Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.

Steven Wright once said that "Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time." If you ask me that is one of the best quotes I've ever heard in my entire life. It is simple yet true and beautiful in its own right. The sad thing is that with modern inventions of cars, airplanes, bicycles and public transport no-one ever walks anywhere anymore. Now I suppose that isn't entirely true because there is the odd person who rejects the conventions of modern society and instead enjoys walking for no particular reason at all other than to simply walk.

I suppose that is what brought me to walk up and down the entire length of the longest shopping street in Vienna (also known as Mariahilferstrasse), an occurrence I am embarrassed to say I have never experienced before. I suppose like many others I have never really had the chance to do so but I must say it is well worth it.

So there I was, Friday the 5th of February 8:56am looking for a ball gown for the following day, and I just happened to take a wrong turn when leaving the subway station. I ended up walking up towards the top of the street when I meant to walk towards the bottom. I hadn't realized that in Vienna, even on the biggest shopping street, most shops don't open until at least 9:30 and so I decided to continue on my journey partially in order to waste time but also just to see what was actually at the top. What I found was a typical scene of cars rushing past and buildings all around but in the distance I spotted a pretty little church called the "Maria vom Siege" Church, tucked in between two typically Austrian buildings with its own little courtyard. For some reason it made me smile and I felt that my journey had been worthwhile.

Then as I began my decent back down the street towards the famous "Peek and Cloppenburg" in order to find a dress (last minute of course), I happened upon a dress shop called "Joppich" which look perfectly well stocked and definitely less expensive than Peek and Cloppenburg where I would expect to pay over 200 Euros for a decent dress. Imagine my luck when I look over and right there on the rack is the most amazing dress I have ever seen staring me right in the face. It was the last one left and it was my size, the only question now was would it actually fit me because you never know. Clearly someone in charge likes me because the dress fit and it only cost 99 Euros which is much less than I expected to pay.

So my work was done. I had found a dress, I already had shoes, a bag, a necklace and earrings to match and so I decided to walk all the way down the street to Museums Quatier. On the way I saw a charming bicycle which I half intended to steal (although not really, it was just a fleeting thought) of which there is a picture below.

If I hadn't walked all the way to the top of Mariahilferstrasse, then I never would have found that amazing dress and I wouldn't have finally seen the top of the street and I also wouldn't have seen that awesome pink bicycle. Basically, I just wanted to say that good things can come from walking and people should definitely do it more often.