Reuniting in Vienna

I was sad to leave Kotor, but I had something pretty great awaiting me in Vienna: a reunion with Paige, my dear friend who I traveled Southeast Asia with! She lives and studies in England, so she has been able to meet up regularly with some of our close friends from our travels. I was thrilled to finally be able to hop on the reunion train.

Vienna is pretty sleepy, in my opinion. Paige and I were saying that it’s one of those places where you come for the weekend simply to enjoy life: go out to dinner, catch a concert or show at the ballet, and leisurely stroll around taking pictures of every other building because the architecture is just that beautiful.

While indulging in the artsy extracurricular activities that Vienna is known for wasn’t in my budget or wardrobe possibilities, Paige and I had a lovely time walking around, catching up, and eating. It had been almost a year since we last saw each other, but it felt like no time had passed. One of our absolute favorite things to do together is eat, and we visited vegan restaurant Swing Kitchen (Vienna is very vegan friendly, by the way!) several times. Among my favorites were the chicken nuggets and ice cream.

Paige is currently in school for her master’s degree in clinical psychology, and one of my bachelor degrees is in psychology, so we were probably a little too excited to visit the Sigmund Freud Museum. It did not disappoint!!! After studying his works and theories for the better part of 4 years, actually standing in the place where Freud had his private practice and produced most of his writings gave me chills. The museum definitely deserves a visit if you’re in Vienna and have any interest in Freud or psychology–it’s open every day 10:00-18:00, and costs 7.5 euros for a student (18-27 y.o.) ticket and 10 euros for an adult ticket.

The rest of our time together was spent reminiscing about the good old days in Asia, planning future travel plans, and laughing for an hour straight about The Walking Shoes. I think I’ve mentioned the shoes on the blog before, but The Walking Shoes were Paige’s hideous footwear that she bought in Ho Chi Minh City and preceded to exude sexiness with all through the rest of our travels. Paige is so special to me, and getting to see her was a highlight of this trip. I wish we lived closer so we could reunite more often, but there is something to be said about the excitement of not knowing what country we’ll meet in next. Travel friends are truly the best.