Vienna, Austria

Well it is about time that I posted something on this blog and I am sure you all are excited. And if you aren’t, then get excited…. Now. Well Saturday morning, bright and early, we all piled into the vehicles to make the drive to Vienna, Austria! Dalton, Jeff, Courtney, and I rode in Kelley’s car.. it was…. Cozy. One of the advantages to riding with Kelley is that she lets us plug in our iPods to play music. At times, this got dangerous. We got Dalton in the front seat who is a marvelous singer, me who loves to sing in the car, Courtney who adores singing and musicals, and Jeff who loves to listen to his hip hop. Plus we got some dance moves going on which proved to be quite entertaining. We had several scheduled stops along the way and Melk Abbey was the first. Out of all the places we visited in Austria, the library within this Abbey almost felt like a dream. You know back in the day when you would watch Beauty and the Beast? That library came straight from this Abbey. You walk in the doorway and there are thousands of antique editions carefully placed in floor length bookshelves. To reach the top shelve, they had a step ladder that leans on the wall and is secured by a rail at the top, the best part is that is slides along the wall. Even though they were roped off, lets just say I was very tempted to run up the ladder and push to see how far I could go. We all know my fascination of libraries and this is my #1. After we toured the rest of Melk Abbey, we all hopped back in to the cars (there was a small snowball fight between Andrew and I… and he partially whitewashed me) and continued to Vienna.

Our next stop was the Feud Museum. Can I just add that people in Europe are crazy drivers? It is quite ironic that Germany has a rule for everything, and yet when it comes to driving it is a free for all mindset. We had pulled into Vienna and were trying to find the street that the Freud museum was on. Parking is crazy there and Jerry was trying to find us a space. He found one but it was down a one way, and we were in the opposite direction. One ways? That doesn’t mean anything. Kelly pulls onto the street going in reverse, so technically her car is pointing in the right direction. Oh man, I don’t know why, possibly because we had been cooped up in the car for several hours, but we all thought this was hilarious. We finally made it to the Freud Museum where we spent several hours. It was kind of creepy and sketish-ish. There was a room with nothing in it except for a metal therapist couch where a patient would be asked “And how do you feel about this?” Once we got done with our tour, we took off to find our hostel.

That night was the Super Bowl so the boys and Dr. Trull were scouting our bars that were showing it. They found one: The Duke. Throughout our trips, we have found that the boys always get the better rooms (which is ok because at Regensburg, Courtney, Kammy, and I have the best room) but this time it was SOOO not fair. All girls were in one room and all the boys were in a room. We all trudged into our room with all our baggage and this room was tiny! There were 2 bunk beds and then a cot on the floor. The free space we had was probably 3 feet. We go into the boy’s room and it is GINORMOUS!! What the heck? We are girls and have way more stuff than they do. But they refused to switch, go figure. But it was quite cozy and hilarious staying in that room. That night, we were all craving Mexican and the reception desk told us of a good restaurant. We took off in the freezing night to find this place. We got a little lost and it took us a little big longer than expected. By the time we made it, we were all famished. And to top it off, it took us a million years to get our food. We got done with dinner and I had to decide if I wanted to watch the Super Bowl or not. Since we are in Europe it didn’t start until three in the morning or something and got done way late, or more so early in the morning. Plus our day was packed the next morning. I decided not to go which was a very wise decision on my part. Instead, some of us went in search of apple strudel (Vienna has the best) but failed. We did make it to a coffee shop and spent some time there. Went to bed that night and woke up in the morning with plans of going to the Schonbrunn Palace and an Orchestra later that night. We had been watching this movie Sissi, which is about Elisabeth of Bavaria, and this was her palace! It was gorgeous and very extravagant. The ballrooms were surreal and I could just imagine attending a party there. The rooms filled with people all dressed up with an orchestra playing ballads. Sigh, that would have been the life.



I had one mission for the rest of the day. Two words. Apple strudel. Courtney, Kelley and I went to a pub that had supposedly fabulous strudel. And let me tell you, they were CORRECT. It was funny because when we were eating it, the only thing that came out of our mouths were MMMMMMMMM. Delicious. One thing that was weird that first Courtney and then I found a ball of pepper (like salt and pepper) with the sauce. Either this was an accident or some type of secret recipe. We never did find out but it didn’t matter, it was sill scrumptious. Andrew, Tanner, Kelley and I went to the Strauss and Mozart orchestra. It was superb, I had never actually attended an orchestra concert so it was an experience. There were also ballet dancers (not my favorite) and opera singers. And I got to ride on a subway for the first time in my life. Andrew and I would race up the stairs, which kept us entertained.

The next morning was out last day in Vienna and it was a free day. Andrew, Courtney, Jerry, Dr. Trull, and I wanted to go to the Papyrus Museum. We walked with the others part way and we stopped to take a picture by a monument. We learned one of the best lessons in Europe here: nothing is ever free. There was this chick who was handing us flowers and we were like “Oh cool!” And we were taking our pictures, and then she came to take the flowers back and demanded money. We got scammed… good. Courtney refused to give back her flower and just walked away. Chuckles. But we went to the Papyrus Museum where we saw an Egyptian Book of the Dead, which was sweet. And the best part of the entire trip, next to the apple strudel, was walking around the museum district and looking at the monuments and the architecture. It was beautiful! If we hadn’t gone to that district, I probably would have not liked Vienna. We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon strolling the area and getting coffee at Starbucks. It was way fun, plus Dr. Trull was hilarious and that was fun getting to hang out with him before he had to leave. We left back to Regensburg that day and got there just in time for dinner.

Egyptian Book of the Dead

We had presentations the next day and Courtney and I hadn’t even started yet. Haha. That was a late night! But we pulled it off smoothly. By this point we still hadn’t bought our Paris tickets so we also did that the night we got back. Friday night we went to 80’s night at a club. Oh man, so many funny stories. Hmmm…. Dalton, Jeff, Courtney and I went. It was very entertaining. Saturday we got to chill and relax and then on Sunday, Heather, Lisa, and I met up with Kelley and we went to church by Vilseck. It was really nice to be able to go to church where people speak English! We went back to Amberg and planned on eating at an Italian restraint. Unfortunately, all the places were closed until later but we were set on Italian so we had some time to kill. This was a day of eating. First we stopped at a bakery and got some pretzels and croissants. Then we went a different restraint and ate gelato. I love ice cream. Straciatella is the BEST. This was the beginning to my gelato addiction. We stayed there for quite some, partly because we were blocked in, and because it was warm inside! When I say we stayed there for quite some time, I mean hours. But it was relaxing just being able to sit and talk, it was way fun. After the gelato, we walked around and went into Basilika St. Martin to warm up. A men’s choir was practicing somewhere within the church and it echoed from wall to wall. It was beautiful. I probably could have sat there and listened to them for hours. Plus, it was very dark and the only light was the flames from the candles. Spectacular. It was finally time for Italian! We went to the restaurant and I had the best calzone I have ever eaten in my 20 years of life. Oh-my-lanta. I want to go back there and eat again!!! Plus the waiter was trickster, and those are exactly the people that I love. Back to Regensburg and the next morning we left for Paris!!

France

Paris! The city of love! We almost made it there on National Single Awareness Day but we arrived the day after. This was an interesting trip. Courtney, Andrew, and I had purchased our tickets less than a week before we left. We got them off the internet site for a fabulous bargain. The night before we left, I went to go write down my confirmation number and I realized that the return date was wrong! These things don’t happen to me! I always triple check everything before I confirm it! I am still not entirely convinced that it was my error, but unfortunately there are no other possibilities. So I must take it for what it is. I was hoping that it would all get sorted out at the airport. The next morning, Monday, we set off on our journey. We make it to the airport where I find out that they cannot change it and if I booked a separate return flight it would be 600 Euros! Holey Moley! Plus the lady was not very friendly which torked me off even more. That was more than my roundtrip ticket to Germany! By this point I was annoyed, and to top it all off I dropped my purse which had my alarm clock in it and it busted! I was more angry about my alarm clock than I was about my ticket! But I had already decided that I was not going to let this ruin our trip or the atmosphere so I was determined to have a good attitude. When going to our terminal, we just happened to pass a gelato stand so we took a pit stop to eat some. We all know that ice cream solves all problems, and it worked its magic on me. We boarded the plane, and took off and got above the clouds and there was the sun! Sunshine is very precious in Regensburg because the clouds usually cover its rays. It was BEAUTILFUL! Sunshine always makes me smile so that was also a factor that contributed to my good mood. We landed in Paris where none of us spoke French or really knew how to do everything. But I am proud to say that I navigated us successfully to our hostel in downtown Pairs, which was mildly sketch. We dropped off our stuff and headed straight to the Eiffel Tower. For anybody to go to Paris, make sure you see this grandeur monument at night! It was amazing! We walked around for sometime and decided to wander back to our hostel, but we kinda, sorta got lost on our way. We knew the general direction but had no idea where our street was. Luckily, this elderly lady came to our rescue and whipped our her detailed map of Paris from her purse, which was quite strange because it was late at night. What in the world was she doing?? We made it back to our hostel where we scared the beejeebers outta the guy who was already sleeping. Whoopsie daisy!

The next morning we went straight to a bakery where we got the best croissants we’d ever tasted and I bought a baguette to have a fencing fight at the Eiffel Tower! We returned to the Eiffel Tower where we had to pose for the famous pictures that one is complied to do during their stay in Paris. Once we got those beautiful pictures snapped we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe and walked along the Champs de Elysees and along the Seine River. You wanna know why the French are so skinny and why they eat so many baguettes? Because they walk everywhere and need the carbs to stay alive! We continued along the road to make it to the Notre Dame. By this time, we were exhausted! We sat in the park with the sunlight on our faces for over and hour and a half!! I also fed the pigeons the remaining crumbs of my baguette which is always good entertainment. By this time, it was evening and we were exhausted so we headed back to our hostel. We got settled down and I began my quest for my return trip to Germany. I had to be back on Friday because we were leaving for Dresden on Saturday morning! It was frustrating because I was trying to find the cheapest way because I am a poor college student who is in Europe, chuckles. That night was unsuccessful so I headed back up to our room where I fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillow. We had always planned to wake up early and go to breakfast but this is never what happened. The sleep button IS our friend. Might I add that we never exactly knew the time in Paris. We were not sure if there was a time change and there were 2 different clocks in our hostel that said two different times. But we never really cared what time it was and didn’t pay much attention to it.

Wednesday we got ready and dedicated the day to hit the Louvre. I never had preset expectations of this museum but I was impressed. This place is gigantic! Unfortunately, every time I think of the Louvre I always think of the Da Vinci Code, sigh. But I can’t help it. We saw all the famous paintings, the Mona Lisa, Code of Hammurabi, Venus de Milo, The Raft of Medusa, ect. We had previously planned at separating and decided to meet at a specific staircase at 17:00. While walking to one of my exhibits, I ran into Courtney so we decided to go to the staircase a little early because our legs were killing us. So we get there and are standing there, 17:00 comes and goes. It soon becomes 17:15…. 17:30…. And by this point we were getting annoyed and almost mad. Blasted Andrew, hurry up! We were so close to leaving him. And to top it all off, these group of boys came and asked us if we spoke English and we were like mmmhmmm. Then they kept pushing this girl towards us and it was sooo strange. Then they came up beside me and started talking. Then one told me I had a beautiful face and my response was “thank you??” What exactly do you say to that? Then they kept going off and eventually they left which is relieving. Andrew is suppose to protect us from these things happening!! We hadn’t eaten anything all day and we were famished, which did not help our attitudes. I kept seeing all of these people with Starbucks and wanted some!! Finally we ventured off to find it and were successful. We got our beverages and returned to our worn spot on the staircase. The entire time, we did not know what time it was in France so I asked Courtney to look at the time on her receipt at it was 16:40! Ahhhh!! My watch was an hour ahead! Blasted time in France. We could no longer be mad at Andrew, which particularly made me more annoyed. Sigh. But we did seem to be able to catch sight of the humor within the situation. By Wednesday I had purchased a train ticket to get back to Regensburg. Unfortunately, the train station was on the opposite side of town but I wanted to go there and make sure that that everything was ok so it would go smoothly without any problems on Friday. Andrew and Courtney took off to the Opera House and I started on my journey to the train station. Longest walk of my life. Plus, I had to go to some sketch ghetto which portrayed a scene out of Barber Shop. It was exactly how it was! These barber shops filled with Black people doing each others hair and talking loudly. It was actually kind of cool, minus the thoughts of being kidnapped. But after many miles, I made it to the train station where everything was set. I retraced my steps and made it back to our hostel Now I only had one more dilemma, my train left at 9:00 and the walk from our hostel to the train station was a good 2-3 hours. I was ok with it but my madre was not. All of the hostels up north were way more expensive so we made a compromise. She would pay half my hostel. I was ok with that. I wasn’t stranded in Paris any longer!

Thursday was the day we dedicated to souvenir shopping. We walked to the Eiffel Tower again and there are about a million hagglers trying to sell you Eiffel Tower key chains. Every time you turn around they will approach you. Not only are these hagglers annoying but there are also a bagillion little Bosnian women who will come up to you and ask “Do you speak English?” If you say yes they will hand you this sheet of paper that has the same story: my brother died, we’re stranded, no home, blah blah blah. It would be more convincing if 50 people did not have the same sheet of paper. Then they’ll pull out their cup beginning for change. While returning from our shopping we went through the same part. Courtney came up with this game to entertain us. We were going to haggle the hagglers. Our goal was to see who could get the most key chains for 1 Euro. After we made this game up, Andrew also had a brilliant idea. Not only were we going to haggle the hagglers, we were going to beg the beggars. GAME ON. The moment we walked down the stairs we were approached by a haggler. The dude was like “You want keychains?” and Andrew was like actually yah! 3 for 1 Euro. Ummmm… I need 10! The look on this guy’s face was priceless. Then Andrew went into this extravagant story of how he only had 1 Euro left and he needed to get all his friends key chains. While transaction is going on, Courtney and I were laughing our buns off. Andrew finally agreed on 6 key chains for 1 Euro. Our new goal was 7. Right when Andrew turned around here comes a Bosnian woman. Andrew, “Oh what’s this?” By this time I lost it. I was laughing so hard I was crying. “Do you speak English?” …. Andrew’s response, “Do you speak Bosnian?? Actually, we’re hungry? Can we have some money? I just bought some key chains you want one?” It was one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed. For the next 2 hours our time consisted of seeing how many key chains we could get for 1 Euro. Safe to say that everybody is now going to get an Eiffel Tower key chain. Since Andrew and Courtney’s flight left early the next morning, they were going to spend the night in the airport and I wanted to get to my new hostel before dark. We went back to our original hostel and got our stuff. Andrew and Courtney really wanted me to ride a bus but I had previously decided that I was not going to press my luck any longer. As I was backing up I was like guys I’ll be fine, WHAM! I slam my head against the wall. Chuckles. Oopsie. No guys, for real, I’ll be okay!

So we split off. Once I left it started raining which was not very good because the ink on my map was beginning to bleed. And according to Andrew I was the perfect target, a female with a pink coat with a backpack and luggage. I really wanted to get there before dark but did not happen due to my minor detour I took. I wouldn’t say that I was lost, per se, because I knew where I was. It just took me longer. Went through the ghetto again and 3 hours later was finally on the street where my hostel was suppose to be. It was number 73. 70, 71, 72, 74, 75… what the crap! Where is 73? By this point I was not a happy camper. I was tired, wet, and annoyed. This guy must have seen my horrified facial expression and asked if he could help me. I asked him if he knew where the Vintage Hostel was and he pointed in the direction I had just come from. I just smiled and nodded but inside my head I was thinking “NO ITS NOT!” But I did not have any other choice so I started to retrace my steps. I finally decided to pop into this hotel to ask if they might know where it is and viola! This was my hostel! Thank the Lord. I got my room where I had some Australian roommates who were quite entertaining and slept soundly. The next morning I made my way to the train station where I boarded my train. Destination: Germany. At my stop in Munich, I almost missed my train to Regensburg so I was sprinting as fast as I could. I had to make it from track 4 to track 23 in 3 minutes! But I made it and made it back to Regensburg safe and sound. Now I had to unpack, do laundry, pack up my entire room and pack for our tour around Germany, which we left for the following morning. Over all it was very exhausting but still wonderful!!!