A Quick Walk Near Vienna Central Station
After frantically searching for the train station on my very first day in Europe on a rainy day, I ended up with a solid hour and a half to wait for my train. Since I had the time, I decided to take a leisurely walk around the station to calm my nerves and see the area.
There's no one on the streets, but to my Asian eyes, the rows of buildings look absolutely stunning. From a distance, I get excited thinking, "I'm really in Europe," but when I look closer, the graffiti on every wall completely ruins the mood. I really wish they would clean all that graffiti up. Or at least have actual artists paint something pretty, but it's all just illegible letters that might be their names. The buildings are as beautiful as something out of a fairy tale, but anywhere a human arm can reach is inevitably covered in scribbles.
It's almost like a war-torn city—no shops are open, and very few people are walking around. Never mind the closed shops, there are hardly even any passersby. Their way of resting on the weekend seems so different from ours. Before coming here, I heard that in Europe, people usually spend weekends at home with their families, but I had no idea it would be this deserted.
The most fascinating thing about European buildings is that, unlike back home, they are built so close together there isn't even a gap between them. People usually say this is to protect against enemy invasions (specifically bombings) and for winter heating, but coming from a country where noise complaints between floors can lead to violent fights, I can't help but worry about the soundproofing. (Well, some say it's just an architectural style, but anyway.)
I looked it up later and realized I had been walking down Favoritenstraße. The place marked on the map is one of the more famous shopping malls on that street.