Vienna

Random places and thoughts

Consider a weekly pass if there for more than 5 days - buy these online.

Erwachsener ticket 2.10 from airport to city is a supplement charge

Return bottles to vending machines in larger supermarkets. It adds up.

Opening  hours - Sunday shops are generally closed. However there are always shopping and grocery options at major stations and airports.

Tours - Guru Walk also known as Absolute Vienna free tours, though there is an expectation to pay a tip. Really worth it, great guide, I had Kristine, fab to hear insights on the city and its history. Apparently you can rent apartments at the Royal Palace in the city if you put your name on the waiting list.

Secession Gallery

 

Things to do

Too many activities, culture and museums. There are all sorts of passes you can by or if you don't have the energy to museum immersion there are areas to visit such as

 

Museum Quarter

 

 

Joseph Bueys at Mumok or hang out and people watch in the Square, the photo doesn't do it justice but this is a trampoline to lie on a bed over living plants, there are spaces with activities, loads of cafes and many more museums. If I ever return I would want to do the Architecture tour here which only happens on a Saturday.

 

At the Haus der musik, aka Soundhouse you can compose your own polka, conduct an orchestra and immerse yourself in the music history of Vienna.

 

The Vienna State Opera 

Pretty hard to score a ticket they seem to be booked out well in advance, however its possible to get standing room, 6 floors up in the Gods. In 2025 it was only 15 Euros. 

 

Stables of the famous Spanish Riding School and the streets, just have so many things to look at from Massive buildings, squares and parks to quirky shops 

Shopping

From second hand and quirky at places like the 48er-Tandler Margareten, shop, worth going just to see the displays, to cozy woolshops and of course there is definitely high end.

  

            

 Food

Tasty ramen and the most delicious Schnitzel I have ever had

 

Takumi tonkatsu ramen

Krugerstrasse 5

1010 Wien

Near oper

Oper

Walfischgasse 5

1010 vien

For the fancy room and the strudel etc, though not really super tasty, paying for the ambience. Make sure you go upstairs if you want the atmosphere.

 

Everyday biodynamic seems really popular.

 

Gerstner

Kartnerstrasse 51

1010

Cake and coffee

 

My treat to myself, lunch at posh restaurants, often Michelin starred. Lunch is usually a bargain compared to the Evening meals.

Restaurant Konstantin Filippou

 

More Berlin

Things I like about Berlin

Great coffee at RostStatte, plus snacks, worth a trip for the coffee. For those who need soy or other types of coffee, this is the place for you.                    Ackerstraße 173, 10115 Berlin

Banh Mi Stable, Schendelgasse 9, 10119 Berlin, Germany

Delicious bahn mi. 

Coffee

East & Eden
Also, coffee here is pretty good.  Food looked great. Sandwiches, toasted, pastries
torstraße 141, d-10119 Berlin








Food

Yarok - Middle Eastern Food,so fresh and delicious. Definitely will head back here.

Yarok Restaurant | Food from Damaskus! | Torstr. 195, 10115 Berlin

schnitzelei mitte

 

House of Small wonder, Japanese inspired cafe and outdoor garden

 

Sammlung Boros

Reichstag

Jazzy Berlin jam sessions on the River

Monkey Bar, but if you go too late the monkeys go to bed.

You can also catch the monkeys from inside the Bikini Mall, or watch from the rooftop

Neue Galerie

Potsdamer Str. 50, 10785 Berlin

Bookshop with English books, hundt hammer, 

Alte Schönhauser Str. 23-24, 10119 Berlin

 

 

Ben Rahim Coffee Hackeschermarkt Hackerscherhofe 

More good coffee. Best entry to find cafe from Sophiestrasse

https://fathercarpenter.com/

Father Carpenter outdoor and indoor great vibe, coffee and food
Münzstr. 21 - 1. Hof,
10178, Berlin
Germany.

Feurle collection

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/property-and-architecture/the-feuerle-collection-private-art-goes-public-in-berlin/

Casa Camper

Very funky, great shower. Worth knowing though, no fridges in rooms, there is a gathering area on the roof.

I also find Adina at Hackeschermarkt handy and it has cooking facilities.

Getting around

Sich verlaufen, this seemed to be my constant state in Berlin - lost.

It seems there is nothing easy about finding places in Germany, take note travel guides, an s or u-bahn stop and a street address don't seem to carry too much weight in Berlin.  You have to nail which exit you come out of.  If you can tell east and west thats also v. helpful, though I am not good with this, hence my having to go everywhere with half an hour extra time to get lost.  It would be much more helpful if someone actually said turn left out of the station exit leaning to XX street.  Or if you are facing the river, turn right!

Oh and watch out for similar sounding names on those stations.  Kurfurstendamm or Kurfurstenstr. just two stations away from each other.

Even big places like Arena Park are not obvious when you get out of the station.  There are no handy, dandy signs that say Arena Park with nice friendly arrows, it's more of a follow your nose kind of vibe. For somewhere like Templehof, there are three stations that are adjacent to the Park.

The guidebook says Bearpit Karoke in the ampitheatre of Mauer Park. For me its more useful to say get of the tram at the Flea markets and go the park.  There is more than one path, the one to the right will take you to the karaoke ampitheatre, near the basketball court.  If you want markets, go for the one on the left where you'll find stalls, a mixture of really - junk and newer stuff like bags, t-shirts and jewellery.

Good supermarket in Ostbahnof open to 10pm 7 days a week.  Plus on public holidays. If you are gluten intolerant or you like a bit of choice, this is a good place to go.

Mauer Park

Yet again, its hard work figuring out where to go to.  Nordbahnhof is really nowhere near the Flohmarkt and the Karoke, but we did come across a fun place, Berlin beach and we saw some of the wall and then managed to get ourselves to the Flohmarkt.

Demystifying locations Sammler Hoffman, the 2nd courtyard.
Reservations essential.  they have tours in German and English

Sammlung Hoffmann
Sophie-Gips-Höfe, Aufgang C
Sophienstraße 21
10178 Berlin-Mitte
Telefon: +49 30 28 49 91 20
Email: info@sammlung-hoffmann.de
Verkehrsanbindung: U8 Weinmeisterstraße; S-Bahn Hackescher Markt


Neue Heimat, Jazz thing on Friday nights, jam session, but also From the S-Bahn turn right, then right at the yellow building Lots of
music venues in this area/complex



Badeschiff on the Spree, amazing place to have a swim on a hot summer's day.

Food
Kantastrasse for authentic Asian food.  There are lots of wannabees around town that don't cut the mustard if you come from somewhere like Sydney.

Saigon Green was yummy food, nice setting, v friendly staff
Kantstrabe 23, 10623 Berlin
Cheap as, I had 3 starters Duck salad, summer roll and satay for 10.50 

Japan 2024, unexpected Cherry Blossoms

 

Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo 

   

There definitely are a lot of tourists. However they mostly tend to stick to the tourist highlights. With some patience, its possible to find beautiful spots and experiences. Plus many parts of Japan are crowded anyway, so queuing is also part of the experience.

I was inspired by Mindfulness Travel Japan to explore activities that were reflective and meditative from Kintsugi, to the contemporary tea degustation or staying in hotels with onsen, a great way to relax. Along the way I got into my own groove of standing in queues, lots of walking, taking in small, beautiful moments. I definitely recommend this book and I am not on any commissions for any of the links that are in my blog. Just happy to share some great experiences.

Also Time Out Japan is super awesome for up to the minute tips on the newest and calandar sensitive things happening.

 Osaka

Namba Lion

Kintsugi with Joseph 

This was a beautiful experience. In a very old wooden building in Namba (near the Namba Lion). Of course Kintsugi is very complex and takes weeks to complete. This is a great intro with some pre prepared bits. NB the lacquer has to dry so Joseph shipped the piece to my hotel where I was in 7 days time. We also got to see a beautiful collection of kintsugi upstairs and we made some green tea. Plus he walked us around to the Namba Lion at the end of our lesson. Learnt a lot about this beautiful art. - Was great value.   

 Traditional Kintsugi Work Shop in Namba Osaka, booked through Viatour - click for link  

Explore Deep Backstreet Osaka 

This was a fascinating walking tour of the less glamorous side of Osaka, empty buildings, entertainment areas and the backstreets where its like a version of Amsterdam, there's even canals here. It does feel like you go off the grid and its pretty full on couple of hours of walking, but so interesting. Link

Museum island - really worth a visit, I visited Nakanoshima Museum of Art, contemporary gallery with exhibitions. There is also a more traditional museum, great place to walk around. Kuromon markets and Osaka Castle Cherry Blossoms walk Kozumo Cherry blossoms came late this year and there are lots of walks where you can enjoy the blossoms and for me, time to reflect on the transient nature and beauty of life.  There are lots of viewing parties, as its a time to catch up with people. FYI, they are not necessarily glamorous with blue plastic tarp on the ground. Plenty of guide books have info on spots for cherry blossom viewing. Again be prepared for crowds. Early morning is best for tranquility. Osaka is a great place for food, tiny bars at the back of Dotonburi. Friendly people and easy to get around. Just head off the main drag and explore. Kyoto A city full of temples and of course tourists. Guide books say that the city is small, well that may be true, but a trip from the station by bus to the Golden Temple is a good hour. Taxis are worth considering, as is walking between Temples. There are many more temples than I have mentioned, you could spend weeks checking them all out. Its actually quite mind blowing planning and organising. Having heard lots of stories of over tourism in Kyoto and tourist fatigue for the locals I didn't spend enough time here. Good excuse to revisit.

Golden Temple, Kinkakuji is probably the most visited and famous. There is more to the site than just the Golden Pavillion, enjoy the gardens. Ryoan-ji is a classic stone zen garden, very tranquil, especially when you are watching the cherry blossoms fall. There is also a beautiful garden here. Saihoji Temple I absolutely loved this place. The garden of origins and journeys. I found it really meditative. Before you visit the garden you complete some calligraphy with a Buddhist sutra. They limit the visitor numbers and you  have to book to visit this temple.  Kyoto Insider     Sake Experience,  Amazake House. Great experience tasting sake and learning so much about the tastes, quality and food matching. Its a little out of the centre, but so worth doing, its a cute place, and the bars around looked interesting

Kyoto Shibori Museum, a family run business with generations of shibori makers. Apparently it is the only museum specialising in shibori. It gave me a deep appreciation for this craft. A fantastic experience. While your scarf is drying there is an upstairs gallery and shop, definitely worth a visit.

ThisIs ice cream bouquets and a beautiful shop with plants. Its in a small shopping mall that backs onto the ACE Hotel in Kyoto. Boutique shops on offer around here.

Philosophers Path, the incline and walking past the zoo. Taking this path also takes you to the Museum and Gallery area, so you could spend quite a bit of time on this walk. A beautiful thing to do on a Spring day. Nanzenji is a large site with Budhist Temple, beautiful grounds.

Higashi Hoganji, another spectacular active Buddhist temple complex, with the most beautiful gem of a garden over the roads in the backstreets

There are so many guide books and sites such as Arayashima (bamboo grove) and Fushimi Inari Shrine. Capturing quiet moments is truly a challenge. Arayashima is a full on tourism area, with other gardens, the train and boutique shops on the main street. There are a lot of walking trails and if the hills are daunting, there are rickshaws.

The red tori gates of Fushimi Inari Srhine are looking a little tired. Don't go with high expectations of tranquility. There may be better places to see Tori gates and bamboo groves.

Tokyo

Of course there is so much to see and do in Tokyo. Its huge, travel can easily take over an hour. My biggest tip is to stay in different areas and then focus on hitting the sights closest to those locations. Also, if you stay a little away from the big hits of Shibuya and Shinjuku you can discover a different pace of life. I stayed in Ryogoku District, Asakusa Takadanobaba. Each area was great for different reasons, next time I think I'll go with Koenji and around Cat Street.

 Sakurai Tea Shop

Tea degustation an experience in an upmarket boutique mall. Such care is taken with the brewing of the tea, the first pour, accompanied by dainty morsels of food that highlight the tastes. Watching the tea being brewed is also special, contemporary tea tasting. I would definitely return, maybe for the cocktail experience.

What you see in the streets of Tokyo, near the Zoo at Ueno

2K 540 Many hand made goods and artisnal crafts people.

Nakameguro, was the only place in Tokyo where they sold drinks and food to eat on the streets, plus it was not just any drinks, more along the cocktail trail. Stroll down the sides of this canal for cafes and shops. Think second hand, shiny trendy cool fashion before it hits the super upmarket labels that are just down the road in the area of Nakameguro where you will find Tsutaya Books, (if you love book shops, well worth a visit) think French labels in a less hectic environment than Shinjuku.

Loved the restaurants dedicated to only one dish ie ramen or tonkatsu and only open Monday to Friday for lunch.  This one is run by the brother of Nujabes and is called Shibuya Usagi. The background music is Nujabes. This is the truffle ramen, rather delish. For those who don't know Nujabes, you really have to look him up and listen to his music. Some background here

Other restaurants here 

 

Roppongi, Museum triangle, something for every taste. This is National Art Centre and 21-21 Design site. The Design site is really interesting if you are interested in robotics. This is a really nice area, beautiful parks, some pretty upmarket malls.

 

 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame in Tokyo

I did this experience through Air BnB and my guide was Jason. It was so fun, we were in the fans section and Jason had the words for the chants and also the props and a bag of Japanese goodies. The enthusiasm of the fans and the atmosphere were great. I was definitely glad I did this with someone who knew about baseball.

 

Team Lab, Borderless. Opened in 2024. I loved it and spent over 3 hours there. The digital art is evolving, so many different rooms and images. Don't miss the tea room and the interactive tea.

Mini pigs seemed to be all the rage. There are animal cafes everywhere from Otters to cats, to Owls. I was a bit conflicted on this one as what happens to the animals once they are no longer cute?  The people at this one seemed pretty ethical, but its just that they are only super cute while they are under a year old.

One of my favourite jazz clubs in the world, Blue Note in Tokyo. A very Japanese experience. If you love jazz, you definitely need to check it out. You can catch the best international artists here. One tip, its really hard to book online, you might need help from someone who can book for you in Japanese.

Lush shinjuku, - spa in this branch. This was the most sensory massage I have ever had in a super good way. The Good Hour, is actually more than an hour, so leave lots of time for this, from choosing the smells, to be sea shanties, designed for the experience. I would definitely do this again. Treat yourself.

Hamburger Yoshi, I needed the instructions to work out how to eat these deconstructed burgers. They close once they run out each day, roughly around 8pm. With the basic serve you get three patties, which they serve you one at a time and the sauce is kept warm on a small flame. If you need more rice, they'll refill, but you only get one egg. Intrigued? try it.

  

Teppanyaki Nanaumi at the top of the hotel, with this amazing view. Food was great, I had the basic lunch with alcohol and it was good. I didn't mean to do this, the guy upsold me and it wasn't cheap, but on reflection great value. Plus it was a place you can linger and just watch the river world go by. Close to the station so easy to get to.

 

Other places that I want to go back to Koenji, for 2nd hand shopping, small restaurants and bars. A more chill part of Tokyo. Feels more like the atmosphere of what you might think Japan would be like.

Ginza and Ginza6, don't forget to check out the garden rooftops. In fact they are all over Tokyo so when you need to refresh head to the roof of a department store or mall.

Ueno if you want to go shopping in a place more for locals rather than tourists.

Tokyo Station underground is a sensory overload in terms of people and shopping, especially on the weekend and peak hours, be prepared for the onslaught.

Yanaka Ginza area has hipster brewery and cute shops, I think best to go in the daytime as things seemed to close early in the evenings

TIPS

• Group your to dos into geographical areas
• Hotels provide pyjamas and slippers - so don't pack them
• 7-Eleven is a great place to get cash from your overseas cards
• Pasmo or whichever one you use are great for small expenses. Cash is fine, but you end up with loads of small coins
•  Travel as lightly as you can if you are using public transport, it makes life so much easier
• Dont rely on real time directions, in really congested areas all bets are off. Its good to have a downloaded copy of a map on your device. There are also helpful tourist information desks.
  
• Nice drip filter coffee in most hotels, however more posh hotels will have Nespresso
• Try the small restaurants, there are loads of Michelin star places. It involves queueing, but that is part of the experience. 
• At the end of the day fancy department store food halls have discounted specials, if you want quality at reduced prices
• At many supermarkets the process is that you go to checkout and they ring up your items, you then are directed to a machine to pay and you go to a different area again to bag. If you need chopsticks for your takeaway just ask. 
• Always check the train destination before you get on. Multiple trains use the same platforms. You can find yourself going in the wrong direction or on an all stations instead of an express or vice a versa.
• You don't have to reserve seats on the Shinkansen, there are carriages with unreserved seats on most trains - just check if this makes you  
• Kissaten cafes may be romantic, but beware the coffee is usually like bitter mud and expensive, around 800 JPY.  Plus some of them still have smoking sections eg Dug cafe, Tokyo, if you are a non smoker, this may not be too pleasant as its in a Basement and if you are a non smoker, smoke travels
• Liquor Museum is a chain across Japan of bars attached to combinis. No cover charges and some pretty decent looking bars.
• You don't need to stick to the travel guide bars etc, there are so many really cute neighbourhood bars, be adventurous and if you see a sign, there might be something fun and unique ahead.
  

The dont bother list

 

Oedo Antique market

On the day I went it was a motley blend of old and new. Maybe there is a gem in there somewhere, but it wasn't as satisfying as markets in Sydney. It was a meh for me.