Austria
A Winter Week in Austria: Vienna, Salzburg and the Feeling of Coming Home
By Sebastian Latorre
The Salzach River through Salzburg Austria
I spent one week in Austria in December and the entire trip felt calm, cold and full of small moments that made the country feel special. I was there with my mom, my brother Sergio and my stepdad. The weather shifted between rain and thick clouds and every day felt like a true European winter. Even with the cold, Austria had a soft and elegant atmosphere and I loved how peaceful the cities felt.
We based ourselves in Vienna for five days to visit Sergio who lives there. Vienna immediately stood out to me. The city looks clean and grand in a way I had not expected. The buildings are historic but somehow feel new and perfectly kept. Walking through Vienna at night felt calm and beautiful. The Christmas lights glowed a warm yellow and the streets were quiet and peaceful. It never felt chaotic. It felt like a city with confidence and charm.
One evening, Sergio and I went ice skating at the Rathausplatz Christmas market. The entire plaza was glowing with lights and music and people laughing on the ice. Skating there with my brother felt like one of those simple moments that becomes a core memory. It was fun, cold and full of that bright winter energy that Vienna carries during the holidays.
I visited the Natural History Museum and the museum across from it and both were impressive in scale and detail. Vienna feels like the peak of western European culture with world class museums and an elegant sense of style. People dress nicely and move quietly and everything feels organized. I also went to a Mozart orchestra performance inside an old church which felt like the perfect Vienna experience. The music echoed through the room and created a feeling that was both old and timeless.
One of my favorite moments of the entire trip was visiting the places Sergio now calls home. Seeing where he lives, walking his campus at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna and sleeping on the floor of his apartment reminded me of when we used to share a room at Carriage House Way. It brought back childhood memories in a completely new setting.
We spent one rainy day in Linz where Sergio and I walked through the Christmas market and along the river. It was cold and wet but the city still had a charm to it. After that we traveled to Salzburg which was the most beautiful place we saw during the trip. The city sits beneath the Alps and the mountains rise softly in the distance. We visited several Sound of Music filming locations and the monastery was my favorite. I love that movie and all I could think of was “the hills are alive” as we walked through the same places where those scenes were filmed.
Austria did not give me any wild stories but it gave me something better. It gave me slow days of walking through old streets, eating schnitzel with cranberry sauce at a famous restaurant and enjoying Christmas markets filled with chimney cakes, sausages and mulled wine. Everything felt calm and elegant.
The trip made me appreciate Vienna even more and it might be my favorite city in western Europe. I want to return someday to see Hallstatt and Innsbruck and spend more time in the Alps.
If Austria offers anything, it offers a feeling of quiet beauty. It is calm, historic, refined and full of culture and charm. It is a place I would happily return to again.