There is no world without Vienna Walls

Hey guys,

Sorry I didn't give you a post yesterday the day literally held no excitement what so ever so didn't want to bore you with a post. Unless you needed a bedtime story to send you to sleep (cause it would of been that dull) in which case I'm sorry I didn't deliver.

Today however, I went out to explore the wonderful city of Vienna! The quote for today's title is courtesy of William Shakespeare and for you hard core fans that might have realised that it's supposed to say "Verona Walls," I'm sorry but Vienna is such a beautiful city that I had to change the name. Again Vienna wasn't a city I had planned to visit on these travels, it wasn't even on my radar. So, this morning when i woke up I was literally dumbfounded on what to do for the entire day because I hadn't researched anything about this place. I got talking to a couple of girls that are staying in my dorm, Claire from California and Lauren from Australian, and Lauren informs me that the GREAT GUSTAV KLIMT is showcased here in Vienna. Words couldn't describe how happy I was! The Kiss is my second favourite painting of all time (Starry Night will forever reign) and I couldn't believe I was going to get the chance to see it in the flesh!

When I rocked up to the Belvedere Palace, which is now a museum/gallery, which houses this masterpiece it was 15 euros just to see Gustav's collection

and a few minor pieces. To see the entire pieces on display it would have cost 27 euros, and thanks to the incident in Amsterdam I had to be careful with money, so i had to limit myself to just the specialist collection in the upper gallery.

I'm not going to lie to you, the upper gallery didn't hold many paintings, nor were they the greatest pieces of art I've ever seen, it was a bit mundane and

very similar to the stuff that I'd already seen in the Musee du Louvre. I pretty much whizzed around the whole place in under 10 minutes, I was starting to feel a bit cheated out of the 15 euros. That was until I gazed upon The Kiss. Oh boy was the money worth it now. I was spellbound. I can't tell you how long I was staring at it for but it was the most mesmerising painting I've ever seen with my own two eyes. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take a picture of the original that is hung in a hall. You're only allowed to capture a photo of a replica in a little side room. At first I was a little annoyed but then it dawned on me that this is a painting that you should go and see face-to-face in real life! I've seen pictures of it in art books, on the internet and replicas in little shops but honestly none of them do it justice. You need to come to Austria and see it guys!!!

After that I got a little bit lost because the wifi in the museum was down and I was counting on that to get directions to my next point of call. No joke, God Bless every McDonalds (or Maccers as Lauren calls it, me and Claire both agree it's Maccie Ds)! They're the only places where you can get free wifi without having to buy something or ask for a password you can literally just hover outside the shop, you know, pretend you're waiting for someone while you load up google maps. And praise the lord they're everywhere! So you're never too lost for long. What's even better, handy tip for you travellers, is that once you start directions, if you then put your phone on airplane mode, it will continue to track your gps so you don't have to buy mobile data or continuously look at the map to find out if you're going the right way. Winning!

Once I was back on track, I started heading towards the St.Stephen's Cathedral in central Vienna. Europe sure does love it's big churches and cathedrals, they're always the top things to see when you're googling a city. And I think I'm going to have to look up this Saint Stephen because the majority of the ones I've seen have been named after him. But yet again, I was disappointed. I really shouldn't have gone to see the Notre Dame in Paris so soon (I'm returning there in a couple of weeks to for a few days) because none of the other places of worship have quite lived up to it. Inside the Austrian Cathedral it's quite a bit smaller than what you'd expect from the outside. The exterior is monumental. They are two towers that branch off from the main building and you can see them from a mile away which is probably why I was also expecting great things but it just didn't live up to my expectations. However saying that I wouldn't say it's not worth the visit. First of all it's free so what have you got to lose and really my opinion doesn't stand for much. I might be completely wrong and you might think that it's the place ever and throws the Notre Dame under the table (but it doesn't just saying).

This little adventure took up a fair few hours of my day, so I'm at my hostel now ready for a little nap if I'm completely honest but nope can't be doing that when I should be out exploring! So Claire from California has suggested that we go out to eat and maybe have a few drinks so I'll let y'all know tomorrow how it goes!

See you soon!!