Vienna

Next, we were off to Vienna on another train. Our hostel in Vienna was called the Happy Hostel. It wasn't all that happy, though. I didn't feel very comfortable both nights that we stayed there. Vienna itself didn't impress me all that much either. Which is probably unfair to the city since we just came from Hallstat and NOTHING can top that.

I have earned the nickname "Quick Draw " because I am always the first one to get my camera out when we need one. My other nicknames are "Hiccups a lot" and another one that I can only tell people in person since it requires a lot of explaining in order for people to not judge me too harshly.

On Saturday, we kept getting turned around, so we decided to do a hop on hop off tour. I don't necessarily love tours like that, but they do help to get your bearings in an unfamiliar place. The first place we got off at was St. Stephens cathedral. Of course, it had a beautiful exterior. My favorite part was the colors inside. They had hung sheets of colored celaphane-ish stuff over the windows and it created the most gorgeous ceiling I have ever seen.

The next place we got off took up most of our day. We went to the Schonbrunn Palace, which we toured the inside of. It looked like your typical palace, but the historical information we heard was fascinating. I felt so bad for the queens daughters that were not the favorite. They were not allowed to marry for love. Their marriages were made for political reasons. The Austrians we able to gain more power that way without going to war. The best part about the palace was the beautiful gardens surrounding it. I could have spent all day out there. They also had a maze made out of shrubbery that was harder than we thought to find our way to the end. Once again, we found a really cool playground that the poor American children would be so jealous of. It had a back hoe in the sand pit and this giant bird thing that you could sit inside and make the wings flap.

After seeing a little more of the city, we went to a restaurant near the cathedral we were at earlier. It had a German name that sounds like the 12 Apostles. We had to climb down stairs to get down there. We never would have eaten there had a friend not recommended it and boy were we glad she did. I ate schnitzel and potato salad an both were wonderful. The potato salad was totally different from what I am used to. It had vinegar instead of mayonnaise. Also, I have no idea why there is an American restaurant called Weiner Schnitzel. It leads all of us to believe that it would be a hot dog. Not so. They call hot dogs frankfurters. Original schnitzel is breaded and fried veal. My schnitzel was pork, though. The highlight off the whole meal was the 2 men serenading everyone. When they got to our table and found out that we are American, they played songs like : Home on the Range I've Been Working on the Railroad Do re me Edel Weiss Killing Me Softly.

 A wonderful meal was followed by wonderful gelato at Zanoni and Zanoni. I got pistachio (one of my favs).

On Sunday, we started off the day by walking around some gorgeous gardens in the middle of the Ring near the Hofberg. It rained last night so there were still raindrops on the roses (one of Maria's "favorite things").

Plus, there were some Asian people doing tai Chi in the middle of the gardens. :) After getting a quick breakfast, we ventured off to church. We found the building just in time. The whole Sacrament meeting was in German but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was really good to be able to partake of the Sacrament. I also loved singing the hymns in German.