To help you climb out of that hole, here are some tips on what to do this weekend, including a few streaming events and some inspiration on what else you can do to make the most out of these…let’s say, strange times:
1. Blue Bird Festival 2020 (Streaming-Edition)
1 festival, 2 days, 4 artists, and no one in the crowd to elbow you, or scream in your ear. This coming weekend, the Blue Bird Festival will be streaming live from Porgy & Bess into your living room, bathroom, or any room of your apartment where you enjoy listening to music.
Rather than foregoing the entire festival, the team of the Vienna Songwriting Association decided to keep this year’s program light, but of substance, with performances from Alicia Edelweiss, OSKA, Clara Luzia and Amelie Tobien, on the cards. Catch the streaming schedule on their website!
2. Bürgerliches Trauerspiel
This play is one quite like no other. We say this not only because it’ll be performed virtually in front of virtually no audience, but also because director and writer, Martin Gruber, has stuffed the themes of living and mourning into this 1h performance. If you pay close enough attention, the moving words and humorous antics of the story’s main actors may even touch you through your screen at home. The streaming performance can be accessed through the event’s webpage and will also be available online for the remainder of November.
3. Online-Führung: Palais, Botschaften und Paläste
If you fancy a guided tour through a few fancy palaces of Vienna’s 3rd district, then put on your best walking shoes (uhm..we mean comfy slippers) and join this online tour exploring the historic area between Stadtpark and Belvedere with the team from AlpineFoxes. This tour agency is preparing to offer you a 2h live experience that will see you discovering a whole heap of history about the historic quarter known as the Salesianerviertel. For more information, check out the streaming event’s Facebook page.
4. PIXELvienna13
While it would have been great to see and nerd out on PIXELvienna’s computer graphics and animations conference in person, experiencing the three-day event on the streaming platform Twitch is the next best thing. For this digitalised conference, you can tune in to the different streaming rooms to tune into talks by speakers out of the motion design and animation field, including the likes of Barabara Mitterer and Maria Kondratieva. In case you miss some of the talks, or want to simply enjoy the conference all over again, you’ll have the opportunity to do so on Sunday’s replay-stream.
5. Wien Modern
The Wien Modern Festival looks to push Vienna’s music and art scene into the spotlight during the 32-day festival and, it appears, COVID-19 will not be standing in the organiser’s way.
Ok, the pandemic may have blocked the road, but there’s still plenty of room for alternative ways having the show go on, such as sharing the artist’s work via live performances throughout November. And this weekend, you can be part of the show, despite the lockdown. The likes of the musical group, Mondrian Ensemble, and the composer duo, Hedda, are in the mix alongwith poetry recitals and film installations from various Austria-based artists. For the full programme, visit the official Wien Modern website!
6. Soak in the stillness and wonder of Winter with a walk in your hood (or somebody else’s)
Vienna isn’t only a beauty in autumn, but it also flaunts some style in Winter. If your routine walk around your neighbourhood park just feels too mundane (as we know all of us have taken plenty of them this year) than venture into the streets you haven’t ever walked down in your hood. If you’ve thoroughly covered your own Bezirk, than why not discover a neighbourhood you have no idea about. Simmering for example. Ok, maybe not Simmering (as not even the people in Simmering would recommend discovering Simmering) but just choose one on the map and go exploring! It’s what we do everyday for this magazine, and take it from us – it makes us love this city more and more.
Oh, and maybe whip out your camera to grab some winter-esque pictures of the street scenes you see, and compare them to the shots in our autumn photo story, when everything was yellow-mellow and orange-…(We don’t really know a word that rhymes with orange).
7. Try out hiking to see how fascinating it is
‘It’s good for your soul, it’ll broaden your horizon, you’ll connect with nature…’- sound like your super enthusiastic outdoorsy friend? Well, we’re about to sound a lot like them, as well. Yes, climbing up and down hills during crazy cold temperatures is somehow pleasurable for many, and when they tell you it’s the perfect escape from your worries and woes – they ain’t lying.
There’s no better way to maintain a 1m distance from everybody than not being near anyone at all. Hiking and Austria go together like hot chocolate and winter, which you can reward yourself with once you’ve completed your trail! Check out our list of hiking trails to find out where you can start your new weekend activity all by your lonesome.
8. Take a walk through Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof
Another unique location to explore when there’s not much else to do (ok, even on a normal day) is Vienna’s largest cemetery, the Zentralfriedhof.
Believe it, or not, walking amongst the dead in the beautiful gardens of this cemetery can be surprisingly calming. As you make your way through the expansive grounds of the Zentralfriedhof, you may spot the gravestones of well-known figures like Falco and Hans Moser and daydream about the forgone lives of all the other souls. It may make the time we’re living in now not seem so tragic.
To give you an idea of what kind of experience will be awaiting you at the Zentralfriedhof, check out this photo story.
9. Give a helping hand to someone that’s quarantined
With the static rise of infected people, it’s no wonder the city has become a ghost town. Organisations like Team Nächstenliebe and Frag Nebenan are there for you so you can be there for your neighbours.
These initiatives bring together volunteers to help anyone that requires extra assistance for daily tasks. If you’re feeling extra generous and like you want to be helpful, check out their websites, and get informed on how to help during these confusing times.
10. Go for a extremely good coffee
OK, so you can’t sit inside your favourite cafe at the moment, but thankfully, many of the cafes that specialise in making awesome coffee are offering a takeaway service at the moment (Praise the Lord! Whoever that Lord may be). Check out our list of where you can grab a scrumptious coffee to-go, then head to one of these places and find a nice spot to sit in the freezing cold and enjoy that coffee. OK, it’s more pleasurable than it sounds.
11. Walk (or bike) along the waters of the Danube of the Donaukanal
There’s something about being near water that calms our species, and luckily, Vienna’s got a river cutting right through it. Head out to the Danube on the U-Bahn and simply go for a walk, skim a few stones and soak in the calm. The Donauinsel is a good spot for such a calm-inducing walk. If you’d rather not ride all the way out to the Danube, the paths along the Donaukanal will also do the trick.
12. Have a unique dining in experience
OK, so ordering in isn’t really a stand out experience typically, but why not try something different. Get all dressed up with your housemate or your partner, or on your own if you’re bold and brave enough and order in one of the unique meals that some of Vienna’s restaurants are offering. For example, Mochi Ramen in the 2nd district is now offering a Ramen kit, which you can order and put together yourself as to ensure your Ramen is super fresh. Figar and Ramasuri have adapted well and are offering stellar menus designed to travel well, while the most-hyped restaurant in recent weeks in the city, Brösl, is worth checking out for it’s delivery street cred’.
13. Organise your own @Home Zoom Christmas market
It may seem sad or depressing at first (maybe even both), but if you gather your best pals for a faux Christkindlmarkt experience on Zoom, the fun of it all may trump the depressing reasons why we’ve reached this point in our lives.
Here’s some tips on how to host your online Christkindlmarkt experience: Get everyone to DIY their favourite thing about the Christmas market eg. one person makes those huge Krapfen, another roasts chestnuts – you all, of course, make your own Punsch concoction – and maybe somebody wants to find the cheesiest cheese in their local grocery store to pull of some yummy Raclette. We’ve got other fun ideas from our Christmas market visit in case you need more inspo.
Either way, set up your Zoom appointment, put on your ugly Christmas sweater, and enjoy your virtual Christkindlmarkt with a bunch of your friends!
14. Visit a neighbourhood market
Vienna’s neighbourhood markets are still all open, and a visit to one makes for a lovely thing to do on Saturday morning or Friday afternoon. Check out our list to all of the city’s noteworthy farmer’s markets and also our list covering all Vienna’s neighbourhood markets. The market map above will have you covered as it gives you an overview of all of the markets we recommend.
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