Best Of Vienna: Elisabeth (Sisi) Memorial
This Sisi Memorial is probably one of my favourite places in Vienna. It’s the first thing I went to see when I first came to Vienna. Now I come there to read. It can be found in the Volksgarten, which is quite busy, but the Sisi Memorial is quite often deserted. Though the seats are not the softest it’s a quiet place to read in the sun, and you’re only disturbed by tourists occasionally.

Best Of Vienna: Deckenbacher & Blümner (Mariahilferstraße)
This store is my favourite store to go windowshopping. I generally don’t go in, unless I’m with someone else, but just the windowshopping for this store is quite perfect.

On the one hand they sell these awesome, strange kitchen-appliances. They even have a banana-box, so that you can take a banana to work without it being squashed. They sell ice cubes shaped like the Easter Island statues. A serious amount of knives. And.. swords.

They sell all sorts of swords. Swords used in movies, swords based on historical swords. Katakana swords. And they are *all* awesome.  I remember that the one time I did walk in, with my mom, they were selling the Dagger of Time from Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time. I really wanted it, but my mom dragged me out of the store. I probably should’ve bought it anyway, but instead I settled for going back to the store often and admire the swords they have on display.

Best Of Vienna: Parliament
Built in a Greek style to honour the origins of democracy, the parliament is a stunning building that you simply *must* see. I will admit to never having been inside, but I walk past the building quite often and never fail to admire the beautiful statue of Pallas Athena.

Best Of Vienna: Runch (Mariahilferstraße)
Runch is a comic store, where you can find me quite often. There are two other Runches in Vienna that I’m aware of, at Schwedenplatz and SCS, but this has the biggest comic collection so that’s why it’s my favourite. Also I live practically right next to it. I digress.

I’m sorry the photos are so blurry, but I kind of got intimidated photographing in the store. Still, you should be able to see that this store has so many comics, figures and all the other things that you can think of, that you can’t help but fall in love with it. All the people who work here are also ace, and really care for the stuff they’re selling. It’s awesome. You will quite often walk in on them having comic discussions with customers, about e.g. the DC reboot, which proves a popular theme for discussions. 

Long story short: I love this store, and it’s had more money from me than I care to admit. For those interested: Runch also participates in Free Comic Book Day, so should you be in Vienna around that time.. you can always go to Runch.

Best Of Vienna: Inspirational Posters in my flat
My flat is only inhabited by Erasmus students. Maybe the idea was that, so far from home, we all need a little extra support. Or maybe they just wanted to share some wisdom, so that not all of us would spend the 5-10 months (or longer) we are in Vienna on just drinking. These posters are some of my favourites, and I sincerely apologize for the shitty quality of the pictures, but the light is hell to work with.

The quotes:

• “Melancholie ist das Vergnügen traurig zu sein.” - Victor Hugo
  (Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad.)
• “Es wäre schön Bücher zu kaufen, wenn man die Zeit sie zu lesen mitkaufen könnte.”
  (It would be nice to buy books, if one could only buy the time in which to read them along with it.)
•  ”Bleib kindlich! So bist Du unüberwindlich.” - Goethe
  (Stay child-like. This makes you invincible.)
• “Wer fragt, ist ein Narr für fünf Minuten. Wer nicht fragt, bleibt ein Narr für immer.” 
  (He who asks will be a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask will be a fool forever.)
• “Frei wie ein Schmetterling.”
  (Free as a butterfly.)
• “Ich weiss, das ich nichts weiss.”
  (All I know is I know nothing.) 

Best Of Vienna: Sisi Taler & Mozart Kugeln
Only some of the best candy ever. I must admit I personally prefer the Mozart Kugeln to the Sisi Taler, but they are both quite delicious. I know they sell some of this candy outside of Austria as well, but sssh. I just closely associate it with Vienna because you see Sisi and Mozart everywhere around here, as they are the main tourist attraction.

And, as a point of interest to some of you.. in that one interview where Tom Hiddleston was eating chocolate and therefore couldn’t properly start with his interview and apologized? Well, he was eating Mozart Kugeln. Lucky bastard.

Best Of Vienna: Hofburg
Vienna is home to two castles in particular that are well known, Schönbrunn and the Hofburg. The Hofburg is my personal favourite, I just find it more beautiful. Plus it also has the Sisi museum, which has to be one of my favourite museums of all times. The imperial chambers are also beautiful. I don’t care much for all the silver, but it’s still astonishing to see. Those Habsburgs definitely had money and I can’t help but kind of admire them. The best thing though, like I said, is the Sisi museum, which has many Sisi-related artefacts and replicas of some of her more well-known jewelry and dresses. Very beautiful. The quotes out of her poetry that decorate the walls only add to the personal touch of the museum, which is exactly why it’s one of my favourite museums.

Best Of Vienna: Schmetterlinghaus
When you’re a fan of butterflies, like me, the Schmetterlinghaus (butterfly house) is a place you want to visit. It’s quite beautiful inside, not enormously big, but they have quite many lovely butterflies. Trying to capture them on camera is one of the nicest things to do, if you ask me. (x)

Best Of Vienna: Thalia (Wien Mitte)
Though there are various Thalias to be found in Vienna, the one in Wien Mitte (U-Bahn stop “Landstraße”) is my favourite because it’s enormous. Its international selection is quite good, though of course all the German books is what makes it remarkable. I took some shots of my favourite departments in the story, a.o. the Mittelalter (Medieval) books, the interational department and the section dedicated to Tolkien. But they have books on pretty much everything, and much more besides. The store is located in a small mall and practically is the small mall all by itself. It’s just that big.

Best Of Vienna: Easter Celebrations
Easter is celebrated quite intently over here. Besides the not-entirely-uncommon-but-still-adorable-and-uplifting decorations, they also have Easter Markets, where people sell a variety of things.. mostly food and drinks, but also crafts and other stuff.

The locations for these pictures: Universität Wien - SCS Shopping Mall - Westbahnhof - Schloss Schönbrunn. 

Best Of Vienna: Hofmobilien
Though there’s nothing much to see in the Hofmobilien besides furniture once used by the Habsburgs (that is now just waiting in storage), I still had a lot of fun there. They have quite a few sculptures, paintings and pictures (including a huge replica of the Winterhalter portrait) that you’re all allowed to take pictures of. Refreshing policy in a museum, one that I definitely took advantage of. It also has some furniture from Mayerling (like a door), which is interesting, as Mayerling itself has been completely refurnished and is now a monastry. It’s one of the few places you can see some of Rudolf’s furniture (which, for some reason, included a naked portrait of Mary Vetsera?), which gives that extra bit of depth to a museum that would otherwise just be a place of furniture, furniture and even more furniture.

Best Of Vienna: Theatermuseum
The Theatermuseum is a rather small museum, but I loved it all the same, and I think anyone with an interest in theatre will. When I went, it was mostly focused on operettas, and it explained the history of the operetta with newspaper articles, costumes of that time, posters, etc. The exhibitions change however, but I thought this was a good one. It’s small, but thoughtful, and shows a lot of love for its topic.