Vienna.. a city more than sausage. (part 1)

Well.. I wouldn't really know what viennese sausage is like because I recently have been trying out what it is like to not be carnivorous.. you could say I am a pescatarian... but i miss chicken.

Rachel and I arrived into Vienna late on Thursday night. We had an uneventful travel there (I consider that a good thing) and got to the hostel about 11pm. We wanted to get an early start the next day so we headed on up to bed. Our beds needed to be made so there we were feeling around in the dark trying to put our sheets on.. we were both top bunkers and the girls below us were already out.. so as quietly as possible, which wasn't quiet at all, we made our beds and passed out.

The next morning the alarm sounded too quickly, although the sun announced its presence hours beforehand. I am not in the slightest complaining, I would take the sun waking me over an alarm anyyy day. After eating a breakfast of hard boiled eggs, muesli and yogurt, bread and spicy pepper cheese, we were on our way to Schönbrunn palace where the Habsburgs lived. It was set up as though they were living there so it was really cool to see what it would have been like and to learn about the history. It was cold that day so walking through the gardens wasn't as fun or beautiful as it would have been had the sun shone.. but you can't control the weather unfortunately. So we walked around a bit, had an impromptu jumping photo session where I was a horrible photographer and then we climbed the hill to look out over the city. It was beautiful being able to see out so far. Next we headed in the direction of the Sigmund Freud museum in search of something for lunch. We ended up wandering for a while not sure which direction we were going or in which direction we would find food.. but you know us and we stumbled upon something that looked decent pretty quickly. We walked in and were unsure if we pick a table ourselves and sit down or if someone would seat us.. and in most places you seat yourself.. so we awkwardly were standing there half heading towards a table half waiting trying to make eye contact with anyone to figure out what to do. So finally we asked at the bar. The English in this place was very limited and Rachel and I don't speak a word of German so we winged it. and it worked. A man sat us at a table after we decided that the menu offered things worth trying and we settle in to make our decision. After getting our drinks we had a few questions for him... like what do you recommend, which is better, what is this? etc. Well ok we figured it out. I had previously discussed with him the prospect of getting a fish dish but hadn't completely settled . After he took Rachel's order he walked away... I was like I hope he is putting my order in too. When he came back I reminded him of what I wanted and he was like ohh yeah I already put it in.. well good thing I hadnt changed my mind.. he was a funny fellow. I liked him. We enjoyed our meal and after making a fool of myself and tripping over the carpets on the way to the restroom, we headed off to find us some freud museum.

I was looking forward to this museum visit.. I thought it would be interesting and tell us about some of freuds work and experiements, go into a little depth, reveal some secrets. We found the place but couldn't find the door.. hmmm, is this a little trick they were playing on us? finally some nice passersby told us how to get in and I, having a clumsy day tripped into the entry. We paid our student fair and after the lady asked our language she pointed us in the direction of the tour. We didnt have any information so when we walked into a room full of objects with corresponding numbers and without any information we were really confused. So I went back out and the woman blamed me for not paying attention to the fact that she had pointed us to a printed pamphlet 20 pages long in various languages when I clearly remember her only asking our language and not pointing us to the info... but whatever. So back on to the tour. This was the most overrated and disappointing museum I have ever been to in my life. In no way at all was it interesting or say a lick about his works. It was comprised of two rooms with pictures and his antique collection and each of the numbers had a paragraph of information describing it in the pamphlet. Nothing, i say nothing on his works. So we dipped out of there across the street to where Rachel's great great grandma once lived and made our way to the opera house.
I think you may know this but Vienna is known for its music... and we weren't about to pass on that. There are tickets to the opera available for 4euro, standing room. We were on our way to get these an hour and a half before the show with standing sounding less and less appealing after a day of walking but we werent passing it up. On our way however.. after a detour around the building and upon asking a woman where it is, her exlaiming with jubilence and cheer "ITS RIGHT THERE! RIGHT THERE!" (she was really cute) we ran into some men in costume selling tickets for 25euro. Now that isnt bad at all for a brand new opera.. and in Vienna. So they sold us on the idea of buying tickets and we did. Having an hour and a half to kill before doors opened.. we went to a cafe and had tea and carrot cake (turns out this was dinner, check that off the bucket list) and headed back to the opera. Our seats: one row below standing and while it was difficult to see the left hand part of the stage and to see the right you had to lean on the handrail, it was the Most beautiful perfomance I have been to. I loved it and the last opera I went to left me with a bad taste for operas. But this one, I didnt need to see it, being able to hear it was pleasure enough. Beautiful. The walk back to the hostel in the crisp air ended my night and I was out. out like a lightbulb.

pictures to come, my computer is on the fritz so I am unfortunately not able to post them. I will fix my albums on photobucket so that you are able to see and link the pics. :)

I hope you all had a Happy and Joyful Easter!