Vienna

Saturday morning we woke up around 7:30 for our early train out of Prague. We arrived in Vienna around noon and our hotel was easy to find. We dropped our things and walked down the main shopping road towards the St. Stephen's Cathedral. We had to stop and get lunch and we found an extremely authentic restaurant "Copenhagen Bar and Restaurant" that we sat at (that was sarcasm, they had no German food, Lauren hated it but I got a chicken sandwich that tasted like Chick-fil-A and was ecstatic!) We walked through the Cathedral afterwards and then Mozart's House. He lived in the apartment only for a few years, but it was here that he composed some of his best concerts. We got an audio tour and spent about an hour in the museum. By the time we were done it was time to go back for a much needed shower.

That night we planned to go to the Ferris Wheel we read about/saw when we were on the train. We made our way over there and found out it is located in the middle of a Theme Park...but a super low-budget Theme Park haha EXCEPT they had actual pony rides and their carousel had real horses! We went to the popular beer garden nearby for dinner and drinks until it closed around 10:30 and then took our ride on the Ferris wheel. Vienna is not that exciting at night so it was mostly us just ridding for no real reason. We went later to the strip of bars where Vienna's nightlife is and hung out there the rest of the night.

Sunday morning we got up early and had another full day in Vienna before our flight out late afternoon. We saw some of the main sites in Vienna: KarlsKirche, Opera Haus, Palace Gardens, Spanish Riding School (where they learn/practice Dressage with horses - we tried to get tickets for the practice they have in the morning but the horses were sick and it was cancelled) We got a really good lunch, actually German food Weinerschniztle and all! It was a lot and we were about to fall asleep in the restaurant but we dragged ourselves out and to the Modern Art Museum for the rest of the day.

We got to the airport in time for Lauren to try and figure out her flying schedule (a constant issue for her the whole trip since British Airways inconveniently decided to strike that weekend and they switched her flight back and forth the whole time). Of course, they were not even there. BUT since our original plans were to stay in Milan Monday night we got a later flight out of Vienna which was now an issue since Lauren was coming back to Riva with me because her flight was changed to leave on Tuesday. This is only a problem because the trains do not run past 10 from Milan to the Riva station...meaning we got as far as we could -the last stop in Italy- and then had to take a cab back to my apartment...50 Euros, very frustrating. The night wasn't over yet though, we spent another hour or two in the villa - me trying to finish work due the next day and Lauren on hold with British Airways.

We didn't get much sleep that night but Lauren worked it out so she would fly to London Monday and be able to fly out on Tuesday for LA. So after my classes were over we went to the train station together and I sent her on her way back home. I had such a blast with her and I am sooooo happy she came to visit! This weekend we are headed to Paris and I am so excited! I will make sure to update a bit quicker this time :-)