Last weekend I had a 4 day weekend so I went adventuring to Vienna.
Thursday- I left Bonn at 5:30 in the morning to catch my train. I got into Vienna around 3:30. Patrick had made arrangements for me to stay with his nephews in Vienna so I went to the apartment when I got into town to establish a home base. I net Pascal when I got there and got set up in Colin's room. Pascal recommended that I go into the pedestrian area in the city center. When I got into town I went and saw St. Stephan's Cathedral. It was so beautiful because the sunlight was hitting the stained glass just right to send the colors everywhere. Then I just wandered around to get my bearings of the city. On my way back to the apartment I stopped and got a Kase Kranner, which is a sausage with cheese in the middle, at the park.
Friday- I did some more wandering in the morning just trying to see as much as I could. I went on the tram lines around the Ring Strasse. That way I was able to see all the sights and figure out what I wanted to explore further. In the middle of the day I stopped at the Sacre Cafe to have a piece of the famous Sacre Tort. It was really good, the chocolate was a little bitter for my taste but I really enjoyed it. In the afternoon I went over to the Giant Ferris Wheel and rode that. After the ferris wheel I had lunch at a street stand, Schnitzel. On the way back into town I got off the tram to take some closer pictures and I ended up finding a rehersal for the Band Festival happening that weekend. Then I headed over to Hofburg. I was taking pictures and found my way to the Spanish Riding school on the estate. I found out that they were doing a performance that night and that there were standing room tickets available. So I went to the show and it was really cool to see. Then I headed back to the apartment.
Saturday- I had made arrangements to go on a bus tour to Budapest for the day. I had to be at the State Opera House by 6:45AM. So I left the apartment at 5:30 to make sure that I would get there with some time to spare... turned out that it only took 15 minutes to get from the apartment to the opera so I had an hour to enjoy the quiet morning in Vienna. The bus ride was 3 hours into Budapest. We started off by visiting Hero Square on the Pest side. Then we drove around the Pest side before getting to our lunch restaurant on the Buda side. We ate lunch that was Goulash, Paprika Chicken and something like dumplings, with a dessert of sponge cake. After lunch we walked around the Buda side with a guide then got on the bus to the Pest side where I had free time for 2 hours. I got a bell and a really cool puzzle box. And I went to see the Basilica. After the 2 hours we went back to the bus and headed back to Vienna. When the dropped me off at the State Opera I heard the Opera going on and walked around the corner to see that they broadcast the live show out into the street. It was really fun to be able to see the Vienna State Opera while standing in the rain! After I watched the Opera for a while I headed back to the apartment.
Sunday- My train was leaving at noon so I had a few hours to explore. I pretty much just hit the big sites again and got a better look at them. Then caught the train... which was Deutsches Bahn so of course there was some complications on the way home but all in all I made it back on time.
Anyways so that is my most recent adventure. Monika gets here Wednesday and we will be spending a weekend in Bari, Italy, then a weekend in Paris, France, and I will go to meet up with her and her family in Poland a few weeks later. I am so excited for the rest of June and July! Summer Rocks!!!
