First Days in Vienna
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2008
1
21
Trip End
Jun 04, 2009
We finally arrived in Vienna at 8:15 on Thursday morning! Our trip was great and both of our flights were right on schedule. Our friend in Vienna, Philip, picked us up at the airport and took us back to his parents flat so that we could ditch our bags. Although it was 9:00 A.M. in Vienna, it was actually midnight back in Oregon where we came from. Instead of sticking to our old time schedule and going to sleep we decided to charge on through the day in hopes of quickly getting on the new time schedule. We almost made it all the way through the day, only stopping to take a 3 hour nap at 5:00. Philip showed us around the city for several hours. We walked about 8 miles (or 12.9 kilometers) around the city and saw the most popular tourist sites - the national library, the governement buildings, Stephan's Cathedral, and the local markets and cafes. We ate our way through the markets, eating kebobs (lamb sandwiches with a thick mayo sauce), olives, cheese, and nuts. That night we walked the streets again and then went to a local pub. We also ate on the street from one of the famous sausage street vendors. We shared a cheese filled sausage with sweet mustard. It is very safe here, and for the most part the locals are friendly. We have been very fortunate to have Phillip as our guide because we do not know a word of German! Hello, yes, no, exit, goodnight, the numbers 1-5, and good day are the only vocabulary words that we have picked up so far. He has helped us buy food, communicate with his family, and buy tram tickets. I don't know what we are going to do without him while we are traveling by ourselves!! We will be here in Vienna for 2 more days and then we are headed to Prague.
