Vienna holds a very special place in my heart: that was the very first European city I’d ever visited and I was completely enchanted by it. Since it was just an overnight plane change (back then hotel was included into the plane ticket) we didn’t plan anything. My vSO and I hopped on the bus at the airport and went to the downtown.
It was a wonderfully warm June evening. Almost everything was closed but we didn’t really care because we had no money to spend anyway. We walked curved narrow streets with old but well-preserved buildings, wide boulevards and well-maintained parks and felt as if we were transported into one of those historical books we’d read as children. By that time we both had been to Moscow, St. Petersburg and even New York but somehow Vienna stood out of all the previous experiences and was just magical.
A year later on the same route we decided to stay in Vienna one extra night, which meant paying for both since by staying longer than necessary we were forfeiting the stay paid by the airline. It was too expensive for us but we loved Vienna so much and wanted to spend more time there.
Vienna met us cold and rainy and everything was a little off: the room (in the same hotel!) wasn’t as nice as the one for which we didn’t have to pay a year earlier; on our walk in the downtown we kept looking for places to get warm so architecture outside had less appeal; and parks were much less attractive under grey skies and gloomy rain.
We still managed to get something from the trip but it wasn’t worth the money we paid for it. So even though I still thought of Vienna as of a magical city somehow for more than ten years our trail didn’t go through it.
I wouldn’t have stayed there this year as well if it weren’t for my long-time wish to meet Birgit of Olfactoria’s Travels. Our original plan involved repeating the perfect experience of an overnight stay in Vienna with a dinner in a pleasant company as a culmination. At the last moment circumstances changed and the dinner was canceled. But luckily there was the second negative – air controllers strike in France, my next destination, – so a double negative has resolved to a positive: Birgit, Sandra, my vSO and I met the next morning for a breakfast (it was lovely) and a quick perfume sniffing tour (an added bonus that understandably wasn’t planned for the dinnertime).
The weather cooperated and we had the most wonderful time – walking the streets and parks, dining at restaurants with Austrian cuisine and maybe even finding a new perfume love. Vienna is a wonderful city! Oh, and I have to say that none of the pictures Birgit showed to us do her justice: she looks even younger and more beautiful in real life.
I wish most negatives in your life to resolve to positive!
With Love,
Undina
Images: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Lovely that you got to meet Birgit and Sandra. :)
It’s funny how we are all planning our itineraries around the cities where other perfumistas live. ;)
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Any city feels friendlier if there is a friend or two living there. And I still have many cities to visit :)
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Sydney next please Undina.
Portia x
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I’ll try :)
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It was so nice meeting you, dear Undina! And I’m very glad it all turned out well. I love the way you put it, two negatives turning into a positive! :)
I am so curious to hear whether you get on with your special perfume find and will eventually add it to your collection – I will wait patiently to hear about it.
Thank you for making a stop in Vienna!
xo
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Thank you for making my visit even more enjoyable! I’ll let you know where the testing gets me.
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So glad you got to meet Birgit in Vienna. A sniffing trip would definitely have been an added bonus.
I will get to Vienna myself one of these days.
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You should! It’s such a magic city – even if you don’t take into the account that Birgit lives there ;) And even more so when you do.
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Lindens in Ukraine; Birgit and Sandra in Vienna; and now you are moving onto the beauties of France? Sounds like you are having a wonderful vacation, Undina! Will look forward to hearing more.
Meanwhile, do you need anyone to drop in and check on Rusty? ;)
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Thank you, Suzanne :) Rusty is taken a good care of – I wouldn’t have it anyother way.
Linden was a leitmotif of the entire trip but nowhere else it was as great as it was in Ukraine (though weathereverywhere else was much friendlier).
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Lovely postard! I have never been to Vienna ( I have been just to a couple of European capital cities)
I’m sure you had much fun meeting with Birgit and Sandra!
Lately I had enough negatives in my life so I want a positive thing to happen shortly :P
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Lucas, there will definitely be some positives in your life soon – just be patient.
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I’m trying.
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Glad to hear you’re having a great trip! Sounds wonderful! Must be fun to meet perfumista friends in person, and we need some of those linden trees here!
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It’s always nice to be able to put a face to the name. And yes, it would be great to get some linden trees for our parks.
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Yay! How fun. I’ve always wished to go to Vienna. Love hearing about your summer travels!
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Thank youfor reading, susan.
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What a wonderful postcard! I’m glad to hear that you got to meet up with Birgit and Sandra! I hope you don’t mind me asking, but did you make it to the spa that let’s you mix and match Frédéric Malle travel sprays?
On my list of places to visit in the world are:
1. Machu Picchu
2. The Great Wall of China
3. That one spa in Vienna that lets you mix and match FM 10ml sprays
I. Am. Serious :-)
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:)
Since I have 2 bottles for FM’s perfumes that I like I just have no use for that extraordinary offer but I can see how attractive that idea is.
I hope you’ll get to fulfill all of your travel wishes.
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Me too!
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I thoroughly enjoyed your description of Vienna, and I am not surprised to hear how much fun you had with Birgit and Sandra. Wonderful! I hope you enjoy France. Hugs!
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Thank you, Natalie! Telling the story is a part of the enjoyment fromthe trip.
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Undina! Sounds like you had a great time! Thanks for sharing with us and bringing us on your journey!
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Thank you, hajusuuri. I’m glad there are people with whom I can share stories about those trips.
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I enjoyed reading about your successive trips to Vienna, and I know just what you mean about the city’s architecture being like something out of a story book.
It is an ill wind – or strike! – that blows nobody any good, or do I mean a cloud with a silver lining? Anyway, happily your extended stay meant that you got to meet Birgit and Sandra and go sniffing! And to top it off, the weather was kind to you this time. Sounds like a result all round. :-)
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I definitely can’t complain about the weather in the second part of my trip: it was very good in Vienna and almost perfect in Paris. So at least no unexpected strikes on that front :)
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How great is Birgit? I am so with you on how ethereal and gorgeous she is, like an angel there is light radiating from her.
How wonderful you got to hang with the Vienna crew and sniff fragrance. PERFECT!! Good things do happen to good people,
Portia xx
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I completely agree! She is an angel :)
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