On Wednesday, December the 4th, I had the unbelievable opportunity to travel with my fellow classmates on a day trip to Vienna. Coming from the prairies in Canada, where the closest big cities are 800 km away, being able to hop on a bus and drive only three hours to see one of Europe’s most famous cities was a spectacular notion. And despite having only a day to explore, we were able to see so many places and have some great experiences that I know I will remember for a lifetime. 

We left bright and early at 5:30 in the morning from Banská, and after driving around 3 hours and getting through some heavy traffic in Bratislava, we started out the trip by visiting a chocolate factory only a short distance over the border in Austria. Because of a shortened time frame, we were only able to look around the chocolate store, but I had an enjoyable time sampling all the chocolates- and buying quite a few for myself.
After this, we made our way to Vienna, the capital of Austria and one of Europe’s most gorgeous and historically significant cities. Not counting my 2 hour layover in Toronto airport when I flew to Slovakia, this was the biggest city I had ever stepped foot in. Needless to say, I was in amazement when we began touring around the city centre, with its majestic buildings and ornate gothic and baroque architecture. Undoubtedly the highlight of the first part of the tour was St. Stephen’s cathedral, where we had time to look around inside. As a major classical music fanatic myself, this was pretty amazing for me. I had done some research beforehand and found out that this cathedral was
where Mozart got married, and also where Beethoven first realized he was completely deaf, when he saw the pigeons fly off the cathedral and couldn’t hear them. At first I really could not believe I was standing in the same building these events took place. And really, this feeling permeated much of the tour of Vienna. There is so much history ingrained in the streets, buildings, and walls of every part of the city— a type of ancient history that you just can’t feel while walking in the young streets of Western Canada. So, Vienna amazed me every step of the way. Afterwards, we toured more of the city, then stopped at the renowned Albertina art gallery, where we spent a couple hours taking in the hundreds of paintings and sculptures that ranged from Picasso’s to works from modern day artists. Being the first serious art gallery I’ve ever been in, this was also a very cool experience.
From there, we made our way to the famed Vienna Christmas markets, where we were given time to look around and explore. Luckily for us it wasn’t too crowded, which made it easy to get around and see most of the booths in adequate time. Even though in Canada we celebrate Christmas quite extravagantly, we don’t have anything quite like Christmas markets— so once again, I loved it. By the time the day was over it had started to cool down a little bit, and I think everybody was pretty happy to get on the bus to warm up and rest their legs. It was a long ride back home to Banská Bystrica, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how lucky I was to have been in Vienna, a city I’ve dreamed about going to for years. It truly was an amazing trip, and one I cannot wait to make again soon. 

 - Graydon Eskowich

📷 Kristína Nemcová