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The sun shines bright, the sky is blue, and today I’m in the mood for walking in music, which I kept for the first two hours. I spent the entire morning exploring the pearly white Wien [Vienna], passing by a number of its monumentous monuments: the Belvedere Palace, the National Opera, the Hofburg Palace… And many others. Wien is reminiscent of Praha [Prague], but is still quite different. Here, not all buildings have arts on them, but the streets are wider, and the city is overall more spacious, and it is dotted with crazy big monuments and palaces and cathedrals. The old centre, which is yet another  UNESCO Heritage site, is a feast for the eyes.

I walked close to 10 km again this morning, so, after lunch, I decided to take it a bit cooler, and bought myself a eight euros 24 h ticket. Given the price, I’d better make the best of it. Good news is, I have plans for it, so I jumped in the metro.

My attraction for today is something pretty damn cool: Wien is hosting one of the two tram-trains in Austria. If, like me a couple months ago, you have no idea what a tram-train is, let me explain: it’s basically the mechanical child whose dad loved high-speed galivanting but its mom preffered the urban life.

As its name suggest, it is simply a tram, going on about his life doing tram stuff like going through the streets of downtown Wien, but at some point on its route, it switches to proper railway, and joins the main rail network of the suburbs. From there, it goes much faster than it could in cities, and covers bigger distances. If you remember Marlon from Utrecht and Aarhus, he was the one explaining me the concept. The one I took was a rather old unit, with a high-floor carriage. The interior is somewhere between a tram and a regional train, with tables(!) on facing seats.

Fun fact, this tram-train, the Badner Bahn, goes all the way to the neighbouring city of Baden [Baden bei Wien], which is, guess what, also a UNESCO Heritage site. But I didn’t go there, so you see, I can resist a list! Also there were work on the railway today so I couldn’t go there without a bus anyway. There was nothing much to report where I stopped, so I got back onboard a recent unit. I know it’s nerdy, but I really enjoy this kind of travel activities too.

It’s so great to see spring literraly unfold every day, with new leafs and even flowers starting to appear. It also means the impending doom of pollen allergies coming back, so I stopped at a pharmacy to get some preventive cure. I really should have bought it in Poland or Czech Republic. Being back in the EuroZone for two days, I feel the price difference!

I took the metro again, to visit the vast vast gardens of Schönbrunn Palace (which turns out to be another Heritage site, believe it or not). The Palace exterior itslef is large but to be honest not as impressive as the others I saw this morning, but climbing the hill is well worth it, as you’re rewarded with a view over most of Wien. I laid down in the grass for an hour. My legs are not too happy today.

The first metro back was very crowded, but short enough.

The second one was on the opposite pretty much empty. A bit of walk, grocery, and I was back at the hostel for an early night.