26th May 2026: Schönbrunn, Sacher, airport, jam {Vienna & day trips, May 2026}

Posted on 31 October 2026 by JBinnacle

As neither D****e nor I left Vienna until the evening, we had almost half a day to do anything we felt like. We decided to head out to Schloss Schönbrunn, the Schönbrunn (Beautiful Spring) Palace, or the “summer palace” of the Habsburgs. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site established in 1996, Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn, independent from the Viena Historic Centre. The current complex comprises a massive Baroque Palace (who needs over 1,400 rooms??), the world’s oldest zoo, a large garden, a secondary palace (now a restaurant), several conservatories or greenhouses, a monumental fountain and way too many squirrels to count (not as part of the zoo).

We checked out and left the luggage at reception. I grabbed a coffee on the way and we rode the underground towards the palace. It took a bit, but we were at the entrance a few minutes before they opened, beating the buses and the ticket-buying queues. I stayed at the shop for a bit and found a nice Lipizzaner Christmas ornament. We got our tickets and went towards the entry, where we did have to wait a few minutes, until they opened.

Most of the palace is either Baroque or Rococo, so after a while the rooms feel a bit heavy. If the Hofburg is all about Sissi, however, the Schönbrunn is for Empress Maria Theresa of Habsburg (1717 – 1780). This makes the timeline a bit confusing, as wherever you are, you get a name, and then their relationship with her. It also makes sense as it was during her reign that the palace took its present form. It is important to note that she was Empress in her own right after her father died. Maria Theresa was Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia, Queen of Bohemia (which at the time included Slovakia and Bratislava), Queen of Galicia and Lodomeria, Holy Roman Empress, and a couple of more Consort-titles at different times during her life between 1736 and her death in 1780.

The history of the palace becomes intertwined with the park that surrounds it, which was originally conceived as hunting grounds in 1569. The first residence was established in 1637. During Maria Theresa’s reign, everything was expanded and a lot of it remodelled – the palace, the court, the gardens, the decoration… After the downfall of the Habsburgs in 1918, the Palace became a museum owned by the Austrian Republic, and so it remains today.

We purchased Palace Tickets, which cover most of the palace. It starts with a computerised presentation when the palace itself talks to you, and then you move onto the main floor, including the bedrooms and the state rooms. The huge Great Gallery was my favourite ward of them all, along with the so-called Millions Room (though living in it might have been a little claustrophobic). There were also some rooms with interesting Chinois motifs – the two Chinese Cabinets and the Vieux Laque Room, with lacquer panels literally brought from China. The Porcelain Room was a little creepy though, and so was the Rich Room, which just displayed Maria Theresa’s state bed.

Baroque palace with luxurious rooms

It was way too scorching for the garden, but still we braved the sun though the Great Parterre until we reached the Neptune Fountain, a large decorative sculpture group centred around the Roman god of the ocean and his chariot. Afterwards, we continued through the wooded area until we reached the Gloriette, now a cosy café, and cooped up with people. On our way down, we took a small detour to the Rose Garden and the iron-and-glass Palm House – and if you know me, you’d guess I loved that one the most. We did not have time to explore if our tickets allowed us to go in, though. Furthermore, I am not sure going into a greenhouse at that point would have been wise…

Fountain with Greek Gods and a monument in the background

Garden with fountains and roses

Large greenhouse made of iron and glass

We headed towards the Historic Centre of Vienna, because D****e had made reservations at the Blaue Bar (Blue Bar), one of the inner spaces at Hotel Sacher, at noon. We were there a bit early (entered past 11:50) and the bar was not open yet. Therefore, to apologise because we had arrived before the bar was due to open, and hence it was not open yet, we were treated to an apology carton of mineral water and got to wait at the lounge with all the rich people. It was bizarre!

As the name hints, the Blue Bar is decorated with blue fabric on the wall. It has small tables – maybe six, which makes for an intimate ambience. It features chandeliers and a small bar where Hyde had posed for pictures, which was the reason why D****e wanted to go there.

Once the it opened, we had the room for ourselves for about 40 minutes, which was amazing. We were taken care of by the manager himself, Stephan Plessl, who did an outstanding job. I felt like royalty, to be honest. There is a rumour that workers at Hotel Sacher will never say no to a guest, but we were just two random people popping in for a drink (and probably not even adhering to the dress code). And I stand witness that we were not told no at any point.

Sacher hotel façade and interior

We decided to start with a mocktail each, since it felt appropriate to have a toast with something cool but neither of us drinks alcohol. I went with the Sunrise (red fruit tea, thyme, lemon, elderflower and orange espuma). Then we shared an Original Wiener Schnitzel (breaded suckling veal cut with potato, lettuce salad and pumpkin seed oil. For some reason there is a… vegan option available?), Original Sacher Sausages (Original Sacher Würstel, with horseradish, mustard and a bread roll), and ended with a piece of Sacher-torte. The manager also let us take photos to our hearts’ contents, took pictures of us, and let us take all the disposable mementos along – such as the coaster and mayo / ketchup jars. When D****e asked him if she could check out another room to find a portrait of Hyde there, he offered to come and “search together” (it had been in one area, but then got moved). We suspected the manager knew who Hyde was because he had been staying there. Our suspicions were later corroborated – not only did the singer eventually tweet about it, hotel itself ran a special interview with him.

Blue bar and lunch

We still had a couple of hours before I had to head for the airport. After a stop at Buggarten, we ended up back at the outer ring, walked by the Parliament Parlament Österreich and the Athena fountain Pallas-Athene-Brunnen and ended up at the Neogothic Votive Church Votivkirche, which was open! As the sun was shining, the coloured glass windows made it for a very beautiful effect. On our way back to the hotel, we passed by Kirche Maria am Gestade (Mary at the Riverbank). Then we headed towards the station, where each of us had a train within 20 minutes’ time of the other to take us to our next destination. In my case, it was the airport.

Treble clef made of flowers planted in front of a Mozart statue

Neo gothic church with pointy towers and arched vaults

I was so focused on electronics and the carton of water from the Sacher that I was extra careful when putting my things out for security. The carton was empty, the camera was out, so were the phones… and then my luggage got flagged. A very unfriendly lady with her hand on her weapon demanded that I took out the device at the bottom of my backpack. I was flabbergasted – there was literally no device in my backpack, but that is the word she kept using. In the 15 seconds or so it took me to realise what it was, two other guards came to flank her, and I wondered in a mini-panic if someone could have snuck something in my luggage. Then I saw the X-Ray – whatever had them worried was a very reflective vaguely cubical box – and I had an epiphany. What was at the bottom of my backpack? A box of very shiny and reflective Swarovski crystals. I always do my best not to antagonise security, but I said something along the lines of “I cannot be the first person to take Swarovski crystals out of the country!” and “Those are not forbidden!” I mean, I was baffled. I was eventually let through (with my crystals) and it took me a bit to reorganise all my stuff back into the backpack.

I had the last of the sandwiches I had bought the day before for dinner, and got myself another Christmas bauble. The plane ride was uneventful and my parent had come to pick me up, so the ride home should have been smooth. Unfortunately, someone had thought it would be a great idea to close off the highway, without actually announcing it. Instead, they tried to funnel out of the same exit, which caused a huge traffic jam. Once we cleared that one out though, the rest of the drive went fine. A bit of an anticlimactic ending, don’t you think? All in all, it was a great trip. I did feel a couple of times that I was not “as much of a fan” as I ought to be, especially when surrounded by people who had made the trip from Japan. I got to eat a lot of good schnitzels, too, and Sacher-torte. I did miss a couple of things I would have liked to do, but there will be another chance, I hope. I enjoyed the concert, got to see cool stuff, and had fun.

I can only hope I’ve reached my quota of stupid airport security issues by now…

25th May 2026: Hyde, Jeckyll, and everything in between {Vienna & day trips, May 2026}

Posted on 24 October 2026 by JBinnacle

It was the morning of Hyde’s concert in Vienna, aptly called Hyde Orchestra Tour 2026 JEKYLL in Wien. D****e wanted to go and wait for the singer at the entrance of the Wiener Konzerthaus, so I headed off on my own to wander around. I got my coffee at a bakery, and started exploring the area. Our hotel was very near the Orthodox cathedral Kathedrale Z. Hl. Nikolaus in Wien. The building was erected in the Neorussian style, using blueprints by Grigory Kotov and consecrated in 1899. I think it was open, but I was still halfway through my coffee and I didn’t want to try and enter with my drink in hand – much less have to toss it. Besides, it was close to the Russian consulate and there were a few armed soldiers around, which made me a bit nervous.

Russian cathedral with bulbous towers

I walked farther downtown and came across a little square, home of the Hochstrahlbrunnen. This fountain was built in 1873, to commemorate the opening of the new high-pressure water supply system. It tries to symbolise the Alpine water coming into the city by sprouting water upwards – and due to some fluke, the morning had created a rainbow.

Fountain with a rainbow running across

I was pretty sure that the Vienna Museum would be closed since it was a Monday, but I checked anyway as I was literally around the corner – it was. Thus, after waving at St. Charles’s Church Karlskirche, I went on towards the city park Buggarten, where the Riding School horses are sometimes taken to literally prance on grass. No luck – or maybe it was already too late in the morning as it was pushing 9:00. I continued along until I reached the Austrian Parliament building Parlament Österreich with the impressive monumental fountain Pallas-Athene-Brunnen depicting the Greek Goddess Athena, patroness of wisdom and war, holding a spear on her left hand, and Nike, goddess of Victory, on the right. The parliament is erected in a Historicism style, evoking a Parthenon building. Both the façade and the statue are decorated in gold.

Neoclassical building with the statue of a Greek goddess standing in front

As the previous times I have visited Vienna (… this sounds like I am in Vienna a lot), there was something going on in the square / park in front of the town hall Rathaus, which made photographs difficult. However, on the other side of the street, the Hofburg rose garden was open to visitors, albeit a bit withered in the heatwave – it was barely 9:30 and there were no shadows whatsoever, which for me is… weird. I mean what better place to plant trees than an actual garden?

Rose garden with a neo gothic building in the background and a blackbird jumping on the grass

My first ticket of the day was for the Papyrus Museum Papyrusmuseum, which was supposed to open at 10:00. It is part of the Austrian National Library Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, and located inside the Hofburg itself, but accessed from a completely different area. There was an automatic glass door that opened if you got close, but there was a “do not enter” notice on it. Beyond the door, automatic access turnstiles, and what looked like a ticket counter with a lady behind it. In the hall with me, a few other people wandering around, as if waiting. At 10:15 I decided to risk someone yelling at me in German for ignoring the sign and went past the door, placed my e-ticket on the machine and went in when it bleeped green. Nobody uttered a word, so I followed the directions for papyri. A nice gentleman looked at my ticket at the entrance of the small museum and waved me in, so I started exploring.

The collection comprises originals and copies mainly from Greece, Egypt, and the Arab world, including pieces that date from the 460s BCE. Some are pieces from epic stories and religious texts, but most are way more mundane – trade contracts, such as credit agreements and leases. Highlights include a piece of the tragedy of Orestes written by Euripides himself, which even records the musical notes for the performers’ chorus. One of the most important pieces cannot be seen as it is too delicate to show, it is an ancient map of the world. But the main event is displayed in a small darkened room – a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead in all its hieroglyphical glory.

The Book of the Dead (actually, “Spells of Coming Forth by Day” [rw nw prt m hrw]) is a collection of funerary texts dating back from the New Kingdom. It comprises the magic spells that would assist a dead person’s journey into the underworld and the afterlife. They were compiled during a period of over a thousand years. A number of these spells would also be carved or painted on the walls of the tombs or the sarcophagus.

Samples of papyrus from ancient history

And what else was visitable on a Monday morning that appealed to yours truly? It is true that the fine arts gallery was open but let’s be honest. It is right opposite the Natural History Museum. We all know where I am going to end up – any natural history museum, in this case the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. And to my surprise, the staircase was empty for a few seconds and I managed a photograph!

Baroque staircase with a decorated ceiling

Not being in any kind of hurry, I was able to explore the wards I had not visited before, which included biodiversity. While taxidermy is not an art that draws my attention, I’ve really learnt to appreciate the small glass models of marine animals from the 19^th century – read: I adore them. I walked around the second level first, which deals with extant fauna. After I was done, I decided to have lunch in the Kuppelhalle Café for lunch, where I tried an amazing drink with apple juice and sparkling water and something advertised as meat loaf which was… some kind of stew but was very nice.

Afterwards, I continued down to level 1, where I strolled around minerals, fossils, mammoths and the origin of man. That included the dinosaur hall and the pièce de résistance of the museum – the Venus of Willendorf, a 30,000-year-old figurine of a carved in limestone. The figurine is about 11 cm tall and depicts a naked faceless woman with large breasts. It is speculated that she is either a fertility charm or the self-portrait of a real woman (who would not have been able to see her own face as mirrors did not exist). It was found in north-east Austria in 1908, in an archaeological dig near the town of Willendorf, hence the name.

I finished my visit in the temporal exhibition “Good collecting, bad collecting”, which reflects on the origin of some of the pieces that museums have – whether there is a specimen or a lot, and the difference between conservation, display and research. A chilling corner told about how during Nazi occupation, some Jewish individuals were coerced to sell their collections, especially fossils, to the museum for pennies. Recently, under the Reparation Act, the museum has been trying to locate the rightful heirs to those exhibits – some of them have been found, others have not replied, and even some have donated the items back to the museum.

Natural History Museum artefacts: taxidermies of sharks and an elephant seal and dioramas of primitive fish and Neanderthal men

Natural History Museum artefacts: some fossil bones, a reconstructed dinosaur skeleton, skeleton of a mountain lion, statuette of a small fat woman

I headed out and stopped at Starbucks for a drink, then by a bakery to buy sandwiches that I could take to D****e at the venue, and for us to have dinner after the concert. I ended up distributing a few of those amongst her friends waiting there – I got paid back in yen, too, hilariously. I stayed about an hour, but turned out that as they waited Hyde had used another entrance, so the group had been unsuccessful seeing him. Once we had confirmation that all the musicians were in, we decided to head back to the hotel for a while to get dressed up. Or down. My nice clothes were too hot for the weather… In the end I managed a combo that would sort of work – and not have me die of heat stroke.

Wiener Konzerthaus is an early 20^th century concert hall. It is not one of the grand classical halls, but was conceived for festivals, more accessible to the general public than the Musikverein. It currently has four halls, the largest one being the one where Hyde’s concert was to be held – the Great Hall Großer Saal, which seats 1,840 people. A few more, probably, with the extra hand-placed rows, but it was not sold-out. There had been a bit of a turmoil among the Japanese fans about the dress code, and whether formal attire was required, to the point that the organisation had to issue a mini-statement on “no dress code”.

The doors of the building opened an hour before the Hyde Orchestra Tour 2026 JEKYLL in Wien concert, but once inside, we got stuck in the reception area, waiting until access to the actual seating opened. This is a tactic to have people wait around the bars and spend some money, I know, but I still find it weird. Unlike Great Britain that checks at the entrance doors, tickets would be checked inside. Once the process finally started, I headed to a worker using a wheelchair, because nobody else seemed to want to go to her. Thus, we were amongst the first ones in. Once we went upstairs, the actual Großer Saal was still closed, so we had to wait again.

There was a pamphlet on sale, which was barely a folded brochure with the setlist on. The price was 5 € and in theory only one per person. The system could be tricked by going to a different person to buy the pamphlet each time… But to be honest, it was almost daylight robbery, and I’m not sure who would want to hoard them.

When we finally could access the venue, seating in the first few rows was a chaos. There were two rows of chairs for guests of the Austrian organisers and some of the people who had come from Japan, and then the first row of the actual venue, which was already labelled second. Or something. It was very confusing. After a lot of shuffling and reseating, we were all ready and the concert started at 19:35. My seat was great for views (no photography allowed though, unless you were an Embassy aggregate) on the first public row, which actually I think was the real fourth row. Unfortunately, it was not that great for acoustics – I was right in the middle of the trombone’s sound flow, so at times that was everything I could hear (I am told this was not a problem in the recording or other rows behind).

My general impression of the Hyde Orchestra Tour 2026 JEKYLL in Wien was not entirely positive. The assemble of musicians is credited as “Vienna Super Orchestra” Kulturverein Orchester Wien, conducted by Lorenz C. Aichner. If the role of the conductor is “study and understand the pieces really well”, I did not feel like he did his homework – he kept pushing the instruments to go louder when he should have been tempering them to make sure the main vocalist’s voice carried over. He was also very bouncy during the wrong songs. It gave me the impression that he felt it was his show, which it wasn’t.

While the names of most of the musicians were not disclosed, we knew that Hyde brought multifaceted musician hico (Hiroki Horiko [堀向彦輝]) as “coordinator” and pianist – he actually was the one giving the calibrating note to the first violin. Also from Japan came Hiroshi Kido [城戸紘志] on drums, Masato Ishinari [石成正人] on guitar, Junichi Sunayama [砂山淳一] on bass, Yuho Yoshioka [吉岡悠歩] and Chihiro Takahashi [たかはしちひろ] on backup vocals and Hidefumi Usami [宇佐美秀文] as “manipulator”, which I think it means in charge of the synthesiser.

The setlist was:
1. Die happily (from the Jekyll album)
2. SSS (from the Jekyll album)
3. Maisie (from the Jekyll album)
4. So dreamy (from the Jekyll album)
5. Honey. This is actually a L’Arc~en~Ciel song, but one of the few that Hyde holds all rights for. Hence, it’s used and overused. Although it is a ballad and fits the overall tone of the concert, I did not particularly care for the Bossa nova version of it.
6. Nostalgic (from the Jekyll album)
7. Glamorous Sky. I’ve never been much of a fan of this, but I really enjoyed it in Paris, so I’ve started to warm up to it.
8. Tattoo (from the Jekyll album). I’d say this was my favourite song from the new album.
9. Final Piece (from the Jekyll album). I really liked this.

Local gourmet segment. Apparently, a staple of the Jekyll Tour is eating something famous from the place where Hyde is performing at. In this case it was, of course, Sacher-torte – actually a small Sacher Würfel cube that he gulped down in one go. He also slipped in a trademark “are you fucking ready, Vienna?” Though at one point he did introduce himself in German, most of the communication was in English. He also improvised a little tune to the lyrics of “please listen to one more song before going to the loo in the intermission.”

10. Defeat
Intermission.
11. Fading out (from the Jekyll album)
12. Smiling (from the Jekyll album)
13. The Abyss (from the Jekyll album)
14. Evergreen. I remember when this song came out, in the album Roentgen. I did not like it much, and would skip it in the car all the time. I loved the live version. Take that, 2003 me?
15. Forbidden Colours (Ryuichi Sakamoto / David Sylvian cover). This was a song I’ve heard him sing before, and I enjoyed it.
16. Zipang. This is one of Hyde’s collaborations with Yoshiki, and Yoshiki might break my heart again and again, but one thing that you have to give him is that he is a great musician, and he writes and arranges to make his vocalists shine. And boy, did Hyde manage to shine with this. It was absolutely spectacular. And then…
17. Red Swan, another collaboration with Yoshiki. And I remembered Yoshiki in London talking about that song, and how the red symbolises blood and how the bloodied swan is a metaphor for trying to survive. I’ve seen the song performed before, but either sung by another performer, or a recording. But this time it was live, by the man it had been written for. And I lost it, dissolving into a very discreet meltdown that fortunately nobody around me noticed. Just don’t tell, it’s a secret.
18. 夢幻 “Mugen”, a collaboration with My First Story that was the theme music for a popular anime.
19. Last Song

Hyde sang the first part dressed in black, donning a wide-brim hat, and the second part in white. He used a microphone stand embedded with red Swarovski crystals. All in all, we got the whole Jekyll album, which had been composed for this, sprinkled with a couple of power ballads and an arrangement or two. What I didn’t get were my two favourite slow songs – Shallow Sleep and The Cape of Storms, which helped me a lot during some hard times in my life. I think that is why even when I disagree with how the musicians act or speak at points, I keep going back to them. There is gratitude in me, for the pick-up times.

Hyde concert in Vienna 2026, with the singer smiling at the audience

We left the venue and headed to the back door – the one that the singer had used to walk in. This is something common amongst Hyde (and Hyde-adjacent) fans, called demachi (出待ち, literally waiting at the exit). Normally, you only see Hyde going away and waving from a car. Of course, you also cheer and say goodbye to every musician that comes out – from a respectful distance, of course. Obviously, nobody had explained this to either the director or the strings, because they went out for a smoke and were utterly surprised. A couple of the ladies from the Austrian Tourism organisation who were around too took it in stride and whenever they came in and out made a small curtsey and waved back. Others took videos and photos. Most jumped out of their skin.

As I said, normally you wait and wave, maybe catch a glimpse of someone. This time around, Hyde stopped to sign stuff, and that is how I now own an autographed copy of Jekyll… That was… unexpected.

Vienna concert house façade and a CD autographed by the artist

We had sandwiches waiting at the hotel, but since there were a bunch of D****e’s friends around, we ended up heading out to a nearby McDonald’s – which was the only thing open at the time. I tried a “hot honey wrap” (it was a time-limited offer and I was curious. And I know I can survive Austrian spicy) which was surprisingly… interesting. And afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and I crashed after a long shower.

23rd May 2026: Cross-border day trip {Vienna & day trips, May 2026}

Posted on 10 October 2026 by JBinnacle

It was ridiculously early in the day, but D****e and I were ready to go. Our first self-appointed destination in Vienna that morning was the historical Café Sacher for breakfast. The café is located within the no-less-historical Hotel Sacher. The hotel’s origins can be traced back to an actual confectioner, hence the eventual rise to fame of the Sacher-torte – a chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and coated in dark chocolate icing, served with a side of unsweetened whipped cream.

The Hotel Sacher was founded in 1876, and under the management of Anna Sacher, it became the most exclusive hotel in the world. Originally, it catered exclusively to the aristocracy. In the 1930s, it changed hands and was completely renovated, but then WWII hit. It would not be until the late 1980s that the hotel recovered its status as a luxury destination. Between 2005 and 2012, the hotel was refurbished and modernised, with only 10 weeks of downtime throughout the period. Since then, smaller works have been carried out, and the brand has expanded to other cities in Austria. Currently, the Vienna establishment currently has 152 rooms and suites, with the lowest category I found being a “junior suite”, and prices that range from 500 to 10,000 € a night.

Throughout its history, the hotel has battled other confectionery creators to hold the rights to its original Sacher-torte. It is offered in the hotel cafés, shops, and can even be ordered online. It is given out as complimentary little cubes (Sacher Würfel) with some of the other dishes, too.

Though the Café Sacher queues can be insane, there was none at 7:55 when we walked in for breakfast. We had a packed day ahead of us, including a crossing a border, hence the early start!

I required coffee, of course, and I had been torn between two specialities. In the end, I chose the Einspänner (Double espresso topped with whipped cream, served in a served in a tall glass with a handle), because it had more coffee in it. I wanted something substantial and savoury, and though I considered the eggs, something else caught my eye – Sourdough bread with whipped butter and chives (Sauerteigbrot, Aufgeschlagene Butter und Schnittlauch). I also ordered the Sacher-torte. After a while, our waiter came to check on us and I… had finished my Einspänner… so I ordered myself a Sacher Melange too (Single espresso with steamed milk and whipped cream). Caffeine was not loading…

Sacher-torte and coffee

Breakfast was amazing and customer service exquisite. D****e had been there the day before and they remembered her! The maître gifted us a Sacher pen each, and I was ecstatic – laugh, but somehow I ended up with a… minishrine of Sacher mementos from this trip… It’s almost embarrassing.

We still had some time before our train, so instead of heading directly to the station, we popped into the Swarovski flagship shop for a bit. Aside from the toilets, there was a connection with Hyde, too. He had his hat for the [Inside] tour made by them, along with the microphone stand he was going to use on the Konzerthaus concert. Furthermore, he had “designed” a piece of clothing to wear for some promotional activities that featured some 2,000 crystals. It was, to commemorate the event, exhibited in the shop. There were also necklaces described as part of the collaborations, priced at around 600 €. And, unrelated, they also had little boxes full of crystals of hundreds of colours. I decided to get one of those – don’t judge me, I could afford them (I think they were rainbow coloured because Pride was coming?).

Long jacket with crystals sporting Hyde's logo: the four letters of his name superimposed

We walked towards Vienna Central Station Wien Hauptbahnhof to board a train to Bratislava, the capital of the neighbouring country of Slovakia [Slovenská republika]. Slovakia and the Czech Republic used to be one country before the Velvet Divorce (1992), one of the few bloodless disintegrations of the old Europe towards the end of the 20^th century. When the two countries split up, Bratislava took over as capital of Slovakia, while Prague, the capital of the dissolving unit, remained as such for the Czech Republic. Hence, Bratislava gives off a bit of a “new” vibe, despite having existed for over a thousand years. The train ride from Vienna barely takes an hour (50 km distance), and you really don’t get to see / feel / realise when you cross the border between countries, which feels weirdly amazing and sad at the same time. The only notice you get is that you must bring printed tickets if you buy them on the internet, digital ones are not accepted – but there is no gate control to access the trains at Vienna Central. You have to love the presumption of honesty there.

We reached Bratislava Petržalka (the central station, though it is on the outskirts of town). If Prague was scarred by WWII, it seems that Bratislava was most damaged by its time as part of the Eastern Bloc, when the Communist Party reached power in 1948. During the years of Communism, a great deal of the historical centre, including the Jewish quarter, was demolished in order to modernise the city – and actually to build one bridge, which we crossed on our walk from the station to the downtown area. This is the Most Slovenského národného povstania (Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising), most commonly known as the UFO bridge, because of the flying-saucer-shaped restaurant and observation deck it features. Over 400 metres long, it was quite a walk in order to cross over the Danube.

Modern bridge with a flying saucer shaped tower

Once on the correct bank of the river, we undertook the climb to the Castle Bratislavský hrad, which we could visit for half price because they were celebrating Museum Day. The castle may have been built around 4,500 years ago, but the oldest remaining areas date back from the 9^th century. Most of what can be seen today is Baroque, erected in the 18^th century under the reign of Maria Theresa (Holy Roman Empress between 1745 and 1765 and Queen of Bohemia between 1740 and 1780, except for 1742 and 1743), and restored in the 20^th century. Today, the castle is the site of the SNM Museum of History Historické múzeum.

We visited the palace, which gave us access to the courtyard, the building itself – wide staircases decorated with golden stucco – the treasury, and several historical exhibitions, including the religious art that used to be found in the Medieval chapel. We climbed up to the Queen’s Tower – a bit of a mistake on my part, the stairs down made me dizzy and queasy – and the Romanesque foundations, including a deep well. On our way out we stopped by the Baroque Garden.

Bratislava castle

As we headed towards the city centre, we stopped by St Martin’s Cathedral Katedrála svätého Martina. The interior and the exterior clashed in my mind. The outer area was white with a terracota-coloured tiled roof, and a metallic spire atop the tower. The interior is lined with gothic arches built in stone, dating from 1311. The ceiling is decorated with golden details, and the windows behind the altar let beautiful light in. When we left the cathedral, through a different entrance, I saw that the other side of the church features stonework indeed. So it seems that the angle matters a lot!

Gothic cathedral with starry vaults

A few minutes later we were in Ventúrska, the main street of the historical centre, to have lunch. We ended up getting an outside table at a small place called Loclub Food & Drink. We shared a bruschetta with avocado (two pieces of bread, tomatoes, olive oil, red onion, garlic, basil pesto, avocado) and Bryndzové pirohy, sheep cheese pierogi (potato dumplings with cheese, sour cream, and fried bacon). I did not feel like food, but I think I was less light-headed after it, and my stomach had settled.

We continued on the street and we got to Michalská brána (Michael’s Gate), which during Medieval times was one of the city gates. The building that stands today is a Baroque reconstruction. We did not go in, but turned at the corner and undid a bit of our way until we got to Main Square Hlavné námestie, which holds palaces, the town hall, statues, a fountain and lots of overheated tourists searching for a drink or an ice cream. We were on our search for Farský kostol sv. Alžbety, Church of Saint Elizabeth, better known as the Blue Church. Its main feature is… being baby blue. It’s built in a style I had never heard about, Hungarian Secession, designed by Edmin Lechner in the early 20^th century. It was indeed… very blue. It reminded me of kids’ toys.

Church painted in light blue

We slowly made our way back towards the station, through the iron bridge Starý most and the park Sad Janka Král’a along the Danube, which led to some amazing views of the Castle Bratislavský hrad.

Danube river, and the castle and cathedral of Bratislava in the background

We took the train back to Austria and left Slovakia behind. That evening we had a reservation for dinner at the beer garden Glacis Beisl in Vienna. The place was packed and loud, but the food was good. The one upside of the heatwave is that dining outside felt really nice. I decided to treat myself to my own Schnitzel – Original Wiener Schnitzel from Austrian milk-fed veal with potato and coleslaw salad and cranberries (Original Wiener Schnitzel vom österreichischen Milchkalb mit Erdäpfel-Vogerl-Salat und Preiselbeeren) and an apple juice drink, which came in a pint glass – awesome.

Breaded meat and potato salad

You’d think we would be turning in afterwards, right? Wrong. D****e had also arranged to meet another friend for a drink afterwards, so we headed out towards Selleny’s Bar, adjacent to the Hilton. I had a very lemony (and overpriced) lemonade there. Finally, we headed back to the hotel for a shower and bed, but once more I did not sleep much.

22nd May 2026: Airports and libraries {Vienna & day trips, May 2026}

Posted on 4 October 2026 by JBinnacle

Of course, when the drive to the airport is smooth and you avoid the worst of the daily traffic jam, something else happens. This time around, it was a security-check screw-up. The lady had decided that every item needed a different tray – it was unthinkable that a backpack and a fanny pack could coexist in the same space. Unfortunately, the tray system had broken down and was not moving. Travellers got stuck explaining “there are no trays” while she yelled “one item per tray” in a never-ending cycle that took at least five minutes to break.

My plane left at 8:40 and I landed in Viena a few minutes ahead of schedule, around 11:30. That gave me enough time to reach the train station and take the 12:19 S7 train to Rennweg, which was the very convenient station next to the hotel (I had booked something near a transport hub; the fact that it had a direct connection to the airport was direct was a plus we discovered later). I got myself a snack, and walked to the hotel to check in and meet D****e, who had arrived a few hours earlier. After she had freshened up, we headed towards the Austrian National Library Österreichische Nationalbibliothek while she told me that she had come on the same flight as Hyde, and gave me updates on all her Japanese friends’ status as they converged onto Austria.

As we walked, we entered the Unesco Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna, recognised in 2001 and placed in the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2017, due to urbanistic pressure. One of the main elements in the Viennese architecture is the Hofburg, the main imperial palace of the Habsburgs in Austria. At the end of WWI in 1918, the Austria-Hungary Empire came to an end, and since then the palace has been repurposed – different parts of it may be visited, such as Sisi’s quarters, the Riding School, or the library itself (and all its branches).

The seed of Austrian National Library Österreichische Nationalbibliothek dates back to Emperor Karl VI (Charles VI), who established the court library around 1739. The building was erected in the Baroque style, designed by Johann Fischer von Erlach. Its main feature is the State Hall Prunksall, which houses the book collection amassed by the Habsburgs, particularly some 15,000 books belonging to Prince Eugene of Savoy. The library hosts around 200,000 volumes in dark walnut cases that reach the ceilings, decorated with frescoes. The floors are marble, and here and there stand world globes and sculptures by Lorenzo Mattielli. Oh, and there are secret doors within the shelves that lead to hidden rooms. We only visited the State Hall that day, but I would come back to the Papyrus Museum on Monday.

Classical library

A couple of days prior to our arrival, Hyde had tweeted (or whatever) that there were posters of his show throughout Vienna. One of them was easy to find – it had the Neogothic Votive Church Votivkirche in the background. D****e wanted to find them all, and I wanted to see the church, which was unfortunately closed. Also unfortunately, it seemed that all the weather forecasts for the few days I’d be in town had been… wrong. Despite announcing mild spring temperatures, we got hit by a heatwave. I am okay with heat but… I did not have appropriate clothes for it so… whoops. Despite the weather, we walked a lot, and did a lot of checking for the posters as we did. We may have spotted around 20 or so (and only after the concert checked if we could unglue one).

I was getting a bit dizzy, so I suggested stopping for a snack. We sat at a McDonald’s Hyde ordered food from once, so it fit our theme. D****e had a map of locations that were more or less related to Hyde’s activities in town. Following that, we stumbled around the church Kirche Maria am Gestade. In front of it stood a figure of Minerva, holding a little owl in one hand, a crown in the other. I thought it was a street art installation, and I wondered about the placement, but it turns out to be something for the… European Congress of Radiology, which took place in March, and had a Classical gods and goddesses theme, maybe because there was a very important person there called Minerva Becker.

Kirche Maria am Gestade (Mary at the Riverbank) is a catholic church built in the Gothic style between 1394 and 1414. It is one of the few actual Gothic buildings in town, and was popular amongst sailors on the Danube – it stands on the former fluvial terrace of one of the now disappeared flows of the river. It is not a big church, with a narrow nave and a 56-metre tower slightly newer than the body of the church. It was a very pretty structure that I enjoyed a lot.

Gothic church on top of some stairs

We walked a little towards the town centre and ended up at Kohlmarkt, from where I got a view of Michaelerplatz and the Hofburg palace. We turned towards Graben to find the Column of Pest Wiener Pestsäule, a High Baroque column built to commemorate the victims of the plague epidemic of 1679. It was designed by Paul Strudel, but many other sculptors had a hand in it, apparently. Erected in white stone and gold, it represents from the highest level down, the Holy Trinity, the angels, King Leopold I, and his citizens.

Baroque commemorative column in marble and gold

Next, we visited the Baroque church Peterskirche (St. Peter’s church), built in the first third of the 18^th century to replace and earlier Romanesque one. After two failed designs, the main architect was Francesco Martinelli, who drew inspiration from St Peter’s in the Vatican. Hence, it was the first domed building in Vienna. It is however very… small, erected in a very confined space in a crossroads, it feels cramped.

Baroque church

Eventually, we made our way towards Café Landtmann, which calls itself “Vienna’s most sophisticated coffee house” to have dinner with some of D****e’s friends who had also come from Japan. Though it is one of the iconic places in town (and also held a connection to Hyde, hence why they wanted to go), dinner was a mess. Five of us were crammed into a tiny booth, the eatery was bustling and there was barely any space. And jet-lagged excited Japanese is no way near understandable by my poor language skills. They decided they wanted to share everything, which I thought was a mistake – very little space, large plates difficult to share… But I’m not going to raise a ruckus out of food of all things. I’m just going to order an alcohol-free cocktail (actually a raspberry-lemon lemonade) that matches in price all the beer and alcohol they are going to order.

We shared „The Legend“ („Die Legende“: Viennese Schnitzel made from the finest cut of breaded veal, parsley potatoes, leaf salad, cranberry jam and a lemon wedge); Viennese Beef Goulash (Wiener Rindsgulasch, with bread dumpling, goulash crunch and pickled cucumber); White Asparagus (Spargel with beurre blanc, chives and buttered panko crumbs); Landtmann Sausages “à la bonne heure” (Landtmannwürstel à la bonne heure, boiled sausages in goulash jus with mustard mayo, horseradish, goulash crunch and a hand roll).

Different Austrian dishes

I ended up mostly eating the bread with the Schnitzel lemon and the salad. I had not realised the goulash would have so much garlic on it. Finally, they ordered coffee and Kaissermarn (shredded pancakes) as dessert. In the end, it was 40 bucks per person for a cramped mediocre experience. The staff was nice and people-watching interesting, from people super dolled-up because they were coming from / going to the opera, to ripped jeans.

We left and walked back to the hotel. After a long shower, we went to bed, but I did not sleep much and was definitely up at sunrise. That helped with the following day’s insane plans, which included breakfast…

22nd – 26th May 2026: Austria, a little Slovakia & Hyde {Vienna & day trips, May 2026}

Posted on 3 October 2026 by JBinnacle

This story actually begins long before May 2026, forging behind the scenes sometime in 2023. On the 13^th of November that year, the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo held a ceremony to appoint Japanese singer Hyde as “Ambassador of Tourism for Austria”. Technically, a “tourism ambassador” is a trained professional who deals with tourist experiences, but in this case, Hyde’s job was promoting a country he had never visited and encouraging his fans to travel there. And he did the work so well that the assignment was extended. He later travelled to Vienna and Salzburg to make whole photo books and film promotional music videos. He also promoted trips from Japan and popped up into the Austrian pavilion in the Osaka Expo.

Hideto Takarai, known artistically as Hyde was born in Wakayama, Japan, in 1969. The year 2026 marks the 25^th anniversary of his music activities, either with the rock band L’Arc~En~Ciel [ラルクアンシエル | Laruku an Shieru], VAMPS, or on his own. He has sporadically collaborated with other artists such as Starset and Yoshiki, with whom he also worked on the the failed “supergroup” The Last Rockstars alongside Miyavi and Sugizo. In 2019, Hyde became the Tourism Ambassador for his hometown, and in 2021 he received a commendation for his activities (maybe that inspired the Austrians?), and he seemed pretty comfortable promoting the place. The city even opened a commemorative gallery in the town hall to thank him for his efforts (which included his own train).

During the European leg of the Hyde [Inside] Live 2025 World Tour there was a lot of speculation and questioning about no stops in Austria. I mean, they must have some live houses, along with all those amazing classical music halls, mustn’t they? Even before the [Inside] tour was over, on the 26^th of October 2025, a new one was announced – Hyde Orchestra Tour 2026 JEKYLL. It was an acoustic tour, with classical arrangements of his greatest hits and new songs. Right up Austria’s alley, don’t you think?

Any rumour of an Austrian concert was, however, met with a firm “no” at first. Until on the 23^rd of December, it turned out that… yes, there was a concert scheduled for Vienna, the capital of Austria – a special live named Hyde Orchestra Tour 2026 JEKYLL in Wien. And it was, I kid you not, aimed at Japanese fans, to the point that there was an organised trip from Japan that for around half a million yen, which provided tickets, hotel with breakfast, basic airfare and transfers airport-hotel-venue. There were a lot of “not included” items, one of them being a day trip from Vienna to Salzburg, (three hours each way. I toyed with doing something similar, but changed my mind) to visit some of the spots chosen for photos and videos.

At 00:00 on the 13^th of January 2026, tickets went on sale through the Wiener Konzerthaus website, and by the time I managed to get through the “buy tickets” English page, my friend D****e had already succeeded in securing seats for both of us in the first row on sale (115 € per person), using the German version. I was extremely impressed.

As soon as I had dates locked, I booked my plane tickets and blocked those days out of the calendar, then got the hotel room. Since D****e and I had decided to bunk together, we had a virtual planning meeting in early April. I was tasked with buying train tickets, she was with booking restaurants, as she wanted to try places that Hyde had visited beforehand. We also agreed that we would not do everything together, but split up for a few hours both Sunday and Monday – as we had some different priorities. Hence, the weekend before I left, I got myself some tickets and made my own plans, which would also give me some time alone to get into my head space and recharge.

We would both arrive in Vienna on Friday the 22^nd, meet at the hotel, and plan the day from there, depending on how jet-lagged she was. On Saturday the 23^rd, we would take a day trip to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Back in Austria, on Sunday we planned to take a short trip to the Alps, then split until the evening. The concert would take place on Monday – assigned seats meant no need to queue up, which is always good news. We left Tuesday rather open to see what we felt like.

It was going to be an intense few days and a couple of early mornings, but she was going to be in the wrong time-zone and I would be in early-morning mode anyway.