Wombat's City Hostel Vienna The Base

As I spent Tuesday and Wednesday amidst the charm and elegance of Vienna, only a cheap three-hour bus ride from Budapest, I couldn't help but come away from this short visit with more than a few qualms. Allow me to explain. So for the past two months, I've been learning about Hungarian history, right before I left for Vienna, Hungary celebrated it's revolution against the Habsburg empire on March 15, 1848. This marks a time in Hungary's history when a strong liberal movement with widespread ...

On the flight to Vienna I tried to think about what I already knew about Austria. I got to nuns, Hitler, leiderhosen, Mozart and brown paper packages tied up with string. Hum. I found the Wombat hostel relatively quickly, it had been recommended to me by Suzy Hackett who I was meeting there later that night, on her way from Prague. We had had a brief exchange of emails along the lines of "do you want to come to Croatia with me?" and "sure." "Meet you in Vienna then." After a nap and a reunion...

Well I just got here and so far the German is the hardests thing. So you better check back for more updates!

Current Location: The lobby of my hostel, Wombat City Hostel Traveled With: OU Study Abroad group led by Scott Williams (interior design/architecture professor). My sorority 'little sis' is going on the trip too. Traveled From: Oklahoma City Method of Travel: Air Accommodations: Wombat's The City Hostel - The Place Guidebook: Rick Steve's Germany & Austria 2008 Weather Conditions: Cold! Just below 0 C... gray sky with some light snow flurries early in the day. Windy. Local Knowledge: In G...

Share the train from Firenze to Wien (Vienna) with two very loud, very big Texan guys. Rob and Jeff. Jeff announces that he likes blond women, but Rob says that he likes women with darker coloring while looking at me intently. Ugh. Luckily am saved by the fact that they think I and Arvs are a couple. Not the first time I have been thankful for this assumption. Weird guys of all nationalities stay away once they see Arvs hovering around me, carrying my shopping bags for me LoL Texans argue ove...

Vienna is really a pleasant surprise. It is a City Planner's dream come true and for a "City"zen, there cannot be a city more livable. The moment we stepped out of the station, we encountered one of the good samaritans, a young student visiting Vienna from a small Austrian town nearby. While he helped us find the street we were looking for, he advised us to ask younger people for help, since most of them would understand English, and since then we seldom had problems communicating. "Wombats",...

Vienna is interesting...will add more later

After stupidly missing my night train for Vienna in Venice (yes it was a 24 hour clock thing), and instantly adapting my itenary to take in Munchen instead, I managed to get back on track and make my way to Vienna overnight. Ofcourse this meant spending around 4 and 1/2 hours on several very cold train platforms across italy, before finally finding an abandoned 2nd class compartment where I could stretch out and sleep unbothered. When I say unbothered, I mean apart from the dozens of other pa...

So Vienna was one of the coolest cities...i loved it sooo much. Britt and I caught the train to Vienna (carey went the day before) which ended up taking an hour longer than we had planned. This really smelly guy sat next to Britt and kept leaning over her to look out the window, it was so nasty I think everyone on the train could smell him...poor Britt. The first day Britt and I went to Freud's House (which was pretty cool) and walked around the city seeing St. Stephans Catherdral and Dome an...

Got in by train around 9 AM. Found hostel. Cold, rainy, freezing. Headed to old city center. Did tram ride (after getting on wrong one) around city center. Went to St. Stephens (after getting lost when getting off tram). Went to Hofburg palace where I went to the Silver museum, Sisi museum, and the Imperial Apartments. Then to the treasury (where I saw a 500 year old unicorn horn-a lot bigger than I thought they would be). I´m sure glad someone held onto that. Too cold and out of underwear fo...