VIENNA—“It’s so clear you can see the whole city,” my friend Gabriela says, pointing at the scene below us. We’re in the middle of a vineyard on a hill high above Vienna. Below us, the Danube slowly winds its way through the Austrian capital. The Gothic spires of St. Stephen’s Cathedral rise high in the air, and I can see the Prater, Vienna’s Giant Ferris Wheel, in the distance.
Even though it’s a view I’ve seen before, the scene makes me smile. Vienna captured my heart when I was a student studying abroad. When I arrived here, I didn’t like wine, coffee, or classical music. But Vienna worked her magic, and when I left, all three were things I relished.
