Derag Hotel And Living Hotel Kaiser Franz Joseph Vienna

... to Schonbrunn Palace and gardens where I saw a HUGE palace and HUGE gardens. They were beautiful...I took lots of pictures. After my morning there, I took the metro to my own private mecca, The Sigmund Freud Museum. The Austrian government took over the house that he and his family lived in and where he worked, preserved it and made it into a museum. It was inspiring to see his study and office. I'm ready to do ...

... having the entered the convent at 19, studied two degrees, learnt brilliant english and now travels long distances by train to fulfil her position in the greater worldwide community of nuns. She was able to fill us in on what to expect on our rather long trip to Bulgaria tomorrow.

We did eventually get off the train in Vienna and have just spent the entire afternoon walking around ...

... were very filling. We even stole some bread, ham and cheese for lunch most days (again, we're poor students). The first night in Vienna we decided to see an opera. I know, you're thinking, you can't afford lunch but you can afford the opera? Well, we can because you buy standing tickets for 3 euros! We stood at the very top of the opera house where we couldn't see much but the beautiful architecture and hear the voices. We also each got a translator that told ...

... normal. After a short discussion we came up with a plan for the day: to walk around the ring road and stop at anything that caught our eye. Wandering back to the apartment we bought Vienna Cards (transport and discount card)s, more travel laundry detergent, and Penny got a new chapstick, then we were off. Walking down the road we eventually hit what we thought was the Danube (actually a canal of the Danube) and followed it to the ring road. Following the road, with a smaller canal ...

... Imperial Palace,TONS of museums, the Spanish Riding School stables (they only do shows on weekends...not Tuesdays.) I would have seen the Vienna Boy's Choir, but they only sing on Sundays. I went in the National Library, which is pretty well known. The state hall was quite nice. A bonus was the exhibit that happened to be going on. A Bloody History! It went through the ages and told of the violence and torture ...

... there were huge bouquets of real roses decorating the entire ballroom entrance. It was very impressive. I intend on going back there to see an opera at some point. Apparently when it was built the people of the city hated it and called it the "sunken box". The designer of it committed suicide soon after it was built because it was so badly received. It soon became well liked though ...

... a performance of the Vienna Mozart Orchestra. The concert hall was packed and nobody paid any attention to the no camera signs. The orchestra was accompanied by a male and female opera singer for more than half of the show. The orchestra was great but you can keep the opera. The bloke in particular was pretty weak and I just wanted him to sit down and shut up so we could here the real talent, the musicians. It was a ...

... away at a place called Pfudel on a patio - Mark's first ever Austrian food! After dinner we wandered 2 blocks to a loud party we had heard during dinner. It turned out to be a promotion for a local magazine and they were offering free appetizers and wine tasting, showcasing 'Women in wine' of the region. We were too full to sample any food, but we did try our first Austrian red wine, called 'Zwiegelt', and really liked it!

... and did not have that much of a problem strolling around the old town at night. I didn't like how it was really westernized in parts of the city. You can find a McDonalds or Burger King wherever you go, and we even saw a Starbucks. Yuck. Yet, that didn't ruin our stay there. We had awesome weather. We bought some ice cream and strolled around the city. It was a great first day. April 3rd ...