Vienna! Day 1.
Trip Start
Mar 19, 2008
1
20
61
Trip End
Jul 01, 2008
Vienna,
Vienna,
Austria
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Well, we get up at 6:00am, get all our stuff together and proceed to eat as much as humanly possible before the first train of the day departed. If I'm going to pay 60 Euros, I'm going to get my moneys worth out of the free breakfast damnit. We get to Munich, our transfer point just fine. Of course, we're not able to get a refund or discount on our now useless ticket to Vienna; thanks Deutsch bahn. So of course we buy new tickets and get on our way to Vienna; we literally hopped on the train as the doors were closing. This Munich train station is HUGE by the way, 38 platforms for national or international trains, 6 platforms on three different levels underground for Munich city trains, and two stations for street cars. It was actually pretty amazing. As the train threads its way through the countryside, I am doing my damnedest to concentrate on my homework; but my efforts are useless. Its just too beautiful. Everything is lush and green, mountains and large forests are everywhere. Nearly every fifth house has some number of solar panels on it; my what a concept, environmental responsibility
Hostel
. The European Union class I'm taking is really opening my eyes to how quickly the United States is falling behind the world in terms of environmental research and responsibility, and in trade. I'm sure we'll get a wake up call soon enough, at least I hope...Anyways...About halfway through the journey, I struck up a short conversation with a Hungarian girl in our train cabin; she highly recommended going to Budapest-so now I am. We arrived in Vienna at about 2:00, just in time to check into the hostel. Luckily I found this chain of hostels called Wombat City Hostels; they're amazing. Very cheap, very clean, great breakfasts, free sheets, free WiFi, great staff. I also noticed that Australian themed hostels seem to be a very popular thing in Europe. I found advertisements for Australian themed hostels in Budapest, Dresden, Berlin, Prague, ect. By 2:30 the town exploration had begun. We started out by just walking down to the old city; and after 10 minutes I was already very impressed. On nearly every building sculptures were placed under windows, into columns, on roofs, into doors; everywhere. Every building had a different set of sculptures, all unique. When we actually did enter the old city I was just blown away; absolutely amazing. So many beautiful parks, buildings, sculptures, statues, relief's, ect. We probably spent a good three hours just wandering around, we finally stopped at a church that was literally a carbon copy of the Dom in Cologne; only 1/5th the size
Cityscene
. At that point a flash rainstorm came in. One of our advisors here has a saying, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes", its so true. So we pretty much just spent the rest of the time wandering around taking in all of the sights of the street. One of the most entraining aspects of walking through Europe is simply watching the street life. In a matter of hours I saw people on stilts, jugglers, human statues, magic acts, various musicians/bands; everything under the sun. And while all of this was going on, food vendors were selling wursts, fries, drinks, beer, sweets, fruit, everything. Seeing as it was getting late, we decided to try out one of Rick Steves recommended restaurants. For dinner this evening, we tried one of Rick Steves suggestions; thank you so much Rick. Best diner I've had in all of Europe; and for a damn good price! With my stomach exploding, I waddled my way back to the hostel and attempted to do homework again; I ended up just screwing around instead. Laneise and I went downstairs to the bar to take advantage of a free drink coupon and you'll never guess who was there; the crazy Brazilians from our hostel in Munich! I ended up drinking quite a few beers with them, and having a damn good time. I really want to visit Brazil now; I've met four Brazilians so far, and they're all just great people. I was actually supposed to meet up with a Brazilian friend down here, but I couldn't get a hold of him....huh. 
