Auf wiedersehen Wien!

  Bonjour!   (Just thought I'd switch up the language on ya' a little bit.)

I have plenty to share from Vienna, but before you read any farther, I need you to do something for me.  Click on this link, or search "2Cellos - Smooth Criminal" on youtube.  Then watch, and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjOQac1vOEc

Ok. Did you do it??  Or are you lying to me and reading further without following the rules??  Shame on you if you are.  : )  Really though, this is my jam at the moment as it combines Micheal Jackson, cello, duet, ingenuity, good filming, and good looking guys, all into one amazing video.  That has nothing to do with Vienna though, so on to the more important topic, shall we?

Vienna was amazing.  Words won't do it justice but I'll try by at least telling you all the things I did while there.  Thursday we left around 7 in the morning for a 3 hour train ride.  Once there, we stopped at our hostel (Wombat's Hostel) and unloaded into our rooms.  We then took a brief tour of the city on a tram, and then took a not so brief tour of more of Vienna...and by not so brief I mean 3 hours.  That night happened to be the once a year outdoor performance by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.  Wow...may I just say wow?  They played beautifully and the dancers danced perfectly.  The concert took place at Schönbrunn Palace in the gardens so we got to sit outside and enjoy the concert.  A once in a lifetime experience.  That was all that occurred for that night, so we went back to the hostel and enjoyed sleep. 


Friday:  Breakfast started at 8 am and included delicious things like cereal, yogurt, fresh veggies (hopefully not E Coli infested), bread (Brot), meat (Fleisch), and cheese (Käse), nutella (mmm), marmalade, and coffee things for drink.  My host family had introduced me to making sandwiches with marmalade on the bread and then cheese and meat...and oh my it is a tasty treat (see what I did there with the rhyming??).  I had that for breakfast most every day as well as some nutella.   Und Kaffee natürlich (and coffee of course).  We then went over to the Naschmarkt which is a magical place of food and clothing items that greatly resembles a farmer's market...but isn't...because it's magic...I promise.  We stopped at Hofer as well (which is Aldi's) to pick up food (bread rolls and off-brand nutella) and went back to the hostel for lunch.  The music students all met to go on a tour of the old instrument museum and it was so much fun!  The instruments were really cool and old looking (go figure) but our tour guide was probably the coolest part.  He had a cart of old instruments and knew how to play them all.  He would explain a little bit about each instrument, why it was made, what it was used for, and then he would demonstrate it.  The instruments ranged from recorders to itty bitty recorders, to horns made out of tubes, to sitars, to bagpipes.  I now know what my calling in life is.  


After the tour we had time to see the rest of the museum which equates to picture time.  Pictures will hopefully be posted next time, sorry for the cliff hanger.  


After the museum we had a tour of the opera house which was particularly awesome since that night we were planning on going to an opera.   After the tour, we had around an hour to get back to the hostel, get ready for the opera, and get back to the opera in order to stand/sit in line for 2 1/2 hours to get standing tickets for Salome.  I became Frau Haare (Lady Hair) because I became everyone's personal hairdresser.  Calling #2 in life I suppose. We got very nice "seats"....places...and the opera began.  It was wonderful and I am quite addicted already (I wish I would have picked a cheaper addiction....like eating toilet paper or something).  With the opera finished, and our feet very tired, we returned to the hostel once again - another day in Vienna complete.


Saturday:  Most people went to Eisenstadt on Saturday, but I had decided to stay in Vienna for the extra day.  That allowed me to do my own thing and see the sights that weren't on the itinerary.   First on the list, Naschmarkt.  I bought a bag and while ordering it in German, the man asked me if I was from Germany. Haha, sneaky sneaky me.  Next on the list, Freud Museum.  I bought a T Shirt that says, "Analyze Me!" and got to talk to a psych professor from New York.  After Freud came the Butterfly House.  So cool!  As I was heading back to the hostel though, my ear caught the sound of a marching band.  "Music?"  said I.  "Splendid!"  I followed where my ear told me to go and found a parade of marching bands, all dressed in the lederhosen.  After I'd had my fill of marching band, I walked around a bit more, then went back to the hostel and prepared to go to the amusement park (Yep, Vienna is cool enough to have an amusement park).  We got there and decided which rides to ride and some of the girls wanted to go on the ferris wheel and a few wanted to go on one of the rides that somewhat equal death, really super high and really super fast. What made it more terrifying is that when we got there, it started raining...then it started lightning, then thunder, oh and hey, let's add some hail.  God was telling me "no".   Instead we chose what we thought to be a tamer ride, that was not out in the open, called Ecstasy.  Imagine the Scrambler ride, but faster, in reverse, then tilted, and upside.  Ta da!  You have Ecstasy.  I screamed....a lot. 
 We then ate pizza (after the rides...that was planned) and gelato.  As we were leaving, the waiter (again...middle aged) shook my hand, kissed my cheeks (as is the greeting/leaving here), and told me I was very nice and that I should take care....Well thank you Mister Waiter Man. 


That was all for me, so I went back to the hostel while some of the others went to do some more exploring.


Sunday: Earlier breakfast and then off to the Vienna Boy's Choir performance.  Well, I didn't realize that it was actually part of a mass...that was sneaky of them.  After around 20 minutes or so I added a tally to the number of masses I've left.  That makes two.  Maybe I can make it three before I leave.  Two other girls and I explored around the rose gardens and bought some books from a really funny, nice lady.  We then bombarded a cafe with tasty food.  Yum.  Meeting back at the hostel, the group departed for a tour of Schönbrunn Palace.  Wow.  I want a palace. That pretty much concluded the trip, though there were so many priceless moments that had to do with people rather than Vienna itself. 


I am falling more in love with Europe as the days go on and I am also falling more in like with the other people here.  It is going to be an interesting day when I close this chapter in my life.  I believe I will have to revisit it often and write into it, more memories and new made memories as my life goes on.  Auf wiedersehen Wien (Until I see you again Vienna)!  


Until I write again!!!