Living in Romania, Vienna was the closest "real European capital". Sure Budapest was nice, too, but for me Vienna meant elegance, luxury without the flashiness, well behaved people, things that somehow I believed belonged in the west. See, I was raised in the communist part of Europe and was somehow inoculated with the dream of jumping the fence, of being free. I was 10 when the communist regime fell and let's be honest I did not suffer as much, because I was little and everything was a game to me, hiding to listen to the radio, queuing for hours for oranges, wearing the same clothes as everyone (maybe that's why I rebel now?), having little and hardly obtained consistent food.
My first country visited was the Republic of Moldova and to me it looked similar to Romania, then Hungary, it was different, but still the same, but then again Austria...Vienna was from a dream, everything was tidy and clean, the statues, the cathedral, people were well dressed, I don't know, I can't explain it. I only had that feeling with Luxembourg when I first passed by here more than 10 years ago, when you could still see Luxembourgish people on the streets, now Luxembourg is common, to me.
And as impressed I was with Vienna in the summer, coming Christmas time it simply looked from a fairy tale. Now we have gorgeous Christmas markets in Bucharest or the major cities as well, but back then to book a trip to Vienna during Christmas was the dream. Christmas after Christmas passed, I moved to Dublin and then to this part of Europe and I got used with Christmas Markets. Now the Trier one or the whole Alsace region during Christmas are more lovely than anything I could experience in Vienna, but Vienna is that childhood memory, that you cherish no matter how many memories you have.
So this year, after I think more than 10 years I will be in Vienna during Christmas market. Will I find it different? We shall see.
Stay close to my Instagram as I tend to post there more often and also check my InstaStories. There will be three days in Vienna and I've packed them with a lot of nice things to do, see and experience.
Hello Vienna, my old friend!
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