New Year's Eve 2012

I decided that, instead of sitting home alone to ring in the new year, since I had no other plans, I would head to Vienna (Wien), Austria for NYE (Silvester). So, last week I made a short notice ticket purchase for a one night excursion to Wien to go big for the new year.

Once I got off the train about 15:30 (3:30 pm), it was a little bit of a walk through the shopping district area until I hit where the main adventures would be for the night. At the suggestion of my landlords, I had dinner at Figlmüller's, which is famous for its schnitzel. This is why:

Any doubts that I ate the whole thing? You should know me better than that.

I got to the restaurant about 16:30 (4:30 pm) and there was already a line to be seated. Thankfully it only took about 20 minutes for me to get inside and at a table.  I found it flattering and quite amusing while eating dinner. You would have thought that I was the only single female in all of Vienna with the amount of wait staff hitting on me. (I think I was actually supposed to meet one for breakfast in the morning, but I couldn't remember the name of the cafe he said, so I missed it.)

After dinner, I just wandered around aimlessly (managing to get lost a couple of times) until the new year hit, stopping in a coffee shop for about an hour at one point to warm and rest up.

First off, let me just say that Europeans do New Year's WAY better than Americans. I have had the opportunity to be on Times Square, the biggest party in America, on NYE a few years ago (granted, I was technically above it in an office party), and it pales in comparison. These guys know how to party. Here are the major differences:

NYE 2008 - Times Square

Times Square:
- No alcohol or food allowed in the celebration area
- No bathrooms available
- A few stages with various artists performing, but you will only get to see one (if you strategically place yourself there) because of the crowds
- The ball drop lasts for 10 seconds
- The entire area is completely cleared of people within 15 minutes

Europe (particularly Vienna, but their celebration is not abnormal):
- Copious amounts of food and alcohol available for sale, or bring your own

NYE 2012 - The Rathaus (City Hall) in Vienna

- WCs are everywhere and are marked for visibility
- Multiple different stages (there were 10 in Vienna) with performers of various music styles (and people dancing in the street to boot, including the waltz)
- Fireworks. LOTS of fireworks (both staged and people shooting them off all around) for at least 20 minutes after the clock strikes midnight. For this reason, I do NOT recommend anyone who recently returned from deployment and/or suffers severe PTSD partake in these NYE celebrations.
- The party continues for several hours after midnight. Vienna's party is actually 12 hours - from 14:00 (2 pm) to 2:00 and stretches the length of several blocks.

Shortly after midnight, I was done. For those of you who don't know, Austria is pretty cold, even for being unseasonably warm this time of year right now. I don't mind the cold, but after 9 hours of standing in it, I had long passed my limit. Then came the part that didn't pan out as well as I had expected it....I didn't have any lodging. Being that my train left out the next morning at 11, I didn't think that it would be necessary. Every once in a while in life, though, I turn out to be wrong, and this happened to be one of those times...

Once the cafes and whatnot shut down shortly after 2:00, I decided to seek shelter in the best place that I could think of to stay warm - the U-Bahn (subway) station. That was quite the experience. Fortunately, I didn't feel too bad because there was a couple in the same subway nook who had the same idea for the same reason.

First, it was quite a humbling experience to feel homelessness like that in such bitter weather, and it made me even more appreciative that I had a bed to go home to. It also made me very cranky but was a very valuable first-hand experience to have had. Second, I was apparently quite a sight to see being alone in decent clothes sitting on the ground in the U-Bahn station. I had at least five different people (not surprisingly, all males) come up and ask me if I was ok and why I was sitting there. Most clearly had their own agenda in asking me, although one seemed legitimately curious and thought that it was hilarious that I had come to Vienna alone to celebrate the new year. I was dozing on and off but couldn't sleep for more than 10 minutes before someone else would come up to me, being more obnoxious as time went on due to alcohol consumption, and disturb me. I finally got so annoyed with it that I left the station and wandered around in the cold some more for a couple hours before eventually getting a U-Bahn ticket to the main train station. Due to my lack of sleep and incessant feeling of cold, that is where I decided to stay for the last four-ish hours I had before my train back home.

So, all in all, how was it? In my opinion, the celebration was awesome and I definitely had some good times. I would be willing to go back and do it again, but not alone and not without a place to stay. I don't mind traveling alone, but this trip confirmed that big celebrations like this suck to not have people to celebrate with (people that I actually know, not the thousands of people around me...). Still, it was better than sitting alone in my apartment at least.

And that wraps up my NYE in Vienna. I would like to go back on a separate trip and see what the city itself has to offer, which seemed like a lot. All in due time...