Destination: Kiev. [see posts: Sightseeing Kiev and The Exclusion Zone: Chernobyl]

The cheapest airfare that I found from Chicago to Kiev was on Austrian Airlines via Vienna. I had a four day weekend that I wanted to use to visit Chernobyl. Not otherwise interested in Ukraine, I assumed that I did not need three full days in Kiev. Having never been to Vienna, I chose the longest layover available, which was 14 hours.

I was working out in New Orleans, Louisiana the morning of Thursday, February 16, 2017. I had asked my grandmother to meet me at the airport with a backpack that I had prepared to take with me on the trip. I arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on time, exchanged my work backpack for my weekend one, and headed back into the terminal.

This was my first time flying Austrian Airlines. Budget airline. Good food. Seats were not that comfortable. But, I had an entire row to myself. Off to a good start.

14 Hours in Vienna
I fell asleep in Chicago and woke up in Vienna. Literally. The plane landed a couple of minutes after 8:00 in the morning. I quickly cleared customs and immigration, and hopped on the City Airport Train. The non-stop journey to the transport hub at Wien Mitte only takes 16 minutes.

I did not have anything planned for the day. My research consisted of writing down a handful of tourist attractions recommended to me by a friend. House of Music. Stephansdom. Schonbrunn Palace. Just names. All I had was a list of names to visit. With a map in hand, I started walking towards the city center.

Along the way, I stumbled upon the Mozarthaus Vienna – Mozart’s residence from 1784 to 1787.

Just the word “museum” made me lose interest in entering this ordinary-looking building. When in Rome? Or, Vienna. I made it through the house quicker than my walk from the train station to the city center.

Vienna’s most prominent attraction, Stephansdom (or St. Stephen’s Cathedral), is located just steps away in the Stephansplatz. Towering over the plaza, it barely fit into a picture. A grand structure, designed in different eras of architecture. Impressive. I do not recall why I did not bother entering?

I continued my walk up and down the streets of the city center, passing various museums, historic sites, and palaces. At this point, the weather took a turn for the worse. Clouds started to fill the area and rain was inevitable.

Instead of stopping for lunch, I decided to find a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus tour to take me around the rest of the city’s main attractions. I sat on the bus for what had felt like several of hours – never hopping-off, just sitting back and learning about the stops.

Exhausted, I decided to end my stopover a few hours early. I headed back to Vienna International Airport and found a place to nap until my flight to Kiev later that night.