Guten tag!
Most of us have taken advantage of the easy travel within the European Union and are visiting another country on a weekend trip! So today, we say hello, sziastok, guten tag from Vienna! Although this month we’ve been living more like locals, these 48 hours we’re taking a true vacation, and acting exactly like the tourists we are. Which means lots of pictures!
This morning we walked across the street from our hostel to an open air market. For breakfast, we tried traditional Viennese breakfast food at a small cafe within the market, which included three large bread rolls and a soft boiled egg (we still don’t know if we ate the egg correctly).
The Swiss Breakfast came with carrot-and-orange juice, which was vividly orange and surprisingly good, if a little pulpy.
After breakfast, many of us took the Ubahn to the Schonbrunn Palace, the imperial summer residence of Maria Theresia and Prince Franz Joseph. We had a wonderful time exploring the palace’s many “sumptuous” rooms, as our audioguide repeatedly called them. We also explored the palace’s beautiful but frozen gardens. We’re sure that in springtime we would have spent hours walking through the labyrinth, up to the Gloriette, which is an amphitheater-like building at the top of the hill, and the rest of the gardens, but given that it was winter, we got cold feet (cold toes, cold fingers, cold noses…) and decided to go find a warm place for lunch instead.
Eva and Mattie went on an adventure up 343 stairs to the top of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The small and spiral cement staircase was dizzying, but the view was worth the climb. At the top was a small gift shop and views of Vienna in all directions. Meanwhile, Kate and Jess headed to the Belvedere Museum and Castle. Kate H was on a mission to see Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss and Jess was just really excited about art. After a bit of hike from the Ubahn station, we found the enormous grounds. With three floors, the castle covered beloved favorites from Van Gogh and Monet to artists we’d never heard of like Tina Blau. (Basically, she organized her own tours and studies throughout Europe before a lot of women could even go to school, and became the Van Gogh before Van Gogh. What a cool person.)
The four of us met up again for dinner along with Kate A. and Sarah at an Austrian restaurant called Schnitzelwirt. We all agreed that our “touristing” was out of control when we asked for four orders of Wiener Schnitzel, knodel, cabbage salad, pomme frites, and fried cheese. Fun fact: the sound of music song does not say “schnitzel and knodel”, as Eva thought. It just plain old noodles.
The time difference hasn’t changed between Budapest and Vienna, which means it’s getting pretty late over here. We walked 10 miles, saw a palace, and ate schnitzel. It’s been a lovely day, and some of us are very ready for bed.
Good night!
Jess, Kate H., Eva, and Mattie
No comments:
Post a Comment