Vienna, Austria

Christian and I left Thursday evening at 22:40 on the night train to Vienna. It was a long trip (10 hours), made longer by the very uncomfortable, upright seats we unsuccessfully attempted to sleep in. We arrived in Vienna around 7:30 Friday morning, and dropped our bags off at the hostel (Elisabeth Guesthouse). It was very old, smelled a little, and was run by an odd, older couple...but it grew on me. We headed to a charming, little cafe (Konditorei Cafe) that was only a few minutes walk from our hostel. We enjoyed a really great breakfast and some conversation with the elderly regulars. We ourselves became regulars every morning except the last one. After a breakfast of two buns, a soft boiled egg, swiss cheese, ham slices, coffee, and OJ (all for 6.20 Euro), we took a ride on Wiener Riesendrad, which is a giant ferris wheel in Vienna. It was originally built in 1897 and rebuilt in 1945 after it burned down in 1944 during WWII. We spent the afternoon napping and then headed to Stephansplatz, which is a square in the center of Vienna, for a tour of St. Stephen's Cathedral and supper.

We spent the second day strolling around Hofburg Imperial Palace, which has housed some of the most powerful people in Austrian history, went to Schmetterling Haus (Butterfly Garden), and then shopping. As per usual, I couldn't find anything to buy.

Sunday we went on a horse carriage ride, went to an outdoor market (see video) that was situated where Mozart had his first public concert and did some more sight seeing. Monday morning we went to Mumok, a modern art museum and took in the most recent exhibit, Changing Channels. That was the end of Vienna for us. I found the city overall quite impressive. The buildings are all huge. I don't think they do small in Vienna.

We had a pretty fun train ride home. Our cabin had us, a crazy couple, a priest and a very shy English lad. We spent the last half of our train ride in the dining cart having a few too many beers with a couple from Lichtenstein who offered to let us join them. Christian decided to pretend that he was from Canada also and didn't speak German. Apparently it was quite funny for him because they were saying quite profane things to each other.

I hope everyone had a great Easter. I did miss the turkey and trimmings, but I filled up on plenty of delicious Viennese pastries instead :)