Vienna, Austria
Day 1:
We arrived at Termini (the most confusing train station ever) and searched for our train to Austria. Austria was one of my top places to visit, so needless to say I was super excited for this trip. We thought we had reclining seats...it was going to be a fourteen hour train ride, but we were going to just tough it out. Turns out that the mute lady that sold us our tickets booked us with four beds. They were perfect. We settled in and got frankfurts (the grossest hot dog you will ever have). I stuck to my Special K bar, watched the Sound of Music and called it a night.
Day 2:
We arrived in Vienna at 8:30 a.m., bought our Metro passes and headed to our apartment. The lady we rented our apartment from was supposed to meet us in the lobby promptly at 9:30, but she was no where to be found. A really nice man from the building knew we needed help, so he let us use his iphone to call her. She was waiting for us in her apartment...we would have come up had we known her apartment number...lol. We only had a day in Vienna, so we tried to make the most of it. We got settled in our apartment and looked up directions to the places we wanted to go. It has been really helpful that I have my iphone on me. The apartment had free wi-fi, so I could google map our locations and then take a picture of my screen. My Europe travel guide has also been a big help. The first stop on our list was their Parliament building. While there we stumbled upon something great. We found a traditional Austrian festival with a maze ice skating rink. I absolutely love ice skating, so this was a must! The rink was the coolest thing I have ever seen.
The tickets were super cheap, so we quickly rented skates and headed out. The maze was awesome. It was set inside a park in front of the Parliament building. There were roundabouts, hills, inclines, and turns every which way. This was honestly the highlight of everything we did in Vienna. Katie, who originally did not want to skate, didn't even want to leave.
After we went ice skating, we headed to St. Stephen's Cathedral, and found a few cool places on the way. We somehow ended up at a palace...haha. After we visitied Hofburg Palace, we went on our search for
the Austrian National Library. We went in one place and the guy said it was across the street. We asked the guy at the desk there and he said this was it. We paid and went inside. Just as I suspected, it wasn't the Library. It was the National History Museum. After our long search we never found the Library, but I did get to see a cool boat, and a dinosaur collage made by children. It was almost 3:30, so we figured it was time to eat. The food was awesome! Austria has so many good pastries; they almost put Italy to shame. We figured this meal would be big enough to hold us over for dinner. Afterwards, we went to the food store to get snacks for later that night. Our apartment had the complete Friends series, so we decided that after the Opera we would watch some Friends. After we went food shopping, we rushed to St. Stephen's Cathedral, took pictures, and then went to search for the post office. Jenkins, the Architecture advisor, told us we had to go there. Unfortunately we couldn't find it. We had to rush home, because we had tickets to the Opera at 7:00 to see My Fair Lady. It was so much easier reserving all of our tickets beforehand. We didn't have to worry about getting them, and it was one less expense while we were there. The show was so good. It was completely in German, so I had no idea what they were saying, but it was still really good. I just laughed and smiled when everyone else did. The Opera set came out of the floor and spun around; it was very intricately made. After the Opera, we went back and watched four episode of Friends. My favorite part about Vienna was the people. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming no matter where you went. People just walked around with smiles on their faces. Auf Wiedersehen!
"Vienna...the best place in the world."
~Mozart
No comments:
Post a Comment