Vienna

I have been told on a couple separate occasions that I am long-winded on my blog. More specifically, that I talk a lot. As a general rule in life, I listen more than I talk. Not only am I shy with new people and incredibly socially awkward when trying to make conversation, but it's ridiculously easy to see when someone's eyes start to glaze over during a conversation. Also, most people really enjoy talking, and I just generally prefer listening.

The biggest exception to this rule is when I write, and particularly with my blog. I put my Berlin, Berlin post into Microsoft Word and deleted the picture, and the post was 13 PAGES LONG! That really probably is the longest post I have written, but still, that is slightly ridiculous. However, after thinking about it, I am mostly writing this blog for me, and it is my blog, after all, so I will write lengthy posts if I want to! Ha!


Although this is kind of old news, I haven't had the chance to talk with my family, as they just finished moving to a new house, and haven't gotten a webcam & microphone set up to Skype yet, I am finally posting about my trip to Vienna! Enjoy (you don't have to read it if you don't appreciate how much I can talk)!!!


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Tereza and I had an amazing time in Vienna, Austria a couple weekends ago! Unlike Bratislava, where we both went in with a less-than-dapper attitude, neither of us had expectations for this trip, and I think that made a huge difference.

After our 5ish hour train ride, we walked around for FOREVER trying to find our hotel. Google Transit, you let me down. We were hungry, and tried to sit down at two places only to find out that they either didn't serve food or had no menu. What? Nobody spoke English, either.

Once we finally found ibis Vienna, we checked in and asked the front desk to suggest an English friendly restaurant nearby. He told us that if we didn't mind a ten minute walk, there was an area nearby with tons of options. His directions included walking through a flea market.

We dropped our stuff in our (really nice) rooms and headed out.

I am SO glad the guy at the hotel told us to go where he did! We walked through a flea market, which was really neat but very chaotic. The place was really crowded and completely full of random junk - piles of clothes on the ground, old knicknacks, used housewares - I'm pretty sure I saw some cell phones from the 80's.

As we continued through the market, the tents started getting nicer. We looked through a couple displays of bohemian-style clothing and accessories. I wanted everything. There was a great distressed leather backpack that I fell in love with, but not for 60 euros (or any number of euros close to that).

We continued on, and the market change to an outdoor food market. It was INCREDIBLE. The market went on for probably a mile with outdoor displays of everything - bread, meat, fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, spices, cheese, sweets, and more with kabob places, cafes, and other little restaurants scattered throughout. It is worth a trip to Vienna just to go to that market!!

We found a restaurant on the street that runs parallel to the market and hoped for the best! Inside, the place was really cute and looked a little fancy for two students, but we were ravenous. The waiter was a young guy that spoke English well, and right away he offered us that day's special apricot punch. Tereza and I couldn't resist, and I am so glad!! It was delicious, and so pretty!

The menu displayed pretty typical Viennese fare, and when Tereza and I finally decided, we settled on chicken schnitzel for her and a salmon steak for me. I have an obsession with salmon lately, if you haven't noticed!! The waiter took our order, and brought us our caffeine fix and a huge roll for each of us. Restaurants that give you food right away are my favorite - you can't be hangry if you have a basket of bread or tortilla chips on front of you!!

When our food was brought out, it wasn't what I ordered, but I thought Tereza got the right meal, so we just figured the waiter misunderstood our order and went with it. Only later did I find out that Tereza didn't get the right thing, either! So what did we get? I think Tereza ended up with some kind of chicken cordon bleu, a side salad, and a bowl of potato salad, and I got pork schnitzel with boiled potatoes and some kind of jam. It was AMAZING! Tereza really liked hers, too.

It was awkward, however, when the waiter came over distressed and asked why we didn't mention that we got the wrong food. We told him we didn't care, and that we weren't really sure what was going on. Oops. The poor guy probably ended up with chicken schnitzel and salmon that nobody ate! He did ask if we wanted our actual orders, but we declined. This place was pretty fancy (read: expensive), after all!

After our feast, the waiter asked if we wanted a traditional Viennese digestive - little drink to help with digestion. Since we had decided to splurge on this meal, we said sure. Okay, I said sure, and Tereza went along with it. Again, I am glad we got this, because it was really tasty and it is always fun to try traditional foods/drinks/customs.

 This meal ended up being ridiculously expensive (40 euro each!), but it was really good and a lot of fun!

After a night spend wandering from club to club, trying to (unsuccessfully) find an inexpensive cover, we returned back to our hotel, drank some wine, had a serious jam session with my iPad introducing each other to music, and hit the sack.

The next morning we each ate a HUGE breakfast at the hotel, and even made ourselves sandwiches and snitched snacks for the train ride home! Our day was full of sightseeing, including all of the buildings we saw the night before, plus Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), the Manner shop for chocolate goodies, and the biggest thing we did, the Mozarthaus. The Mozarthaus was so incredibly interesting, and Tereza was super excited because she had just recently seen a movie about Mozart. I really knew very little about Mozart before this museum tour, but now I not only know what an incredible composer he was, but also how frivolous and fancy his life was! It was fun!

Here are tons of pictures of our Vienna trip!
(click to enlarge & scroll through!)


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