Vienna Waits for You

Next in my Spring Break journey was Vienna. Unfortunately the weather was pretty miserable while we were there, which tainted the overall experience. However, there were  a few positive aspects of this part of our trip. First, our cheap bus ride there turned out to be really nice. There were little baby TV's in the back of each seat and the chairs reclined. On the ride there I had a slightly eye-opening experience when I overheard a Spanish woman and an Italian man talking about the English language and how important it was to learn. It really put things in perspective for me and made me very grateful to be born in America and have this popular language under my belt. Even so, I do think it's important that English speaking individuals take the time to experience and learn some other languages as well.

Upon leaving Prague we had pretty much mastered the Czech transportation system, but once we got to Vienna we were in Austria and had to figure everything out again. Needless to say, we had some difficulties and ended up riding the elevator up and down five times when we first got to the train station. But, as with everything else, we figured it out.

When we got to Vienna we checked into our hostel, which was drastically different from the other ones we previously stayed at. This one was huge and felt much more like a hotel than a hostel. I guess I should have been pleased by this but I couldn't help but miss the feel of a cozy home-like hostel. I definitely can't complain about the shower though; it felt like a wonderfully warming waterfall (alliteration).

After we checked in we walked around some of the markets, which were rather interesting. I've never seen chocolate for sale next to a slab of meat before, but hey, cultural differences I guess. (Don't worry, I didn't buy any of that food). For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant... in Austria, and had some good food.

 

 

The next day was unfortunately just as rainy as the first. But, since we're such positive go-getters we made a solid effort to make the best of it. In the morning we went on a free walking tour from our hostel around Vienna. We saw some historic sights, a palace, and the hotel where the John and Yoko bed interviews took place. We kept feeling like we were missing something though that made people so eager to go to Vienna. (Unfortunately we never really found what that thing was). What we did know about Vienna is that it was known for its history of classical music so we got tickets to see a classical music show. The show itself was pretty cheesy but the music was great. Here are some pictures to sum it up:

 

For dinner we went to a pretty gourmet McDonald's where I ordered shrimp... classy. Overall for Vienna: Satisfactory.