arm blocking the man and their lips are not locked. The painting’s original title was called The Lovers before the owner of the painting changed it. Anyway, I stand by my interpretation of the painting.

On my way back to the hostel, I also went inside the biggest church in the city, St. Stephen’s Cathedral. By now, I’ve seen enough churches that I’m not likely to be impressed anymore.

At the hostel, I met a young guy from India named Yash, a Turkish guy named Yagiz, and an older Australian named Peter. The four of us went to dinner at Taeko Ramen.

I realized that all of my meals in Vienna, except for coffee and pastry in the mornings, have been eaten at Asian restaurants. The Asian food in the city has been really good.

We spent about two and half hours eating and chatting. I ended up having a heated conversation with Peter because Peter is a Trumper and believes that Christianity made the Western world and the United States. He called me a socialist, which I had no problem with. I couldn’t believe for someone who has traveled to over 50 countries, Peter seemed to be conservative in his thinking. I tend to get worked up when talking to a Trumper and this time was no exception. I didn’t want to end my Vienna experience on a bad note so I let the conversation simmer at the end.

Today, I will ride at least 40 miles to a host I found on Couchers.org. It’s a website similar to Couchsurfing.com but it’s free to use. My host’s name is Katy and she lives in Bad Erlach. It’ll be about 33C, or 91F, in temperature today. I hope I can reach Katy’s house in the early afternoon to avoid the hottest part of the day.

Republic of Kugelmugel