The famous "crisp apple strudel"!
Julie Andrews has nothing on my "hills are alive" twirl.
You DO NOT want to know what's stuffed inside that bread (a viennese sausage...GROSS)
Enjoying one of the many parks
Ferris Wheel at Prater Park!
Creepy clown at Prater Park
Schonberg Palace
Walking like an Egyptian at Belvedere Palace
Belvedere
Viennese Blend!
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens....The gals and I embarked on our voyage to Vienna via coach bus...but when we arrived at the bus station the day we were to depart, we got much more than we bargained for.
Our bus was not ordinary vehicle. It was an owned by a company who partners with Lufthansa, the German airline. As we mounted the stairs to find our seats, we caught sight of a cappuccino machine, and knew we were in for an interesting ride.
This should have been my first clue that I love Germany and the Germans, but that's another tale to tell when we get to Berlin...on the way to Vienna, I ended up sitting next to a complete stranger (which, if you know me, you know I hate sharing close quarters with people I don't know...GERMS).
Sarah had to sit next to a little man (child, they are sometimes called), because his mother and sister wanted to be next to him across the aisle, so we had to sacrifice our lovely ride, and Sarah spent 5 hours smiling at the little Czech child while his mother yelled at him for dunking his stuffed bear in his grape juice. Good times.
We finally arrived in Wien (German for Vienna), and set off to find our hostel. As we hurried down the stairs into the metro station, we noticed that there were bakeries lining the walls.
Bakeries filled with every kind of pastry you can IMAGINE. Huge cinnamon rolls, sweet apricot croissants, chocolate cookies and cakes, piled high behind glass counters.
Why weren't these people obese?
Some people say that about the French, but the Austrians take it to a whole.new.level.
After discussing our love/hate relationship with pastries, we jumped on the metro and headed to the hostel.
Our hostel in Vienna was again a rousing success. It was really lovely, and our bunkmates were some interesting Italians who weren't afraid to be in their underwear, which made for some awkward moments...but they were really considerate over all.
The city of Vienna is very, very spread out. Sarah is an excellent cartographer (which I'm sure I've mentioned) but even she couldn't predict how far away things would be!
We got to visit Belvedere Palace and Schonburg Palace, and weather was absolutely gorgeous, which was such a blessing!
Sarah is quite a researcher and also found us a darling, wonderful cafe to go to right in the center of town, it was the perfect spot to rest for a few minutes and re-juvinate with an delicious apple strudel (crisp,mind you!)
If you know anything about Vienna, you know the city is covered in and littered with parks. Big parks, small parks, green parks, brown parks, parks with fountains...you get the idea. We had picnic lunches nearly every day!
Our last day in Vienna was spent going to Prater Park, a large amusement situation with a giant ferris wheel that's like a million years old. It was actually my favorite part of Vienna! We paid 3 euro to ride the wheel, and walked around the park the whole morning. We got an awesome view of the entire city.
While we were in Prague, we met a group of NYU London students who had just come from Vienna, they told us what was worth seeing and what wasn't. One thing they mentioned was the Opera House Ballet.
The famous Vienna Opera House (think Mozart) has a show every night, and for 3 euro you can get standing room tickets. I wanted to go so bad!
As we were touring the city, we stumbled across the Opera House, and at noon there was a line wrapped around the building...I was so disappointed, we weren't going to see the ballet. Someday I will go back to Vienna and go to the Opera and sit in very expensive seats!
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