trip!

The rest of my week went well. I didn’t have TOO many responsibilities, and was trying to get over my homesickness. Last weekend was our free weekend and we were trying to assemble a group to go to Vienna. It was very thrown together, but Wednesday afternoon we went to the train station to figure out how exactly tickets were going to work, etc. We finally put together a group and took the 8:20am train from Salzburg to Vienna. I liked this train ride more than the one from Stockholm to Karlskoga. We got our own 6-person room and we could lay down a little and nap. I passed out for about an hour which made the time pass quickly.

When we arrived in Vienna, we immediately had to go check in at the hostel. Now my past experiences at a hostel were not good in New York, so I was a little pensive, but as you can see from my pictures, this one was MUCH nicer. We couldn’t check in just yet, so we put our stuff in storage and headed to the city center for some lunch.

It was definitely much longer than we thought, but we got to walk through the most busy parts of the city. We decided to eat in a little marketplace where there were open air stands and eateries. Margaret and I ate at an Asian fusion restaurant and met back up with the group.

We walked to the Karlskirche (St. Karl’s Church) in the main part of the city. According to what I was told, it was constructed after the second plague of Vienna in the mid 1700’s. The church was being renovated and had an elevator that took you up about 150ft in the air to a platform looking up at the frescos. If that wasn’t bad enough (I have a fear of heights), you could walk up more scaffolding to the very top of the church and get a nice panoramic view of Vienna. I was terrified out of my mind, but made it up regardless.

Next, we were off to the National Treasury that held all the royal jewels and crowns throughout the centuries. Apparently there was a part of the nail that nailed Jesus to the cross. Weird. And skeptical.

They kicked us out at 6pm, and we went back to the hostel to change for dinner and to go out. Of course, at 9pm we left the hostel to go to a dinner spot they suggested. It was awesome! The restaurant was divided into little stations that you got things from, and then swiped your card they gave you to charge it. Then at the end, you just swipe your card to pay your bill at the hostess stand.

The club we wanted to go to wouldn’t let me in because I had shorts on, even though they were of nicer material than most of the jeans people were wearing. Oh well. We went to another place instead which was fun where we saw a streaker! Weird Europe. The group was too tired to stay out long, and by 12:30, we walked back to the hostel.

Sunday we got up WAY too early, ate breakfast, and went to Schönbrunn Palace. Luckily we were there before the crowds hit. The museum showed where the Kings and Queens of the Autro-Hungarian Empire ruled. SO COOL! And the shots of the Palace were amazing as well.

We didn’t have much time left, so we took the Subway to the city center and ate a very tourist-y restaurant for lunch. It was a mix of a lot of things, but generally good. The group split up afterwards to go shopping and see St. Stephens Cathederal.

Our time in Vienna had to come to a close, so we made our way back to the train station, and aboard the train back to Salzburg. I was really happy we went to Vienna. I was feeling really homesick the 2nd week, and that helped immensely. To see the sights and be in a bigger city was nice, even if only for 36 hours or so.