Wien (Vienna, Austria)

I went on to Vienna by bus. I almost missed the bus to Wien (Vienna) since there wasn't a sign indicating that the bus was headed there. Everyone on the bus had been staring at me, waiting on the platform. Everyone was ready to go.. ready to leave me behind when I had finally decided to ask and make sure. Sure enough, it had been my bus.

I think we had a stop in Bratislava and then to Wien. I remember having a cup of hot cocoa there. I was really proud of myself for going to the bathroom and getting cup of cocoa at a machine (in a foreign language) all in th 15 minutes we were allotted.

It was evening when I'd arrived at the hostel with my cab. The hostel looked like a five star hotel... only hostel style... it was made for 20 something year olds. Bean bags instead of couches, a night club and a breakfast room upstairs. My room was clean and modern and my roommates were great. I was in the city where Beethovan, Chopin, Mozart, and Strauss had walked the very streets I was walking on. O-M-G. I somehow get really fascinated with that fact. Strangely, I don't get as fascinated in NYC... I guess because I'm from there.

One day, I took a bus trip around the city and saw some touristy points and palaces... from the bus. On other days, I went to see Mozarts house, Beethovan's house. I was going to go to Freud's house, but I changed my mind.

On the last day, I took a tour with a guide who seemed kind of snobby. I didn't leave her a tip. She identified with Austrians even though she grew up in the U.S. She told me that Americans did not drink coffee properly - coffee should be drunken over a long conversation about politics, literature, philsophy, and of course music. Austrians take coffee seriously. Noone in Austria is caught dead carrying Starbucks coffee on the streets... noone in Austria is caught dead in Starbucks period. She showed me some famous chocolate shops, some gorgeous antique working elevators in an H&M store (how horrific), and places where Haydn and Chopin slept and told me their stories to stardom.

Instead of going to Prague, I went to Strausbourg to re-visit my childhood memories of "The Sound of Music". Do I wish I visited Prague? Yes. Do I regret going to Strausbourg? No way! More later.