Jojos Home Vienna

... just had to put today’s date on my pass and get on the train. Plus, I could sit in the first class car, which had bigger seats. There are 3 seats across in first class, whereas second class has 4 across. And it was pretty empty too.

It was a 4.5 hour train ride, but it went by fairly quickly. I worked on blogging and pictures for a long time. And then I read up on Prague and what there was to do there.

When we arrived in Prague, I went in search ...

... a traditional Austrian meal at a restaurant in the main city park called the Prater. We finished the evening on the deck of their beautiful flat overlooking the city with hours of stimulating conversation about life, politics, religion, family, and everything else under the sun over a nice bottle of wine. It was truly a restful Sunday spent with a wonderful family that adopted me wholeheartedly ...

... a lot of the grand buildings. Vicki dropped us off at the amusement park with a large ferris wheel, she said for our 8 Euro we could get a 30 minute ride with great city views. 11 of us went, I negotiated a group discount, but the ride only lasted 10 minutes and had **** views, and the rest of the amusement park was closed. The group of us walked along the Burg Ring road for about an hour, enjoying the city's antiquated charm, before we called it a night.

... was in full swing and all around. We saw many statues, fountains and ponds scattered around the gardens. We walked all the way up the hill to the Gloriette. From here we could see the whole royal grounds. During our walk, we saw quite a few brown squirrels and an emu! There were a few emus fenced off, so not roaming free, but it was nice to see them. After a couple of hours in ...

... P The tour lasted just over an hour and it was interesting to learn about Empress Elisabeth, also affectionately known as Sisi.. She was married to Emperor Fran Josef at 17, spent her years traveling, hunting, and exercising to maintain her 20" waistline, even after having 4 children. It was interesting to also discover that she was also a drug addict, shooting herself up with cocaine after her only son committed suicide at age 30.. However, she ...

... been a moving experience for me - finding myself at Mass on my birthday had brought forth feelings and memories of childhood, of easier times, and of my late mother whom I missed at that moment more than any time I could think of. As I made my way to the train station, I thought about my impressions of Vienna. It had been a superb city to walk around, awash with majestic buildings, splendid cathedrals, pretty parks and historic monuments. Yet there was ...

... burnt off on the previous days were still lingering and so I decide to tackle the palace first and the gardens latter. Having been thrifty with a picnic lunch and still regretting not going into the Schloss belvadere I splurge a whole 10E to see some of the rooms. The tour starts inauspiciously with emperor Franz Joseph's rooms, his desire to live amongst sparten, bourgeois surroundings was admirable but dull when your paying to see it. Luckily things improve when we get ...

... that looks more like a castle than a monastery, or at least what I think a monastery would look like. The large building is situated on the hill overlooking the town of Melk. The views were amazing. You could see all of the town on one side of the monastery and the Danube and the hills on the other side. My favorite part of the tour was the enormous library. I don't remember exactly how many books were in the library, but I think it was at least 20,000. The ...

... Rob) and we enjoyed ourselves, talking until midnight. Day 7 (Sunday, 3/4) Vienna Rob, Jesse, Bianca and I left the hostel at 7:30 the next morning to go see the Vienna Boys' Choir sing at their weekly mass at the palace chapel. Even though it was a mass, with regular church attendees, the choir sold tickets to those who wanted to sit, and provided room in the back of the chapel for standing room-this is what we did, since it was free. They ...

We arrived in Vienna late afternoon after an 8 hour trip from Taipei. What we noticed was that it was hot inside and the airport was small. We had to wait for our hosts to pick us up. One of us mustered the courage to go outside the airport and suddenly we were all giggling with glee as we hurriedly put on our jackets. Apparently it was "cool" outside. Imagine coming from a hot and humid tropical country we were so excited to feel the cold air outside. Outside ...