Walking off the beaten track on most of our travels, we would often find ourselves in residential districts where very few tourists bother to tread. As we pass by, I couldn't help but peer inside the houses through the open windows and wonder what their interiors are like and what sort of lives their inhabitants lead.
On our extended holiday in Central Europe in March 2012, we had the chance to experience just that. We were no longer tourists but two individuals with no proof of residency and for two weeks we made Vienna our home.
We arrived in the Austrian capital at the crimson close of the day when only the last glint of the drowning sun can be seen across the horizon. It was the middle of March, the days were still short but the air carried with it a sense of impending change, of the seasonal transition of winter to spring.
We stepped out of the train station after a groggy four-hour journey from Budapest where we have lost our passports the week before and navigated our way to the tram stops like seasoned travellers to the city. We have been there only a few days ago, when we came to sightsee.
Our first accommodation was located in Kolblgasse, a quiet residential neighbourhood with dog walkers and parents wheeling babies on the pram chosen because of its close proximity to the British embassy. The address brought us outside a row of low apartment blocks flushed up against the sidewalks. The buildings have colourful facades and wide windows, the sidewalks paved and the streets lined with cars, mostly in the shades of black or grey, outdated models showing very little signs of frequent use. The transport system in Vienna spells of ease and efficiency you can barely see any cars on the road.
Our rented home was on an upper floor, accessible either through the well-preserved staircase or the newly added elevator. It was a tiny studio apartment but with plenty of character enough to uplift our dampened spirits.
The walls were bright yellow and the decorations were inspired by the works of Hundertwasser, a leading figure in Austrian art and architecture. It was quirky and efficient, making perfect use of the limited space available that it could well have been taken straight out of an IKEA catalogue. The mattress was in fact IKEA with its well-known quality where you can feel the slats straight through your back I struggled to sleep at night. Other than that though, everything worked fine and there was free wifi.
We have booked to stay there for three nights and eventually had to find another place but whilst we were there, I have actually learned to appreciate how much more space and heat efficient it was for people to live in well-built centuries old apartments, as opposed to the ugly modern high rises or suburban estates that are now being built, that I'm almost angry at the obsession of most people especially in Britain in insisting to live in space consuming and heat haemorrhaging houses just so that they can have their own gardens where they can have a barbecue for at most two weeks a year.
But that is why Vienna has been ranked as the city with the highest quality of living in the world by international consulting company Mercer for several years in the running. They get things like building houses right, amongst other things.
On our extended holiday in Central Europe in March 2012, we had the chance to experience just that. We were no longer tourists but two individuals with no proof of residency and for two weeks we made Vienna our home.
We arrived in the Austrian capital at the crimson close of the day when only the last glint of the drowning sun can be seen across the horizon. It was the middle of March, the days were still short but the air carried with it a sense of impending change, of the seasonal transition of winter to spring.
We stepped out of the train station after a groggy four-hour journey from Budapest where we have lost our passports the week before and navigated our way to the tram stops like seasoned travellers to the city. We have been there only a few days ago, when we came to sightsee.
Our first accommodation was located in Kolblgasse, a quiet residential neighbourhood with dog walkers and parents wheeling babies on the pram chosen because of its close proximity to the British embassy. The address brought us outside a row of low apartment blocks flushed up against the sidewalks. The buildings have colourful facades and wide windows, the sidewalks paved and the streets lined with cars, mostly in the shades of black or grey, outdated models showing very little signs of frequent use. The transport system in Vienna spells of ease and efficiency you can barely see any cars on the road.
Our rented home was on an upper floor, accessible either through the well-preserved staircase or the newly added elevator. It was a tiny studio apartment but with plenty of character enough to uplift our dampened spirits.
The walls were bright yellow and the decorations were inspired by the works of Hundertwasser, a leading figure in Austrian art and architecture. It was quirky and efficient, making perfect use of the limited space available that it could well have been taken straight out of an IKEA catalogue. The mattress was in fact IKEA with its well-known quality where you can feel the slats straight through your back I struggled to sleep at night. Other than that though, everything worked fine and there was free wifi.
We have booked to stay there for three nights and eventually had to find another place but whilst we were there, I have actually learned to appreciate how much more space and heat efficient it was for people to live in well-built centuries old apartments, as opposed to the ugly modern high rises or suburban estates that are now being built, that I'm almost angry at the obsession of most people especially in Britain in insisting to live in space consuming and heat haemorrhaging houses just so that they can have their own gardens where they can have a barbecue for at most two weeks a year.
But that is why Vienna has been ranked as the city with the highest quality of living in the world by international consulting company Mercer for several years in the running. They get things like building houses right, amongst other things.
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| Hundertwasser House in Vienna which we visited on our extended holiday to the city. |
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