D31: Opera in Vienna
Back west to Vienna where I only plan to spend a day. Food was a priority after dropping off my bags and after looking up “best brunch spots”, I found myself at Caffe Central, which is infamous for having regular customers like Sigmund Freud, and ordered myself coffee and brunch. I struck up a conversation with my neighbors and we ended up talking for a solid hour and a half. They are from Melbourne and spent the last five years living and working in London, and now are making their way back slowly to Australia via a 3-4 month trip through Europe. They had been already to Prague and Berlin (where I am going next) and the fella offered to send me his list of recommendations he received from a friend who’d lived in both places - hell yeah!
After coffee, I walked the city before stopping to sit and journal at this rose garden and enjoy the afternoon. The day turned to be a nice one with the sun shining and the temperatures comfy, and the weather brought tons of people outside where from my seat I could see people writing, running, playing a musical instrument, and hanging out, which seeing all of this on a Monday afternoon brings me joy.
The couple I met at the cafe gave me an insight tip to get cheap opera tickets by getting there early and purchasing “Standing Room” tickets which are heavily discounted (10 euros a ticket) and go on sale four hours before the show goes live. Apparently, these sell out often so I was advised to get into line early. I am standing in line when a guy walks up and says he has a single box seat ticket available for sale, and I decided why not? The benefits were clear - it was only 10 euros more to be able to leave the line early and enjoy the opera from an actual box seat.
The opera house is world class. The inside is golden with most people attending dressing to the 9s in tuxedos and beautiful flowing dresses. I, however, was wearing jeans and a North Face beanie looking (and feeling) extremely comfortable. I certainly won the award for most under dressed, but I couldn’t care less because it’s about the performance and not how I dress. The opera was performed in French and featured a real-life story of a famous actress who was involved in an affair and ultimately died by being poisoned by an offended lover. It was beautiful and lovely, and there were several intermissions during where we all left our seats and went to the bar to enjoy a beverage.
Seeing an opera is something I’d always wanted to do but never made it a priority, and I was thankful for the couple I met earlier in the day who suggested it to me because otherwise I wouldn’t have gone. I really enjoyed my day in Vienna.
