Grand

That's the best way I can describe Vienna, Austria. The buildings, the palaces, the prices... everything is quite grand in Vienna! Cody and I took a trip to Vienna from Thursday to Saturday evening this past weekend. We went on our favorite bus (Student Agency with the amazing free hot chocolate and movies) on Thursday after class. The trip is about 4 hours, not bad at all. We mostly got our bearings and planned out the weekend when we arrived. Our hostel was really cute and had a nice bar and outdoor patio, although it was too cold to enjoy it.

There aren't any walking tours in Vienna until the summer, so luckily I brought my handy dandy Rick Steve's guidebook along. Rick Steve's is a world traveler that has a lot of books on seemingly any country. His books are very helpful because he covers all ground from transportation, lodging, food, sites to see, where to go, prices and personal guided tours. We got up early Friday morning and started on our Rick Steve's walking tour which ended up being really informative and fun. He had a map with numbers and directions how to get from place to place and it kind of seemed like a scavenger hunt. We definitely were able to learn much more with the book and get more out of the city than we would have if we saw everything on our own. Rick started us off at the Oper (opera house) which was the first of many grand buildings. (By the way, they speak German in Austria in case anyone was wondering).

Opera House Grand building #1

Rick Steve's pointed out a bunch of museums, statues, and shops along the way until we got to the city center and St. Stephen's Cathedral. 

This is the famous Albertina Museum with the large panel hanging over the entrance called "the diving board." The Viennese people don't like the diving board because they think it ruins the overall look. I can see why.

This is the Hass Haus that was built in order to reflect the beautiful St. Stephen's Cathedral. The Viennese protested having this sleek building right across from the cathedral. Viennese are all about the old school. And across the street, we have the beautiful St. Stephen's Cathedral..

 St. Stephen's Cathedral- the roof reminded me of Matthias Church in Budapest.

We decided to hike up the 343 stairs in a tiny winding staircase to get to the top. The view was definitely worth it! I loved all of the turquoise, gold, and red throughout the city.

We then made our way to the Hofburg Palace which was MASSIVE.. typical Vienna.

We started exploring on our own and found the two huge museums which look like a total mirror reflection of each other down to every bush. Eventually we stumbled upon a bunch of other massive buildings including the parliament building, city hall, national theater, another church that looked extremely similar to St. Stephen's Cathedral, another palace and more! There was a lot to see in Vienna and we definitely managed to see a lot. Unfortunately it ended up being a lot colder than I was expecting.

Two different buildings...

 Parliament Building

 City Hall

National Theater

 The beautiful Belvedere Place, used as a party house by Eugene of Savovy. Quite the party house if you ask me.

Finally remembered my Clemson orange so had to snap a picture with it!

The next day we saw the Schonbrunn Palace and took a tour of the inside. Surprisingly, the palace was huge and has 1,441 rooms inside! The gardens are also grand and we got to walk around for a bit. I'm sure it would be absolutely beautiful in the spring. We also took a tour of the inside and it was very beautiful! I'm glad we did. Lastly we made our way to the famous Naschmarket which was not as impressive as the rest of Vienna, but still cool. 

Schonbrunn Palace

Vienna in German is Wien so Vienna is home of the famous Wiener Schnitzel. I've always heard about them and finally I got to try some myself! Wiener Schnitzel is basically a thin fried pork or veal type of dish. Very interesting to say the least! I got the traditional Austrian dish called "Kasespatzle" which is small lumps of dough made from flour and eggs- also quite a different taste.

 ^ Weiner Schnitzel

Everything in Vienna was expensive so I'm glad we only spent two days and still got to see all the sites. Definitely a cool city, but would probably be much more enjoyable in the warmer weather!

Next stop: Venice! Hoping for some sun in Italy