Vienna.
I don't even know where to start. This city continually surprises me - it is nothing like I had imagined. I expected it to be just a bunch of old buildings, but it is so much more.
We got here midday and had to take a nap, of course. After our nap, we headed to the city center to see what we could see. Since none of us know anything about Vienna or Austria, we just walked around for a while in hopes of learning about things and figuring out what we were looking at. We didn't learn much, but our navigator by day, "Cloud" (Kyle), got us through the city and we felt like we saw quite a bit.
As we were walking around we were getting hungry and tried to find a place to eat. We had been wanting to get some bratwurst, but were having a hard time finding a place. Eventually we all got to the "growl" stage and needed sustenance (that's for you, Abby and Alyssa)... So we looked around at what was close by and thought we would try "Chinagarten." We walked in and immediately regretted that decision, but since the lady looked so happy to have a costumer and never left our side, we felt obligated to stay. The menu looked sketchy, as did the buffet, but we braved it and all buffeted it up (and prayed no one would get sick). The food was pretty... Eh, no, it was bad. We had a good "memory," though, and laughed nearly the entire time (well, the girls did). They even had a fish tank.... With the fish floating upside-down. It was an experience to say the least.
After dinner, we tried to make ourselves feel better about our horrible meal, so we had some gelato and headed to a festival that our crazy hostel lady told us about. All we knew was "free," "island," and "festival." So, we went.
And, boy, was it an experience. It was a free Austrian version of ACL.. Sort of. Lots of stands selling drinks, food, and souvenirs dispersed along a pathway that had several stages for the bands. We stopped at a few and were mildly impressed but kept moving.... Until we came to "Green Shirt." I wish I could begin to describe what we saw, but there really is no way. He was just incredible and blew Bradyn's mind. All I can say is: dubstep, opera, rap, black light, light saber, high-low, power to the people, and sheer talent. We have a few videos between all of us, but nothing will do justice to what we experienced.
The evening ended with us coming back to our hostel, still singing and talking about our new hero "Green Shirt."
The next day began with bread, nutella, cheese and apple juice then going to St. Augustine church for mass. St. Augustine was the church Napoleon was married at, as was Mary Antoinette (according to our little map). It was good, even though Bradyn had to poke and pinch himself to stay awake.
After mass, we took Heather back to the hostel because her foot was bothering her and the rest of us went on a bike tour of the city. The bike tour was great for seeing a lot of things and getting some variation to our daily exercise but we didn't learn anything. We don't think our guide really knew what he was doing... He actually told Hutton he didn't know where we were.
After the tour, we finally got our bratwurst and found a place to watch the England vs Italy game.
The next day, after a late night, we woke up - had our usual breakfast of bread from the market and set out to find a museum to go to. Unfortunately, many places were closed or were too expensive. So, we went to St. Stephen's church then got some brats and headed to the hostel to pick up our stuff and leave for the airport.
We made it to Rome and spent the night there last night. That's also where we met up with Barton!
This morning (Tuesday) we got on a train for Cinque Terre and just arrived! It's so beautiful - I will post later. Internet is pretty hit or miss so who knows when that will actually be or when this message will actually go through.
I don't even know where to start. This city continually surprises me - it is nothing like I had imagined. I expected it to be just a bunch of old buildings, but it is so much more.
We got here midday and had to take a nap, of course. After our nap, we headed to the city center to see what we could see. Since none of us know anything about Vienna or Austria, we just walked around for a while in hopes of learning about things and figuring out what we were looking at. We didn't learn much, but our navigator by day, "Cloud" (Kyle), got us through the city and we felt like we saw quite a bit.
As we were walking around we were getting hungry and tried to find a place to eat. We had been wanting to get some bratwurst, but were having a hard time finding a place. Eventually we all got to the "growl" stage and needed sustenance (that's for you, Abby and Alyssa)... So we looked around at what was close by and thought we would try "Chinagarten." We walked in and immediately regretted that decision, but since the lady looked so happy to have a costumer and never left our side, we felt obligated to stay. The menu looked sketchy, as did the buffet, but we braved it and all buffeted it up (and prayed no one would get sick). The food was pretty... Eh, no, it was bad. We had a good "memory," though, and laughed nearly the entire time (well, the girls did). They even had a fish tank.... With the fish floating upside-down. It was an experience to say the least.
After dinner, we tried to make ourselves feel better about our horrible meal, so we had some gelato and headed to a festival that our crazy hostel lady told us about. All we knew was "free," "island," and "festival." So, we went.
And, boy, was it an experience. It was a free Austrian version of ACL.. Sort of. Lots of stands selling drinks, food, and souvenirs dispersed along a pathway that had several stages for the bands. We stopped at a few and were mildly impressed but kept moving.... Until we came to "Green Shirt." I wish I could begin to describe what we saw, but there really is no way. He was just incredible and blew Bradyn's mind. All I can say is: dubstep, opera, rap, black light, light saber, high-low, power to the people, and sheer talent. We have a few videos between all of us, but nothing will do justice to what we experienced.
The evening ended with us coming back to our hostel, still singing and talking about our new hero "Green Shirt."
The next day began with bread, nutella, cheese and apple juice then going to St. Augustine church for mass. St. Augustine was the church Napoleon was married at, as was Mary Antoinette (according to our little map). It was good, even though Bradyn had to poke and pinch himself to stay awake.
After mass, we took Heather back to the hostel because her foot was bothering her and the rest of us went on a bike tour of the city. The bike tour was great for seeing a lot of things and getting some variation to our daily exercise but we didn't learn anything. We don't think our guide really knew what he was doing... He actually told Hutton he didn't know where we were.
After the tour, we finally got our bratwurst and found a place to watch the England vs Italy game.
The next day, after a late night, we woke up - had our usual breakfast of bread from the market and set out to find a museum to go to. Unfortunately, many places were closed or were too expensive. So, we went to St. Stephen's church then got some brats and headed to the hostel to pick up our stuff and leave for the airport.
We made it to Rome and spent the night there last night. That's also where we met up with Barton!
This morning (Tuesday) we got on a train for Cinque Terre and just arrived! It's so beautiful - I will post later. Internet is pretty hit or miss so who knows when that will actually be or when this message will actually go through.
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