Vienna was pretty as well but probably my least favorite city so far. Everything in Vienna is very white and imperial looking, which is pretty but, to me, lacks personality. I also didn’t like Vienna as much because it was miserably cold while we were there. During the day, the temperature was in the thirties with a windchill in the teens, and the overnight lows were around 23. The first day in Vienna we visited Schonbrunn Palace, which was the summer palace of the Habsburgs. It was interesting to me because in world history in high school, I was assigned a project on Maria Theresa, since my teacher said I was like her. After Schonbrunn Palace we ate at a restaurant called, funnily enough, the Chattanooga Bar & Grill. (Judith is from Chattanooga.) We visited St. Stephen’s cathedral and did some shopping, where Judith convinced me to buy a great red dress. Because it was so cold outside, we decided to see the city by riding around the tram. First, we got on the wrong tram. Right when we realized that we were going the wrong way and needed to get off, the tram came to a halt, and the driver made an announcement in German and everyone piled off the bus. Judith and I had no idea what was going on. We looked down the street, and there were police cars forming a barricade. Finally, we found out there was some sort of housing protest going on in the streets. When trams could get through the streets again, we hopped on the right tram, toured the city by tram, and then called it a day.
The next morning we were hoping to see the Spanish Riding School practice in Vienna, but it turns out they don’t practice on weekends. Instead, we went and toured the Hofburg, where we saw the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments (the Hofburgs’ winter residence). The Sisi Museum was really interesting; Sisi was the nickname for Empress Elisabeth, who was a fascinating woman, who lead a very private life and was assassinated. After eating kasespaetzl for lunch, we walked around Vienna to see important buildings like the Rathaus, the National Library, the Opera, and the museums in Maria Theresa Platz. It snowed on us the whole afternoon while we were walking around (not exactly my idea of spring break). We had to catch a shuttle to Bratislava that evening. (Since Bratislava is only about an hour from Vienna, we booked a really cheap flight from Bratislava to Pisa.) Unfortunately, the shuttle stop was not clearly marked and not where they said it would be, so we, along with a few other lost people, wandered around in the freezing snow for about 45 minutes, hoping the shuttle company hadn’t scammed us. Luckily, the shuttle showed up just down the street and everything after that went smoothly. We flew to Pisa on Sunday morning, then took a train to Genoa from there. Like I said, I’m glad to be back! It’s weird that the villa and Genoa almost feels like home now, when just two months ago, it was totally foreign to me.
The next morning we were hoping to see the Spanish Riding School practice in Vienna, but it turns out they don’t practice on weekends. Instead, we went and toured the Hofburg, where we saw the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments (the Hofburgs’ winter residence). The Sisi Museum was really interesting; Sisi was the nickname for Empress Elisabeth, who was a fascinating woman, who lead a very private life and was assassinated. After eating kasespaetzl for lunch, we walked around Vienna to see important buildings like the Rathaus, the National Library, the Opera, and the museums in Maria Theresa Platz. It snowed on us the whole afternoon while we were walking around (not exactly my idea of spring break). We had to catch a shuttle to Bratislava that evening. (Since Bratislava is only about an hour from Vienna, we booked a really cheap flight from Bratislava to Pisa.) Unfortunately, the shuttle stop was not clearly marked and not where they said it would be, so we, along with a few other lost people, wandered around in the freezing snow for about 45 minutes, hoping the shuttle company hadn’t scammed us. Luckily, the shuttle showed up just down the street and everything after that went smoothly. We flew to Pisa on Sunday morning, then took a train to Genoa from there. Like I said, I’m glad to be back! It’s weird that the villa and Genoa almost feels like home now, when just two months ago, it was totally foreign to me.
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