Things you can do for free in Vienna

Vienna is a great city to explore, but you don't necessarily have to spend money to do this. There are so many sights and things to see which will give you a great look at Vienna without paying for something. So here is my list of things you can do for free in Vienna! 

St. Stephans Cathredral

One of the most impressive cathedrals in Vienna is St. Stephens Cathedral. It may be one of my favorite cathedrals until now, and especially at night it's lit up so beautifully! It's breathtaking. The best part of this all, you can visit this beauty for free! Ofcourse, when you pay a little you're able to get access to parts of the church which you won't have otherwise. But still, you can get a pretty good look at the interior of this beautiful cathedral without spending a dime!

Gardens of Schloss Schönbrunn

If you're interested in going to Vienna, you may have heard or read about Schloss Schönbrunn, a beautiful palace for emperor Leopold I and later Maria Theresa. This palace is a beauty from both the in- and outside which you can see buy buying a ticket. However, you don't have to buy a ticket for the gardens around the palace!

'Unfortunately' it snowed when we were there, so the gardens were covered in a thick layer of snow, but if you can believe the advertisements, these gardens are supposed to be gorgeous! 

  

Gardens of Belvedere

The same story goes for the gardens at Belvedere palace.. all covered in a thick layer of snow. Nevertheless, I had a great time there! For free! Of course you need to pay to see the palace and it's art, but the gardens have free access. 

Hundertwasserhaus

If you're into modern art, but not willing to spend a lot of money, you might consider visiting the Hundertwasserhaus. This apartment building was designed by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and has such a quirky exterior. I've never seen something like it before. All the colors and organic form were new for me, well.. for an apartment building that is. 

Shoppingstreet
And ofcourse, you can go windowshopping in the shoppingstreet; Kärntnerstrasse. It's always nice to see how shops differ from you own country and there's always a little street entertainment.

If you've ever been to Vienna, what did you do for free? Let me know in the comments!

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5 reasons to love Vienna

Pots of tea
As a person with a serious tea addiction, I'm so happy with the Viennese (Austrian) way of serving tea; pots of tea! Instead of just getting one cup of tea which I'm used to in the Netherlands, I got pots of tea in Vienna, out of which I could get three cups of tea! Great move Vienna! You've just won my heart!

Sacher-torte

If you've read my last posts about Vienna, you might know that I kind of fell in love with Sacher-torte. I ate it every single day during my stay! (Sorry, not sorry!) The chocolate and apricot jam cake is working its gravitational pull on me big time *sigh*. I'm such a sucker for chocolate. Franz Sacher, I love you for inventing this cake!

Friendly people

It might sound a little corny, but the people in Vienna are really friendly! We got waved off from the airport in the Netherlands by a woman who clearly didn't like travelling people, but we were welcomed by the lovely people in Vienna with a bright smile. Everywhere we went there were people willing to help us and in the restaurants the staff helped us with our german. 

Impressive buildings

I love the way how Vienna looks so very majestic. All the buildings are so great and impressive, as if they're little palaces on their own. Even the regular apartmentbuildings are decorated with beautiful baroque ornaments. I wish I could live in a building like that. 

It's history

Vienna has such a rich history! When you walk through the city, you can see it all around you. I could practically hear the music of Strauss and Mozart troughout the city and the beautiful palaces of Schönbrunn and Belvedere brought me back in time within seconds!

Have you every been to Vienna? What are your reasons to love Vienna? Let me know in the comments!

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Things you can do for free in Bratislava

A few days ago, you could read about my thoughts on Bratislava. We visited Bratislava on a monday, the day that all the musea are closed, but still we managed to have fun there. Without spending any money! (Well.. except for getting something to eat ofcourse). So what did we do in the hours we spend there? 

The historical city center
Bratislava has a beautiful old city center! Definitely worth checking this out when you're there. It has many old buildings, and when we got there, there was a little snow, so that it all the more like a fairytale-ish city center. I especially liked the city center when it got a little dark. It looked so cosy and cute!

The view from castle 'Hrad'
WOW! Just.. wow! Wat a stunning view we had from the hill on which castle 'Hrad' is located. We could see the entire city of Bratislava!

Visit multiple churches
Bratislava has many little churches you can check out while you're walking through the city. I especially liked the church of St. Elizabeth a.k.a 'Blue Church'.

The view from the UFO bridge
There is an enormous bridge crossing the Danube river, which will give you an amazing view over the river! Also, above the bridge is the UFO tower. This tower will give you access to an even more stunning view from a height of 95 metres! But you'll have to pay €6,-. So even you don't want to spend a lot of money, the bridge is fine, too!

Have you ever been to Bratislava? If so, what did you do there? 

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Perfect travel songs!

I'm a sucker for music! And sometimes when I hear a song, it immediately feels like a 'travel song'. Do you know what I mean? There are these songs which make me feel like "Yes! This is perfect for when I'm in the car!" At those moment I can see myself driving on endless roads through beautiful landscapes. 

So here are two lists of songs, one for when I'm on the plane and one for when I'm on the road. I noticed that for both situations I have a very different taste in music. I tend to like electronic music such as chillstep way more for the moment I'm up in the air, maybe because it's a little.. 'dreamy' or something? I don't know. Haha! And when I'm in the car, I tend to listen to bands and guitars. 

Here you go! My two lists. Enjoy! 

On the plane 

* Booka Shade - Crossing Borders ft Fritz Kalkbrenner

* Great Skies - Infinite

* Module Module - An Interlude

* Module Module - Unconditional Election

* Pendulum - Streamline

* Owsey - I'll remain under our antique sky

* Rameses B - North

* Lily Allen - Air Balloon (Digital Farm Animals Remix) 

* Papercutz - Rives (Synkro Remix)

* Above and Beyond - Tri-State (5vel Remix)

In the car

* Gotye - Eyes wide open

* The Black Keys - Gold on the ceiling

* Cheap Trick - In the street

* Wir Sind Helden - Wenn es passiert

* Oasis - Wonderwall 

* Supertramp - Goodbye Stranger

* Green Day - Holiday

* Sense Field - You own me

* Wolfmother - Joker and the Thief

* The Raconteurs - Steady as she goes 

* Weezer - Island in the sun

Do you have any songs you listen to when you're on the go? Let me know! I'd love to check them out! 

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How I think about Bratislava

During our stay in Vienna, we stumbled upon a day called 'monday', the day on which every museum is closed! I don't really understand why this is still a thing nowadays. Anyways, we started thinking about what we could do on this 'museumless monday', and my boyfriend came up with the perfect idea; check out Bratislava!

We already saw a little brochure in the touristcenters which said that it's just one hour by train to Bratislava from Vienna's main station and that it only costs €16,- per person for a return ticket! It was so easy to get these tickets, so that's what we did! We went to Bratislava on monday!

I never really considered going to Bratislava until that moment, so I didn't have a clue of what to expect. So, in retrospect, what are my thoughts about Bratislava?

First of all, I thought it was a cute city, quite small in my opinion, but with many picturesque streets and alleys. I loved walking through them. 

Also, there are so many beautiful churches. I especially loved the 'Blue Church'. It looked like a big gingerbread house covered in icing.

However, in contrast to it's cute and picturesque aspects, there's also a lot of decay to be seen. I've never seen so many overgrown, empty buildings which looked like they were abandoned years ago. It's so sad to see! 

We spend a few hours in Bratislava and I almost immediately noticed the vast amount of ATM machines there. In just a couple of square metres, I could count 4 to 5 machines, in the Netherlands you actually have to look for these things. So I thought this was weird, but it got clear to me quite soon after that. We stopped at three places to eat something (yes, we ate a lot the last couple of days, and luckily it's very cheap eating in Bratislava), and in none of these places we were able to pay by card... Also in the UFO tower for the panorama platform we couldn't pay by card. So, I guess paying with plastic just isn't a thing (yet) in Bratislava, and you need to have cash on you any time!

So, these were my thoughts on Bratislava! I really liked the city, but it was also very small and very quickly I had the idea that I'd seen it all. Ofcourse, because it was monday (grrr) museums were closed and I didn't get a chance to visit those. Maybe I should go back again someday to do that, but I I don't think I'd spend a few days here. 

Have you every been to Bratislava? If so, what are your thoughts in this city? If not, whould like to visit it sometime?

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What I did in Vienna (A little photo diary)

At the end of November, I posted a blog about me wanting to go to Vienna. That very same day, my boyfriend and I booked a flight and a hotel! Then a couple of days ago I listed 10 things I wanted to do, and now I'm back home I can look back on what I actually did. 

The first thing on my list was to eat at Café Sacher for the original Sacher Torte. And I did! Whoo! Well, to tell you the truth, I ate Sacher torte every single day in Vienna.. Oops! Now I have to burn all those calories off, but it was definitely worth it! Hihi!

Next on my list was to visit Schloss Schönbrunn. What a gorgeous building that was!

Next I wanted to see the quirky apartmentbuilding 'Hundertwasserhaus', designed by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser himself!

A little bit similar to Schloss Schönbrunn, I also wanted to see the Belvedere Palace. In this palace you can observe many many paintings, including the famous painting 'The Kiss' made by Klimt.

Apart from the enormous buildings of Schloss Schönbrunn and the Belvedere, I couldn't wait to see the impressive building of the St. Stephens Cathedral.

And lastly, I wanted to be amazed by the National Library! And boy was I amazed! What a beautiful library! I especially like the ceiling. 

Unfortunately I couldn't do everything on my list. I didn't get to see the Wien Museum, or the State Opera (it was closed because there was an opera scheduled for the days we were there). And I didn't even shop! Not even a tiny little bit! I think we'll do these things the next time we go to Vienna in the future, because I think we'll return someday! I loved the city, it's beauty and it's cultures and there's a lot to see still.

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Today I'll be in Vienna!

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The moment is finally here! I'm going to see Vienna in all its glory for the coming 5 days! ...and eat a lot of sachertorte!

Sadly, it also means that I won't be posting any blogs during my stay. I decided to take a little break from my computer (me being fed up with school is a major contributing factor in this decision..Haha!). 

But don't be sad, I'll be uploading pictures frequently on my instragram account, so if you like, go and check it out! 

I will post new blogs as soon as possible after I come back!

See you soon!! Bye xo

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What I got to see of the world so far

So, a little while back, I downloaded the app 'Been' on my smartphone. It's an app where you can check how much you have seen of the world! So I selected every country I visited in my life.. and to tell you the truth it's a little disappointing. In my memory, it feels like I have seen way more than the 6% the 'Been' app tells me I've seen of the world. But when I think about it, it's just because I've visited a few countries multiple times (4x Austria, 2x Japan and I've visited Germany many many times since my parents lived close to the border). 

So what did I see of the world? 

Well... until now, nothing of Africa, Australia and North- and South-America unfortunately. But I'm going to NYC this summer so that will change! :)

According to the app, I've seen 22% of Europe:

- Austria

- Belgium

- Czech Republic

- England

- Finland

- Germany

- Ireland

- Italy

- Luxembourg

- Norway

- Switzerland

- The Netherlands (ofcourse!!)

- The Vatican

And I've seen 6% of Asia

- Japan

- Laos

- Thailand

In the future I hope I'll get the opportunity to see Australia, New Zealand, China and Canada. I think they are beautiful countries with amazing nature! For this year, I already made a little bucket list of what I want to see. 

You can download the app from the appstore and check it out for yourself. 

How much of the world have you seen until now? I'd love to read about it in the comments below!

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Hotspot | Pakhuis // Leiden

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Close to the Humanities Faculty of Leiden University you'll find restaurant Pakhuis. This restaurant has a industrial vintage look, but still feels super cosy and warm. And in the summer you can eat in the garden at the back of the restaurant.

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It offers a wide range of international dishes for prices that even students can afford! Hallelujah! I had a carpaccio as a starter, steak as the main course and a very delicious Tiramisu in the end... for just €25,-!!

I forgot to take any pictures (oops!), but believe me, it was yummy in my tummy!! 

If you don't want to spend a lot of money but still want to enjoy great food, this is definitely a place to check out!

Adress: Doelensteeg 8, Leiden

Website: http://www.pakhuisleiden.nl/

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10 Things I want to do in Vienna

In a few days time, I'm finally going to Vienna! I've heard so many incredible stories about Vienna, so finally I can see for myself. Here's a list of a few things I want to see and do in Vienna.

1. Eat at Café Sacher for the original Sacher-torte!


2. Visit Schloss Schönbrunn. 


3. Experience Vienna's past at 'Time Travel Vienna'.


4. Observe The Hundertwasserhaus.


5. Visit the Wien Museum.


6. Get my breath taken by the Belvedere Palace.


7. Do a guided tour at the Vienna State Opera. 


8. Be amazed by St. Stephens Cathedral.


9. Improve my knowledge at the Austrian National Library.


10. And ofcourse! As a girl, I want to go shopping for a bit at Donau Zentrum. 

I can't wait to share my experiences with you! I promise I'll take a ton of pictures and show them as soon as possible!

For now, you can check out this video about Vienna and its beauty!

Have you ever been to Vienna? If so, what did you like best?  I'd like to read about in the comments below!  Follow me on Bloglovin'

Hotspot | Petterson // Leiden

Remember the gorgeous view on the boats on the Galgewater from my photo impression of Leiden? Well, you can have just that when you decide to take a bite at Petterson. A uniquely shaped, floating restaurant.

This restaurant is super light because every wall is made of glass. A great place to view the boats and the great variety of people walking by.

I went there to get some breakfast to get a good start of the day. I had a lot of studying ahead of me. It was delicious guys! And super healthy! 3 crackers with strawberry jam, salmon and cheese, an egg and some vegetables. Yummy! This breakfast includes a cup of coffee or tea, and I chose a nice fresh mint tea. This all costed me only €11,50. 

The service was also great! We were greeted as soon as we came through the door and we could give our orders very quickly. 

Go and check it out guys! They are opened everyday from 9 am until 9 pm.

Adress: Prinsessekade 5L, Leiden
Website: http://www.petterssonleiden.nl/

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Hotspot | 149 Bites & Drinks // Leiden

When you're in Leiden, you should definitely check out 149 Bites & Drinks! This restaurant has an industrial look, it's like you're eating in a former factory. But a cosy factory I can say! It was a new experience for me.

They have some great food you can enjoy during lunch or dinner and the staff is super friendly. You can find them at the Breestraat 149, hence the name '149 Bites & Drinks (I didn't check whether they actually have 149 dishes and beverages, you can count for yourself if you want..Haha!)

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You can enjoy food from all over the world, French, Thai, Japanese, Italian etc, so I can guarantee you that there is something for everyone. When I visited 149 Bites & Drinks I had Japanese gyoza and quail and as desert I had different types of cheeses. It was delicious! 

And they have some great cocktails! Trust me! 

Adress: Breestraat 149, Leiden

Check them out: http://149bitesanddrinks.nl/