This is Vienna

Wow! That's really all there is to say about Vienna! What an incredible city!! Every street, around each corner there is something spectacular to see, something that's not even in the tour guides because it's just another beautiful building in the city.

We arrived in Vienna around 1 on Saturday. We needed to bum WIFI off someone to find our hostel, so we "treated" ourselves to some classy McDonald's-- after all, what's more Viennese than that?! :) When we got to our hostel, we were, at first, pretty confused. From the outside, it looked like any other building. We had to ring the door to be let in and then again when we were inside. There was no welcome desk or anything! The voice at the other end of the "check-in" told us that we were in beds A, E, G, and H. I thought, oh dear.. the Broadbent family vacation luck has followed me to Europe.. we're in different rooms and I requested a private room! When we got inside, we realized there were only 2 rooms in the hostel. It was a small apartment. We walked into an entry way, to the left was a kitchen/shower room, straight ahead was a living room and two bedrooms. Ours was the 8-bed room and there were 2 others in our room. I was so bummed at first... we buzzed the check-in desk again and ensured that it was correct and that we weren't paying for the private room... we ended up only pay 19 euro per night for a room. After the first night, we were the only ones in the room and Joe got to stay the last night too. By the end of our stay, I was really impressed with the hostel. I really had no problems getting into the shower in the morning like I worried I would. It was quite cozy and homey and the staff was friendly when they arrived in the mornings.

We set out on our adventures but realized that... although the Web site for our dorm made it sound like it provided city maps for us... we were without maps. We had to find a kiosk to buy a map and then still mostly wandered aimlessly, especially as it was almost 5 and everything in Austria closes around 5. We ended up coming across a beautiful church, which we originally thought was Stephansdom or Karlskirche, two of the most famous churches in Vienna. A man told us we couldn't go in because of a movie (??), so we wandered around taking pictures outside. I turned around after taking a picture to see Audrey and the rest of the group freaking out a bit. Audrey had stepped in some, well... unpleasantness and was frantically trying to get it off her shoe. I laughed at her, only to be repaid by karma... my shoes was covered! We scrapped off what we could, but you know how that goes!... A few minutes later, we were told the church was now open and I, shamefully, went in. It was great! The architecture in Vienna is just incredible... a lot of the lights were off in the church so it was a bit hard to see but.. what we could see was just amazing. We went back to our hostel to change (especially our shoes...) and went to dinner and to get drinks. We thought Mexican sounded great (yes, I know.. another GREAT Viennese meal!), but ended up getting a bit lost. When we finally made it to the restaurant (about 40 minutes after we should have), it was basically an Austrian Chipotle. Okay but not quite the Mexican food I would have liked! Sam had heard of a bar called "Wunderbar" (wonderful in German), so we went on another mission to find that. We walked in circles for ages... asking everyone we passed for directions. One man knew exactly the bar but we missed a small alleyway and were entirely lost after that, most people had never even heard of the street. We gave up and finally went to a little bar... as we sat there, I kept worrying that we smelled like the unpleasantness from before... After about an hour, we stood up to find that, somehow, Audrey and I (and only Audrey and I) had once again stepped in some... The first time, it was on my left foot and her right, and now it was switched.... It was chasing us! I know-- random, gross story.. but that will definitely be a memory of Vienna for me.. and it was pretty funny looking back! :)

Our next day in Vienna was much more productive (and less smelly!). We woke up early and planned to buy tickets to a musical, Rudolf. It's about the crown prince, Rudolf, of the Hapsburg monarchy. We found the theater only to discover they only sell tickets 2 hours before the show begins so we had wasted about an hour walking to the theater for nothing!! Our next plan was to find the real Stephansdom. Absolutely stunning. Stephansdom is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna, so it's probably the most significant religious building in the city. We managed to get there right before noon, when a mass was starting but they only let tourists in to a point before blocking it off. So we walked down to find the Stadttempel-- the only synagogue in Vienna to survive Kristallnacht. Built in 1825-6, the Emperor had passed an edict that only Catholic churches could be built facing the street. We literally walked past the synagogue the night before and had no idea! It looks like an apartment, maybe a library but definitely not a synagogue. Who would have thought that anti-semitic laws would actually help it so? Pretty impressive. After we found the synagogue, we returned to Stephansdom and were able to take an elevator to the top of one of the towers. The view was absolutely beautiful. It was a bit scary but totally worth it!

We also found Karlskirche, which was originally completed in 1737. This was one of the most incredible buildings I have ever seen. It's completely different than the churches we think of when we think of European catholic churches but it was entirely breathtaking. My pictures will do no justice to this church.

We only ventured to one castle while in Vienna, sadly. We went to the Belvedere in the center of the city. We were a bit disappointed to discover that it's mostly just an art museum. What a waste of an incredible building and a great opportunity to share the history of Vienna and Austria... I know nothing about the building itself because there is literally nothing about at the location. Sad. The art was very nice but...

After the Belvedere, Audrey, Amy and I rushed back to the Raimund theater to try to get tickets to the musical... we had hoped to make it back to the hostel to change, as well, but we had no time for that. I felt so embarrassed-- at the theater in Vienna in jeans! But, I was in luck, and there were many people dressed worse than me... and the musical was really nice! I know I missed a lot because it's hard enough to follow German in every day situations, much less in a musical!! But it was still very interesting and what I followed was good!

Our last day in Vienna was much more laid back. We went to Karlsplatz and wandered across to Heldenplatz and the museum quarter. At the Leopold Museum, there was an exhibit of Edvard Munch and quite a bit Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. That was definitely great to see up close!! Finally... we made our way out of town to the Hundertwasserhaus. An apartment complex built in the 80s. It was designed to avoid any "ugly buildings" from being constructed in the spot. Floors are uneven and trees grow through walls and windows! The outside of the house is painted in different colors and the walls are not smooth. Tourists aren't allowed inside but it was still worth seeing.

I really wasn't quite ready to leave Vienna. I don't feel like I saw enough to do justice to the city! But I will be back :)

Now I'm packing my things to jump on another train.. this time to Freiburg to say goodbye to Katharina and Till before they go to Australia for two months! I am dreading this train ride.. 10 hours by myself-- wish me luck! Time's flying and will definitely continue to do so if I'm only in Klagenfurt for a few days at a time!

I had to use another program to make a slide show because of my EXCESSIVE amount of pictures.. I hope it works!!

More to come soon! :)