And just like that, 9 months in Austria have come to an end! Thanks to a lost PCR result the day before my flight, it was looking more and more like 10 months but (thankfully?) I've made it to France - see next post!
As a result of the ever-undulating lockdown levels, I see my time in Vienna as split into three parts: a restriction-heavy winter, bookended by an intensely free autumn and summer. Intense in the sense that I probably met more people, saw more new places and ate more Strudel in those few months than I would have done in a full Covid-free year.
So, here's a quick roundup of the blissful, lockdown-lifted end to my time in Austria.
On the recommendation of colleagues at work, I set off with friends for a hike from Krems an der Donau to Dürnstein - a small Danubian town in the Wachau Valley and former prison to Richard the Lionheart. I couldn't be a Brit in Austria and miss this!
Back to Vienna and back to business - how many Strudels can you eat in a week? I went for one a day but can and will do better next time!
Thoroughly fuelled, my friends and I did pretty much every activity on offer in the city - stand up paddle boarding one day, deadly rollercoasters at Prater the next (never again!!)
(Prater photos by Greta)
And then it was time to leave :( Sad but also not so sad as I know I'll be returning in the not-so-distant future. It feels more like I'm just going away for the summer and will be back for round two in the autumn. At least it would've felt like that if I hadn't had to lug my whole life across Austria and then France on my back - shoutout to the various people who took pity and offered to heave a bag on or off the train for me!
