Vienna or Bust!

This past weekend I was off to Vienna, or should I say "Wienna"! It was so much fun and it was absolutely gorgeous (the buildings not the weather..not that I should complain since it has been much colder in good ole connecticut!) 

THURSDAY

What a busy day! I had class all day and didn’t get back to the apartment until around 6:30pm, only to have to pack up and head to the train station! Our train didn’t leave until 10 and it was SO COOL.

I would have flourished on the Hogwarts Express. We had second class sleeper “couchettes”-  which meant that we were too classy for a seat, but not classy enough for an actual bed. Just the right amount of class! 
Mandy and I were in the same compartment. There is a total of six “beds”. So you walk in and to the left are three beds sticking out of the  wall and to the right it is the same thing. We were on the top so UP the little ladder we went!

FRIDAY:

I woke up to a very huge German man telling me my coffee was here and that the train would be arriving in Vienna in about an hour. I was very grateful to this man, because Mandy is interesting/amusing when it comes to getting up in the morning, so it was his job not mine!

It was really weird to go to bed in Florence and wake up and be in Vienna with the whole day ahead of us. I didn’t exactly get the best of sleep on the train so it took all I had to not just crash at the hostel.

THE HOSTEL WAS GREAT! Way to go Sue Connolly for helping us find the Wombat City Hostel! It was really nice/cool atmosphere and it even came with sheets and working outlets! And the shower was IN OUR ROOM! Wahooo! 

(To all you Backyard Soccer Players- The Wombats were DEFINITELY a team on that game! I kept cheering "Go wombats!" at random intervals or doing a "WOMBATS ON 3!" chant, 

it caught on nicely!)

 We went to Cafe Demel, 
which is famousssss and has been around for QUITE some time.

The cafe used to provide amazing treats for the Royal court of Austria-Hungary!!

...so technically I am royalty since they provided me with treats.

 TREATS!

sachertorte from Demel

Sachertorte is native to Vienna, and LET ME TELL YOU- it was DELICOUS! It was chocolate and had apricot sauce there too, I can't even explain it, go to Vienna and get some and you will know what I mean! 

There are two cafe's (Demel and Sacher) that compete to see who has better sachertorte. Now see apparently it's not much of a competition and people just like Demel better.....buttttttttt I really liked Sacher! I don't know if I just like the underdog or what, but my tastebuds have yet to fail me in all things chocolate, and I'm pretty sure (seeing as I ate enough sachertorte to make myself a connoisseur) that the winner really was Cafe Sacher!
We didn't try out Cafe Sacher till Sunday, but it was worth the wait!

Sachertorte from Sacher

Once our bellies were full the group of us (there were 13 total) split up to do our own thing.

I was with Mandy, Sara, Elise, Erin and Jamie and we decided to check out the torture museum. 

People used to have to wear this mask as humiliation for being gossips!

I know what you are thinking, Torture Museum? Weird. And yes, it was weird and slightly unsettling! Definitely a miss on the hit or miss game, but c'est la vie!

After that- Me Mandy Sara and Elise decided to check out Mozart’s House while the other girls went off to a different museum.

Mozart’s house was prettttty cool! He actually lived there (duh, that’s what a house means) and we got to see things that were in his handwriting and that he wore. We got free audio-guides and got to listen all about him! There were three floors and once you got to the first you were in his actual apartment.

Mozart's clothes, looks like a death eater to me!

Just walking the same floors as Mozart, no big deal! 

(Hopefully his genius is now in me and I can amaze everyone with piano talents in the future)

We also had tickets to go to the “Haus der Musik” – which was a interactive music museum! We spent a really long time hanging out with Mozart’s stuff though and were hungry and getttttting slightly cranky afterwards. 

What’s that stomach? You want ANOTHER TREAT?!...if you insist! We got Melange- which is the most traditional kind of coffee sold in Vienna's cafes and “apfelstrudel” (apple strudel)….DELICOUS! I want one right now just thinking about it! 

From there we walked around the city, saw some interesting street performers and just soaked it all in.

It’s funny because it was about 32 degrees (farenheit) In Vienna and I thought that was cold! Clearly Florence is spoiling me!

We went back to the hostel GO WOMBATS! After that to nap/get ready for dinner! Dinner was an wonderful adventure, where I introuduced my mouth to egg dumplings and salad. Nom. Nom. Nom.

SATURDAY

We woke up at 7am so we could have a full day of activities (we = Sara, Elise, Mandy and myself)

The game plan was to see both the Schonbrunn  Palace and the Belvedere and to actually go in and see what one had to offer. We chose to just look at and appreciate the schonbrunn and to actually go in and see the art etc in the Belvedere. The schonbrunn was very beautiful,  it was the summer palace of the Habsburgs. (Nevin family, we should get a summer palace like this for the beach?! Any takers?!)

There is a maze and a zoo and such in the summer, but it was not looking like a maze/zoo day unfortunately! 

So it was off to the Belvedere!

Belvedere

Me and Mandy

There is the Upper Belvedere and Lower. We went to Upper Belvedere where we got to see "The Kiss" by Klimt. This museum was also a "No Pictures Please" kind of place, they were a bit more hardcore here, and I'm almost positive they were following me....

BUT I MANAGED TO TAKE PICTURES ANYWAYS MUAHAHA

Klimt's "The Kiss"...I am SO STEALTH

Just some friends at the museum!

  

I really enjoyed the Belvedere, it had a lot of art that I really liked/found interesting. We spent a lot of time in there but it didnt feel like it at all!  

Afterwards we went to the open air markets and just checked out the scene. There was everything from flowers and fish and food to clothing and fruit on sale. I know if I studied in Vienna I would spend a lot of time there! (What am I saying, if I studied in Vienna I would never leave the cafes)

Timothy George, this picture was taken with you in mind…SHARKS RULE JELLYFISH DROOL! Hammer-Bryger I hope  you appreciate this!

  

After that we went to our favorite place of the weekend WEINER WURSTL!!!

 They do hot dogs much more effieciently over in Vienna. They have a roll and than they like put it on this thing and essentially they cut out the part where the weenie is going and put it in there. It was like a little home for the hotdog!
 I’m sorry if that made no sense but just believe me, GREAT WEENIES!

(And okay, we are four 20 year old kids, do you honestly believe that anyone was mature at first about all the Wienerwald signs?) 

From there we went to the HAUS DER MUSIK and it was SOOOO COOL!

 It was an interactive museum, which I learned is my type.  The first floor was like an introduction to sound, there was a room where you got to hear what it was like from inside the womb. It brought back some great mems!

Then there was a floor all about composers (like my boy Mozart). 

I got to conduct the Philharmonic Symphony in an interactive/virtual little thing. I was awful, I had them play the Can-Can, and I mean come on guys help me out here I am new at this!

We also sat with this man for a while and talked to him about his favorite things to do in Vienna..

..you think I'm joking but I'm not.

After that we explored the city and wandered around and than made our way back to the hostel. Took an hour nap and went to dinner! Dinner was a lot of fun- Sara, Mandy, Christine and I were stuffed and delirious from the day/all the good food.

SUNDAY:

Sunday we got up at 6 am.

6 AM I repeat 6 AM!

See we get up at 7 every other morning of the weekend to do things, but six was rough. 

What was I doing awake at this awful hour?

GOING TO MASS WHERE THE VIENNA BOY'S CHOIR WOULD BE SINGING!

In order to get in/standing room we had to be on-line prettttty early. 

While on line we met this man that was doing a full-bright near Vienna and had seen the boys choir in 8th grade and was coming back to see them again! He was so nice, as soon as we parted from him we started referring to him as Grandpa.

(To the Grandpa and Poppy in my life- NO ONE COULD EVER BE AS GREAT AS YOU!)

....but he was a nice substitute for 15 minutes!

The Church they sang in

After that we were EXHAUSTED. So. Tired.

Sooooooo…..we….uhmmm….WENT TO STARBUCKS!

I decided I feel zero bad about going to starbucks. At home I am there enough that they know my drink order, and since in Florence they do not have starbucks (a blessing and a curse) it is okay to pee my pants in excitement everytime I travel and find out the city I am in has one!

We spent Sunday walking around the Museum Quarter and looking at the architecture. We also hopped around to various places where amazing treats were able to be had! 


Me and Elephant-Rueben:

 And we may or may not have stopped by WEINERWURSTL for a good-bye weenie.

Then it was back to the wanna-be Hogwarts Express!

It was so refreshing to hear Italians when we got to our compartment! We were with three other women and they were really nice. We got onto the train around 7:30 and fell asleep shortly thereafter! I was back in Florence and dead tired 6 am Monday morning!

It was a really great weekend and I was glad to experience and see a place I have never been to before! 

The internet is being weird so I will post a video of the boys choir later! Love love love!