Take that Europe

After working today from 9am to 6pm with only a lunch break and a ubahn trip to the other side of town for babysitting, I came home exhausted, so I spent all of the money I made today and more. But I think it was well worth it. My roommate Jessica and I have planned a grand excursion through Germany and Spain with a stop off in Dublin, Ireland just for fun.

We will start in the German city of Köln, which was the city on which I did my first ever German class project, so I am excited that my first real trip to Germany will start there. Then we go to Bremen, with (hopefully) a day trip to Hamburg. We then fly to Barcelona and spend a few days there before heading to Madrid. From Madrid we then fly to Dublin for a day before flying back to Bratislava. And taking the short bus trip home to Wien!

Epic, no?

Second Job

In order to help pay for all of my fun excursions, I've taken a second job as a library assistant at the IES center. I started today, when Dieter, our library/tech guy, called and said he had no one to cover the current shift. So I ran in and he put me right to work by organizing and scanning the entire course packet for my class on the Leid. Fun. And I checked out one book! For myself. Real fun! But really it wasn't too bad. Although, I can't wait for the days when I head in and have time to just update my blog, or catch up on homework or watch bad tv! That is what being a library assistant is really all about anyway.

Schönbrunn Park

In the morning before going to Massenet's Werther at the Vienna Staatsoper, Jess, John and I went to Schönbrunn to wander the grounds. We started in some of the manicured wooded areas, headed back to the Palmenhaus and Tieregarten portion (although we didn't have time for the Zoo) and hiked up the hill to the Gloriette before wandering down the more natural woods on the other side. John and I also found a Würst stand near a gate to the park, where he tried his first Käsekrainer, which are a kind of wurst filled with cheese and quite possibly the best thing on the planet. By the time we were finished we were freezing, because in spite of the sun and supposed 50 degree temperature, we underdressed and were quite chilled. We headed back to Dürergasse for a nap and a break before standing through the opera!

Jess and John in front of Schönbrunn

A view of the Palmenhaus and some of the gardens

Green things in Winter!!!

Schönbrunn's Neptune Fountain

Schönbrunn

Wandering Wien

John and I spent the day walking through the sites of Vienna. We ubahned it to the Prater and wandered through the mix of Coney Island-esque rides and old Habsburg hunting grounds. We made our way through the Praterallee heading to the Hundertwasser- Krawinahaus, an apartment building designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser in the mid-80s. Then we hopped on the straßenbahn and headed back into town, where we walked the ring from UniWien to the Hofburg under the glow of golden rays. We then decided it was time to hit up another cafe for more amazing torte, so we stopped by Cafe Mozart, who carries the famous Cafe Landtmann torte, before heading home to wait for the new roommates to move in!

The Riesen Rad in the Prater

The high in the sky ride in the Prater

The Hundertwasserhaus

The Burgtheater on the Ring

So Vienna: The Hofburg Palace, a Fiaker horse and carriage and a City Bike!

Happily waiting at Cafe Mozart for my Trüffeltorte

Cafe Mozart with their amazing Landtmann torte!

Bratislava

With an early start to our day, John and I spent the day in Bratislava. A mere hour away, Bratislava and Vienna are the two closest European capitals and there are many forms of transportation back and forth between the two. Bratislava is a city in transition, formerly under Communist rule and moving forward attempting to establish itself as the next big Eastern European city. Fairly clean, with a beautiful old city center and overlooking castle on a hill, Bratislava may one day be the next Prague, but for now doesn't have much to offer inside its lovely walls. Most museums are going through renovations or being built completely, so really its just a facade, but still worth a day trip and all done in under 30 Euros!

One of the many fun statues on the streets

An old Bratislavan Palace and soon to be museum

The first and the prettiest of the many churches we wandered into

A beautiful square

Johnny and I taking a break

The old city gate tower

Notice the canonball, courtesy of Napoleon, to the right of the window

At the First Slovak Pub, where we had lunch and slovakian beer

Outside the presidential palace

The UFO Bridge

Bratislava on the Donau

The Castle on the Hill

The Combination New and Old Castle

Castle and Fortress

Johnald comes to Wien

My friend John, who I've known and spoken (sometimes bad) german with since freshman year of college, arrived yesterday in Vienna. He begins his European college adventure next week, with a 10 week intensive language programs before starting a semester at Tübigen in Germany. But before the learning starts, he is hanging out here with me for a week.

Since John has already been to Wien and done the touristy stuff, we are basically just bumming around doing his two favorite European things: seeing Churches and eating Torte. In these first few days, we've conquered more than half of the first district churches, most of which I'd never noticed or heard of before and had only one stop for torte (so far) at Cafe Schwarzenberg, the oldest cafe on the Ring, where we sampled the Mozartbombe torte. We also popped into the the Haus des Meers to enjoy the fishys and we also spent several hours at Naturhistorisches Museum. And tomorrow we are headed off to Bratislava for some Slovakian fun!

Wien: Zweite Mal

I arrived yesterday in Vienna, after a smooth flight and with my 24 kg suitcase, 7.4 kg carry on, and my laptop bag/purse in tow. I caught the S7 back to the city and took the U4 back to mi casa, where I then carried all of my luggage up the 122 stairs in one fell swoop. Victory dance at the top of the stairs? Why yes, that did happen.

Coming back to Vienna was in some ways harder and in some easier than the first time. Packing was easier, since I already had most of my stuff here and most of what I was bringing back was cheap American toiletries in giant oversized bottles (none of which exploded! Victory dance part 2!). Leaving my family and friends was so much easier this time around. I had already done 5 months solid away from home, which was the longest I've gone in my entire life. This semester is only one month longer, but Ali and Eileen are visiting, so it feels about the same. I knew that I could do it. Unfortunately the hard part was also leaving everyone. I had an amazing 3 weeks in America and was lucky enough to see and spend time with many of my friends and family. The problem with having it be amazing, is that when you leave it, its just that much harder.

I am so excited to be back in Wien and wouldn't trade the next 6 months for anything, but that doesn't mean my mind and my heart isn't often with all of you back home.