Hitting the halfway-point in the program is exciting but draining. The much appreciated warm weather brings midterms and readjustments, so our program trip to Vienna, Austria came at the perfect time.
The bus ride was long, and made longer by a weird stop at "Excalibur City," a medieval themed park/tourist attraction. The day wasn't looking good after John slammed his face on the trampoline and most of the bus felt sick, needless to say, we were all anxious to arrive and we did so around 4pm. We checked into the hotel and since it was so nice I opened the window to look outside. Before I knew it there were heads sticking out of most windows laughing and waving to each other. Our spirits picked up.
Our guides, Z and Jana, brought us downtown to show us around. We took photos with statues of Mozart and ate the famous "Sacher" cake.
For dinner we had the largest portions of schnitzel I've ever seen. Jana had told us about the portions: "I don't think any of the girls could finish one, maybe some of you boys." My whole table split their portions with each other and we still couldn't finish them. (Oliver claims to have eaten all but 2 fries but I can't seem to find an eye-witness).
On Saturday we took a more extended tour of Vienna. Z told us about the legends and famous stories including places where Mozart and Mark Twain visited. I could feel a difference in the group now, maybe because we hadn't all been traveling together since Munich, but there was definitely a different dynamic to the group this time. The tour was long because we all wanted to stop and take photos of everything, even the trees and flowers innocently blooming along the trees and parks.
The weather was beautiful so some of us rented bikes to see the rest of the city. There were bike paths everywhere and tons of parks to explore. We had a map to tell us where to go and I'd be lying if I said we didn't sing some Sound of Music tunes. It was such a fun way to see the city and enjoy the perfect weather.
Before our bus trip back home we stopped at the Schonbrunn Palace, summer home to Franz Joseph and Elisabeth. The museum provided us with an audio tour which described all of the rooms and paintings including those of Maria Theresa and Marie Antoinette. The best part of the palace was definitely the grounds. There was a massive garden with fountains and flowers. I trekked up to the top of the hill where another building stood. There I had a whole view of Vienna and could imagine the Hapsburgs living and ruling there.
From the moment I saw the city I knew I wasn't going to have enough time there. It is the only place where I've felt this way, and even though I saw it all, I wanted to stay longer and enjoy it. The ride back to Prague seemed even longer, interupted only by another stop to "Excalibur City."
(Shoutout to the Bachman family - can't believe I missed you!)
i told hannah, Wendy and I wanted to meet you since we enjoy reading your blog. Some days she more blond than others. She really likes the group of girls she hangs with and obviously "face plant John". The main things I learned in Praha were pivo prosim, ucet, prosim and dekuji.
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