Vienna, Apparently I'm Austrian
I only got to spend a couple of days in Vienna but the entire time I was there people kept walking up to me and speaking in German. This may not seem like anything to you but this is the first place I've been to where people haven't automatically thought I was a tourist and started speaking in English to me. I had to tell people over and over again that I didn't speak German, I even had two people come up and try to ask me for directions! Little did they know I was as lost as they were.
My time in Vienna was a little clouded (literally) by the bipolar weather. On Thursday when I arrived it was pretty chilly and cloudy. Then on Friday I thought it was going to be better, I walked out of the hostel and was actually warm. The sun was out and I almost went back to the hostel to put my cardigan away. Good thing I didn't do that. The rest of the day the weather was switching between hot and sunny to windy, cloudy, and cold! But I didn't let that stop me from exploring the city! I went to the Museums Quartier to walk around (an area with museums, restaurants, shops, and really cool benches you can lay down on, like giant plastic beds), explored the Hofburg (Habsburg family) Palace with their Volksgarten garden, and walked to the Stephansdom (St. Stephan's Cathedral). All of these places were nice places but then I saw a postcard with a building I hadn't seen. It also happened to be the coolest postcard I had ever seen (well one of the coolest), it had glitter on it! I asked the lady where the building was then I went on a mission to find it! It is called the Karlskirche church and it was totally awesome in real life too! I had to sit and draw it for awhile because I loved it so much! After that I walked over to the Belveder Palace and garden. It was so pretty and reminded me a little bit of Versailles and Biltmore, they all have similar layouts. I was able to finish the day at this market area called Naschmarkt to get supper with a guy I met when we were in Budapest. He is from China but works in Vienna for the UN and happened to be visiting Budapest at the same time as me. That was cool that we could meet up in Vienna for supper.
Saturday was a bit more dreary, it was cloudy and rainy all day. I decided to brighten this a bit by stopping in a bakery and buying a couple pieces of cake/cake like things. Yes, the cake was my breakfast and I don't regret it one bit! I've been told that Vienna is famous for their pastries and cakes so of course I had to go all out. I spent most of the day in the Kunsthistorisches art museum. It was the Habsburg family collection, I don't know how they even had room for all of that artwork in their palace, the place was packed with artwork. There was a lot of interesting stuff at the art museum and lots of couches so I could sit and relax a bit. After that I ate in the Museums Quartier, got some ice cream and headed back to the hostel to rest for the remainder of the day. I haven't taken much time this trip to just relax and not speed around the town so I decided this afternoon was the time to do it, especially since it was rainy.
Today is my travel day to Salzburg. I hope the weather gets better, right now it is a little cloudy out the window but seems better than the past couple of days. This is the first day I haven't reserved a seat on a train to another city. I was a little nervous about just hopping on the train but it turned out fine! I got a seat and everything is going smoothly, so far...
Do you hear it? It's coming...the hills are alive with the sound of music...