We headed to Vienna hoping that the 30th Annual Danube Island Festival would be a highlight of that weekend. To find the cheapest accommodation possible, we opted for the Wien West campground. Once again we were nestled behind a squad of deluxe camper vans, but nonetheless happy to avoid the mark up in hostel prices during festival weekends.
The free festival stretched 6 km along the Danube river, making it Europe’s biggest open air event. Our 
senses were saturated with new smells and sounds from bustling foodstands and stages. We finally reached the end of the island to hear the artist Julien LePlay, who was much like a german version of John Mayer. On top of his distinct tone, we actually welcomed the cliché lyrics as he spilled out his heart in simple german verses we could actually understand. We both noticed that the acoustics were better then any we had heard at summer festivals elsewhere, especially impressive while accommodating a weekend crowd of almost 3 million.
We joined the crowds munching on Langos, a delicious greasy garlicky flat bread (think salty beaver tail). This is the kind of addictive artery-clogging snack that we would have been happy to leave behind after the festival, but it turns out it is actually a traditional dish originating in our next stop of Hungary. Hungry?
We moved to a hostel after the festival just in time to pack up our tent to outsmart the coming thunderstorms. We did not however escape getting wet, as we ran around the city with a soggy map in search of the Freud Museum. We later realized the museuem on “Burgasse 19” was not a street address, but actually referring to the 19th district and a completely different Burgasse street from which we were becoming much too familiar with.
To my amazement, the museum was actually in the apartment where Freud was born, which later became the office he developed his practice. You truly felt like a patient coming to see Dr. Freud, as you rang the bell to be buzzed into the museum, and later steped into the waiting room with the original furnishing and artwork from over 100 years ago. We saw original pieces of his writings, home videos narrated by Anna Freud, and many other ins and outs that I especially found fascinating
We later visited the beautiful Central Graveyard, where the famous composers Bach, Brahms, and Shubert are buried. Although I might have once thought this morbid, I have a new found appreciation for graveyards in Europe. It brings a whole new level of serenity when
unlike any other area, you can have complete peace of mind with no need to avoid oncoming traffic, or even worse, the oncoming hawkers.
Daphodill 