Your Ultimate Guide of what to do to make the most out of quarantine in Vienna

Meanwhile, all this home time during this bizarre moment in history that we’re all living out now together in quarantine can feel damn daunting.  However, we want to make it easier and more enjoyable for you, you beautiful people of Vienna (that’s right – remember you’re all damn beautiful).

We give you the following tips below of what you can do at home throughout the next few weeks not only to help you sanely survive quarantine, but to rather make the most out of it:

 

1. Take an online tour of a museum, or gallery

Missing the culture and art? Well, a whole bunch of museums around the world are offering free streamed guided tours, including a few in Vienna. Just imagine – you can soak it all in without the crowds! International museums include the following:
+ THE MET
+ the Louvre in Paris
+ TATE Britain
+ Musee d’ Orsay
+ the Uffizi gallery (in Florence – works from Michelangelo, Raphael and Botticelli can be seen there)
+ The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

Vienna museums include the following treasures:
+ The Leopold Museum
+ Albertina
+ MAK
+ the Museum of Military History
+ Belvedere Museum (where you can hang out with Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’)

You get the museums all to yourself to explore the elaborate decorative architecture on its interior, and you can peer into some of their exhibits. So no excuses for not getting cultured, even in quarantine.

Photo © PanAustria

 

2. Turn your living room into a club and party like it’s 2020, and ya’ just don’t care!

Where: ​Youtube Stream (link will be posted in the Facebook event page) at home!
When: SAT, M​arch 28, 2020 9pm–4am

Vienna ​Würstelstand presents… ISOLATION NATION! A stream party going all night hosted from inside an empty Vienna club with some of the city’s best DJs in Vienna bringing it all right to your laptop, PC or TV! Join the LIVE youtube stream from 9pm onwards and party with thousands of others doing the same into the early hours.

Plus we’ll have a bar-on-wheels by our friends at Burger’s Bar Wien delivering drinks to houses all over the city. Win-Win! No virus will stop Vienna from getting its kicks. And there’s nothing like dancing in your living room while history is happening. Details regarding the local DJ collectives, and how you can order our drinks delivery service will be announced in the coming week. Check out more info on the Facebook event page. 

 

3. Turn your living room into a theater with these live streams!

How does catching some culture on stage while wearing your pyjamas sound? From the Marx Halle Globe Wien to the Volksoper and the  Vienna Opera House, the stages of Vienna have got you covered.

Theaters and concert venues are streaming performances daily from their extensive archives. Plus, the good news is this time you can sing along without getting kicked out! Oh, and it’s all free 🙂

Theatres and concert venues streaming performances include: 

Wiener Staatsoper

When: D​aily Screenings, check website for starting times
Website: ​www.staatsoperlive.com/live

Globe Theater

When: A​vailable anytime
Website: ​www.globe.wien

Volksoper

When: Available anytime
Where: Volksoper Youtube

 

4. Pretend you’re in a board games Paradice (get it? sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves)

Guess what?! You don’t have to miss out on games night – Woohoo! Vienna’s Paradice Game Bar is hosting interactive gaming nights that you can join in on. On different nights of the week, they’ll be showing participants some cool board games you might not have heard of before and lead them through some point & click gaming adventures, all on their twitch channel!

Alternatively, you can organise Google Hangout or Skype games nights with your friends. All you need is a bit of organisation, both sides to have the same board game, and a solemn pledge to not cheat off screen 😉

Paradice game nights hard details:

When:
MON, FRI: 7pm –​ I​NTERACTIVE GAMING
WED: 7pm​ –​ BOARD GAME NIGHT
SUN: 5pm –​ P​UZZLE ADVENTURES

Website: www.paradice-board-game-nights.at

5. Engage in some DIY Down Time

We might not all be excited about having all of this time at home, however, we’d suggest it’s all a matter of perspective at this point. You now have a no-excuse policy to get things done!

Finish that apartment project you’ve been putting off, like the shelf you’ve been meaning to put up, or the Spring clean reorganizing of you’re apartment that you keep skipping every year because the weather’s just so good. Time to get those DIYs done!

We recommend… n​ot hoarding toilet paper to make a TP tower – only take what you need so you’re neighbour doesn’t have to DIY for their bathroom needs .. yikes!

6. Meet your new green coworkers and get to work

7. Make the most out of those balcony vibes

So, if there’s been anytime to make the most out of having a balcony, it’s now. Make sure you chisel out your routine so that you find yourself on that balcony when the sun is shining on it every day. That daily dose of vitamin D is may important.

Now, if you’re not blessed with a balcony – don’t despair! Partake in the Viennese tradition of “fenstergucker” – lean out, or sit in the frame of your window to catch a little fresh air, sun and lets be honest, spy on those out on the streets. It’s not just an Oma’s sport, anymore.

8. Find your zen and focus on yourself for a little while

We’re recommending this even to the restless amongst us who can’t sit still for 5 minutes. This may be the quietest the city has ever been, take advantage and try your hand at some meditation, or yoga. There are actually some free yoga live streams being offered by many Viennese studios around the city. Check out your local studio, or check out our suggestions below.

It doesn’t require any fancy gym equipment, so just grab a little floor space and settle into your inner zen.

Alternatively, maybe inner peace for you is practicing how to craft the perfect melange from home. Either way it’s best not to panic at a strange time like this, so rest, rejuvenate for when this is all over and you can get back out there as your best self!

+ Eversports
+ myClubs

 

9. Learn something with an online course

OK, so many of us are still doing home office, or studying from home with online lectures, however, we have no doubt that many of us are finding that we have a chunk of spare time to fill. Why not fill it by filling up your brain be learning something new. There are many online courses that are on offer. We’ll be sure to publish a guide to a range of locally-run online courses in the coming days! Stay tuned and check back here in a week.

10. Check out the LONG list of tips from fellow Quarantine hermits in Vienna

So, when the news broke that we’d all be spending a whole bunch of time at home because of this damn virus, we asked our Instagram audience to share tips of what people can do at home during the city’s lockdown. The response was overwhelming, with people recommending things from ‘lots of sex,’ to Youtube home workouts. Check out the long list of tips in the Stories highlights on our Instagram channel.

 

11. Catch a concert on your screens

The ORF Radiokulturhaus are streaming a bunch of concerts, from Monday to Friday, every week. The line-up includes a raft of awesome Austrian bands. Check out the program on their website.  Meanwhile, the creative people of the city have gotten creative real quick – a bunch of people have started up Gem/einsam – a platform that will be streaming concerts and club nights into people’s living rooms. Check out their Facebook page for details. 

Plus, the master event organisers, Freilich Open Arts, are hosting a series of concert streams throughout the quarantine period – they’re calling it QuaranTIME! (love that name). All the details are on their Facebook page.

12. Create Spotify playlists, play them really loud and dance around your living room!

Music is a healing force – there’s no denying it. We suggest you start making a bunch of playlists, filled with your favourite songs, that will help you get through these challenging times. Play them loud, until you’re neighbour is knocking on the walls, and just dance. Dance and forget for a moment what’s going on outside your window for a moment.

13. Go for a walk in the woods, a bike ride, or a run

At the time of publishing, the government said it was still OK to go outside for a run, or a bike ride. Meanwhile, they’ve also said it’s OK to go into the Wienerwald forests that surround the city, and walk amidst the nature. We do strongly recommend you practise the social distancing hygiene guidelines when engaging in any of these activities – wash your hands regularly, keep a distance from all other people and if you have to sneeze, do it into your inner elbow. You’ll need the dose of nature at some point.

14. Contribute to a new digital data museum being compiled by the Technisches Museum

© Technisches Museum

Imagine if you could send a chunk-sized bit of data into the future for humans like us to study. Now imagine if you only had 10 MB to back up and save what you considered personally to be the most important things on your devices. Are you imagining it yet? OK, we know you aren’t – you’re just waiting to see where we’re going with this. But you should start imagining exactly that as Vienna’s Technisches Museum’s latest pioneering project, 10-megabyte museum is an awesome opportunity for all of us to contribute to what story will be told about us, and especially this time in history, in the future.

So the museum is calling on one and all in Vienna to create the equivalent of a digital message in a bottle, and the data can be related to any subject you think is worth telling the future about – climate change, the Coronavirus, cat videos – whatever! To find out how to become part of this, check out the submission page on their website.  And get uploading history!!!