My cousin Laura’s spring break from NYU matched up with travel week break, so she flew out to meet me and travel. She arrived around dinnertime so after meeting her at the airport and dropping her bags off at my apartment, we went to Delphines for dinner. It is a mediterranean restaurant that I had heard great things about and we were not disappointed. We shared pita bread, fried eggplant, pea spread with ricotta and mint, and the fennel salad.
Then we headed back to my apartment where we had a little sleepover with us and my roommate Gretchen who was leaving the next morning at 5am to go to Sweden and Finland with her class. Laura was exhausted from a long travel day so we headed to bed early. The next day we had one full day to spend in Copenhagen, so we hit all of the must-see spots. I did my best as her tour guide to hit the major tourist spots as well as some of my local favorites. Unfortunately it was a very rainy and cold day so we layered up and started by getting breakfast at Buka Bakery. We got coffee, yogurt parfaits and some amazing pastries. After breakfast, our first stop was Nyhavn, the most iconic picture spot in Copenhagen. Nyhavn was the main trade hub in the 17th century, but now its rainbow buildings are home to restaurants, bars, and cafes.
The rain actually benefited us in this moment because usually the canal is packed with tourists trying to get a good picture, but this day it was nearly empty and made for a great photo shoot.
Then we found a free art installation near the canals that was two large spheres where you could walk in and feel like you are inside of a kaleidoscope. It offered us some shelter from the rain and we took some cool pictures inside.
Then we continued to our next destination: the Circle Bridge. It is a cool pedestrian-only bridge featuring five connected circles. It is unique because it has benches throughout it, encouraging people to stay on the bridge and enjoy it rather than use it only as a way to cross. She had seen an Instagram Reel of it opening to allow boats to pass and wanted to check it out. We went on a long walk to the bridge and were able to walk across it, but we didn’t see it open. It moves like this to allow a tall boat to pass:
Laura brought an umbrella but it was super windy so it kept flipping inside out.
Then we headed into the city center where she saw the main shopping streets and bought a new rain jacket, visited my school buildings and sat in one of my classes, and got a hot chocolate from my favorite board game cafe. We stopped in HAY, an interior decor store.
We stopped at the Round Tower, a tall tower in the city center with great views of the city. It is unique because the whole way up is a spiral ramp because it was designed for horse to be able to climb it. There is a pop-up museum above the church attached to the tower so halfway up we stopped in and saw a flower-themed installation. Then we continued to the top where, despite the crazy wind, we enjoyed beautiful views of the city below.
Then it was time for lunch so we headed to the Glass Market, one of my favorite places in Copenhagen. It is a huge market separated into to large glass buildings where local vendors and restaurants have permanent stands set up to sell their food and products. Laura wanted to try some Danish food so I told her to get a smørrebrød (an open faced sandwich on rye bread) and flødboller (a chocolate- coated marshmallow dessert.)
After lunch we were ready to face the rain again and start on our next adventure. Although I started with a long list of places to see, I realized that because it was Monday, many places were closed. All museums in Copenhagen are closed on Mondays, as well as the botanical garden and the Copenhill urban ski slope. We decided to check out Superkilen, an urban park in the Norrebrø neighborhood. This area is known for its diverse community from immigration, so the park was designed bring together immigrants and locals. The park features play structures, sculptures, and interesting things from around the world. We walked around and spent some time playing on the swing sets.
We ended the night by going back to my apartment, doing some laundry, making dinner, and packing. My roommate Lennart is from Germany and gave us some food recommendations of what to look for in Vienna since there is a lot of culinary overlap.
We woke up at 5am and took the metro to the airport for our 7am flight to Vienna. It was only about an hour and a half flight and we arrived before 9am so luckily our Airbnb host allowed us to come early and drop our bags off while they were cleaning. We got brunch at an amazing spot right across the street called Sneak In.
Then we decided to spend the first day visiting all the Vienna “must-sees” which was mostly historic buildings, architecture, and art museums. Our first stop was Justizpalast, the beautiful 19th-century city courthouse. We had to go through security to get inside but it was amazing to look at and walk around for a bit. The architecture and small details throughout the space were so intricate and it was cool that it is still used today as a courthouse.
Then we walked through the city and noticed how beige all of the buildings were. Laura’s outfit matched the scenery perfectly. We noticed that the stop lights were adorable because they had little people walking together.
We saw the Austrian Parliament building and Hofburg Palace, but we opted out of going inside. It was interesting to see how much history was intertwined within the modern city.
We went to the main shopping area which had a lot of high end shopping and felt very touristy and busy. We did some quick shopping and we stopped in Zara where I bought a jacket and Laura bought a vest. We also passed by a store called Wagner, so of course I stopped for a picture.
The main attraction in Vienna is St Stephen’s Cathedral, a massive church right in the city center. It was cool to just stumble upon this massive and stunning church within the shopping streets. We didn’t go inside, but we took some time to admire the exterior.
After taking some pictures, we walked around and did some more shopping on our way to Hundertwasserhaus, a colorful apartment complex designed by a famous Viennese architect. It is a funky building and each resident is allowed to decorate their balcony to their liking so there is art and greenery covering it. Honestly, it let us down a bit because is seemed really overgrown and dirty, but it was cool to take a quick picture of. I thought it was interesting that all of the buildings surrounding it were so traditional and beige so it really stood out.
Then we found Karlskirche, a beautiful and famous church, and took a quick picture.
We had been recommended a local market called Naschmarkt, so we decided to check it out before heading back to the AirBnb. We were disappointed by the experience though because although it was quite large, it was almost empty of visitors so as we walked through all of the vendors were being aggressive and trying to sell us their products which we did not like. It also felt kind of gross overall so we did a quick lap and walked home to relax before dinner. We did stop once to get a Punschkrapfen, an Austrian dessert. It is a little pink cube cake of sponge cake soaked in rum with jam filling. We split one and both enjoyed it as a little snack.
For dinner that night we went to a restaurant by our AirBnb that served traditional Austrian food. They were known for their Käsespätzle, which is a dish of egg noodles and cheese. It is like an Austrian mac and cheese. When we showed up at 6pm when they were opening they appeared not to be open yet, but the owner appeared shortly after and let us in. We were the only people eating there for the majority of our meal which was nice because the chef and owner were giving us some insight on our meal and some recommendations despite the language barrier. I noticed on this trip that many people in Vienna knew very limited English. We split a salad and a Käsespätzle dish and really enjoyed them both.
We had initially planned on spending the majority of our time in Vienna and doing just a day trip to Budapest, but after our day we realized that our interests did not really match what Vienna had to offer. We felt that after one day we saw all of the must-see spots and did not have much of an interest in doing the art and history-related things that were left. So we made a last minute decision to do an overnight stay in Budapest and got a hotel room for the night. (luckily they were super cheap.) We woke up early the next morning and took an 8am train from Vienna to Budapest which took about 3 hours. It was a pretty nice train and Laura was able to take a nap on the way.
When we arrived in Budapest we stopped at our hotel first to drop off our bags behind the front desk so we didn’t have to drag them with us all day. We went to Espresso Embassy, a cafe Laura had found online and we sat down for a cup of coffee and a treat. I got a cake the barista recommended and Laura got a chocolate chip cookie. The building was really cool because the ceiling was covered in light bricks and it created a nice atmosphere.
Then we headed down the street to the parliament building, which completely blew me away. It was massive and had so many little details everywhere you looked and we spent a long time walking around it and seeing it from every perspective. It was also right along the river which was cool.
We happened to travel to Budapest on a Hungarian holiday, which they call Memorial Day of 1848. They celebrate the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, and it is a national holiday so they are off from work and school. We saw recognition of the holiday throughout the day, from big posters installed to tell the story, to flowers laid out throughout the city, and people wearing ribbons with their national colors. There was also a massive line wrapping around the entire parliament building because they offered free tours that day.
Next we stopped at the Shoes of the Danube Bank Memorial, one of the most famous Holocaust memorials. The memorial displays 60 pairs of cast iron shoes laid out along the river bank which symbolizes the Hungarian Jews who were shot into the river by the Arrow Cross Party during the final months of World War II. The memorial was created in 2005 to honor the men, women, and children who were lined up and told to remove their shoes before being killed. It was quite impactful to see all of the shoes lined up in such a realistic and sad way, and I was touched by the simplicity of the memorial. It was unlike anything I have seen before and I noticed that people had brought flowers to leave among the shoes like a grave.
After spending some time taking it all in, we let the memorial site and walked into the city center where there were lots of restaurants and shops. We spent some time souvenir shopping and stopping in some local stores. We also admired some fun street art we saw along the way.
Then we stopped at Karavan, a pedestrian passage filled with food trucks and stands offering everything from burgers to traditional Hungarian food. The vibes were great and I got a veggie burger from a vegan food truck and Laura got traditional goulash soup, a Hungarian soup of meat, vegetables, and spices. It was served in a massive bread bowl but she said it tasted just like a soup our great grandmother used to make, which she called gashtel soup. Our great grandmother was Austrian-Hungarian so we believe this was the soup she used to make. For dessert we split a chimney cake, which were sold everywhere throughout Budapest. They are hollowed spiral bread-like pastries that are easy to pull apart and are made on a rotisserie spinning over a fire to melt the sugar. We got a chocolate one which was delicious but very sweet so we were glad we split it!
Then we stopped at a Ruins Bar called Szimpla Kert, which was recommended to us by my roommate who visited a few months beforehand. It is a cool bar with a labyrinth of rooms full of random art, vintage pieces and plants. There are various bars spread out throughout it and we were planning on going there that night to check out the nightlife. So we decided to check it out during the day to scope it out. Everywhere you look there is something new to catch your attention, so we spent a while checking out each of the rooms.
We stopped back at the hotel and got ready for dinner. Budapest is actually split in half by the Danube River into Buda and Pest. Buda is known to be a calmer and more romantic scene with hills and views, while Pest is where the nightlife and action are. We had spent the whole day in Pest, so we headed over to Buda to see Buda Castle and get dinner. From the Buda side we had miraculous views of the Parliament building behind the Danube at sunset.
When we got to the castle the sun was just setting and lights came on to illuminate the castle. It was such a beautiful time to see it and we were amazed by the views from the top. We walked around the castle and enjoyed multiple viewpoints, stopped in a cute store and got some post cards, and then walked to a restaurant called Aranybastya for dinner. It was a really nice restaurant with great servers and even better food. We got a round of espresso martinis and I got a vegetable risotto and Laura got a chicken dish. We both LOVED our meals.
After dinner we changed at our hotel and headed out for the night. Laura only brought one jacket on our trip because we didn’t have much space in our suitcases and she didn’t want to bring a white fuzzy jacket to a bar. Her shirt was sleeveless and it was really cold out so we ran to the bar we checked out earlier. Once inside we explored what it looked like at night, got a drink, and took some more pictures.
Our drinks were served in reusable plastic cups that said Budapest so we got a nice souvenir from it. We got shots of Pálinka which is a popular fruit brandy in Hungary, but it was so disgusting that we couldn’t even finish them. We had fun and danced a bit, but the music wasn’t great for dancing because it was more like house music than club music since it was a weekday night. So we got a few drinks and then headed to a club Laura’s friend had recommended to us. It was so much fun and had so many rooms that were all playing different styles of music. Our favorite room had a huge disco ball shaped like a boar and played great music.
We danced for a long time and when we got tired we headed home and grabbed slices of pizza on the way.
The next morning we slept in a bit, and then headed to a thermal bath called Széchenyi. Budapest has a lot of thermal baths that locals and tourists visit, but we had struggled to find one that would work for us because they have varying days that are men-only or women-only, one was closed for renovations, and the national holiday affected their hours. We were hesitant to go to Széchenyi because we heard it can become very overcrowded and feel dirty. But we were lucky because we went on a weekday and early in the morning so we had very few people with us. We were able to enjoy the baths, get pictures without people in the background, and swim around. They were really warm, like a hot tub, and we enjoyed being outside since it was finally a sunny day.
It was time to check out from our hotel, in fact we were a little late, so we headed back, took a shower, packed up, and hit the road. We had planned on catching a train to Bratislava, spending the day there, and then going back to Vienna that night. So we had just enough time to go to a pretty cafe we had heard about. We got coffee and matcha, two types of soup, and they gave us Hungarian butter biscuits.
We enjoyed our food and then headed to the train station to catch our train to Bratislava, Slovakia. We got to the station and looked at the departures board but we didn’t see the train we were looking for. We were really confused and we were running out of time, and there was no information desk or anyone to help us. I looked back at our tickets and discovered that we were at the wrong train station and we wouldn’t have time to get there in time. Neither of us had thought there was a different station because this one was so big. Initially I was upset because I had really wanted to see Bratislava and there were no other trains that would get us there with enough time. We decided to enjoy the rest of the day in Budapest, head back to Vienna that night, and look into the possibility of going to Bratislava the next morning.
There was a big market we had heard about so we started by going there. Initially it seemed cool, since it was an old train station that was turned into a produce market and vendor hub. The whole ground floor was covered in 40 stalls which seemed like it would be great, but unfortunately it was only produce, meat, paprika, and a few pastry places. It was so repetitive and lacked variety so we were bored almost instantly. The upstairs section is where you can buy food which is supposed to be traditional and authentic Hungarian meals.
It was absolutely packed (even though it was a weekday) and we had our backpacks on since we had to check out of our hotel earlier. The lines were insanely long and it was very cramped so I bailed from the line I was in and decided to just grab a pastry from downstairs. Laura stayed on her line and got a plate with sausage and some sides, but they stuck it in the microwave before giving it to her which was really suspicious. My cherry pastry had a whole pit inside of it which was gross. We headed out of the market feeling exhausted and defeated and sat down by the bridge and watched the cute cable cars.
We decided to cross the bridge and tried to explore a little park area but it was really hilly and we had very heavy backpacks on. We came across Gellért Thermal Baths, which was one of the baths we had looked into and considered going to. We tried to get a massage there but sadly they were booked for the next hour and a half and it wasn’t worth it for us to wait. We decided to cut the day a little earlier than planned and caught the next train back to Vienna. We were so tired when we got back that we grabbed a couple pizzas on the way back to our AirBnb and stayed in for dinner. We looked into going to Bratislava in the morning and saw that it was only an hour train from Vienna. We researched and planned our day trip, and went to bed.
In the morning we woke up early and headed to the train station. Unfortunately there are a lot of train strikes in Europe right now which caused our train to be delayed 40 minutes. Once we finally made it to Bratislava, we got an Uber to a restaurant I found called Bite&Byte. The food looked amazing online, but what really drew me in as that they sometimes bring alpacas into the restaurant for breakfast! We knew there wasn’t a guarantee that they would be there, so we weren’t that disappointed that they weren’t there when we arrived. But the food was so good that it made up for it (almost). They also had an app that you can order through where you click all of your allergies and dietary preferences and it tells you what is safe for you to order. I thought this was so cool and helpful for anyone with dietary restrictions.
We both got beetroot lattes, I got a shiitake bowl with marinated shiitake mushrooms, fermented kimchi, bok choi salad, avocado, edamame, and ponzu dressing. Laura got the lentil curry bowl. We both loved our meals and enjoyed eating such a hearty and nutritious meal. We also discovered that our cups had messages written inside in Slovak. Mine said “mistakes are proof that you are trying,” and Laura’s said “Coffee doesn’t ask. Coffee doesn’t want explanations. Coffee understands you.”
Then we headed to the blue church, one of the most famous spots in Bratislava. It is an adorable little church painted in baby blue. I learned that Laura hates the color baby blue, but I loved the color and that it was so different from all the other churches I have seen. It almost looked like it was fake or from a storybook.
Then we walked through the quaint town center which had so much character. The buildings were painted different pastel colors and the building designs were unique.
We stopped to see Čumil, a statue of a sewer worker peeping out of a sewer. I’m not sure the historical significance of it, but it was cute.
Then we took a little hike to Bratislava Castle. It had great views of the city and was really cute. We took lots of pictures, walked the perimeter, and headed back to the town.
We grabbed a bite to eat at a cool restaurant called Urban Kitchen. Their decor was funky and their bathroom was set up like a little disco party. We got coffees, and split mac and cheese and a salad.
We walked around some more and stopped at the mall to do some shopping before it was time to take the train back to Vienna.
Once we got back, we got ready for dinner and met my best friend Emer and her mom for dinner. They spent her spring break traveling through Europe and we purposely went to Vienna at the same time so we could meet up. We got dinner and drinks at a cute restaurant and got to catch up on life. It was a great last night of our trip!
In the morning Laura left our AirBnb early to catch her flight but I had a few extra hours before mine. I went back to Sneak In, the restaurant where we got brunch the first day. It was their weekend brunch menu which meant you pick a “base brunch” between regular, vegetarian, and vegan. I picked vegetarian so I got a board with veggies, cheese, and bread. Then you can pick unlimited side orders included in your base price, so I got french toast and scrambled eggs. It was delicious and a great last meal in Vienna before I grabbed an Uber to the airport.
