Okay, I Buy Ticket: Vienna

So, I may have taken a week-sized break from anything productive, such as continuing to update my blog. To be fair, I have made extensive plans to be productive, but I seem to be failing on the execution. I think it's because the grey skies of England are slowly eating my soul away, and because I only have class two days a week, which sounds good but in reality it means that boredom is also eating my soul and I now have no motivation to do anything. I had a dream last night that I got my jobs at Dickinson back, and I was so excited because it meant that I had something to do on Thursday. But fear not, I plan to stare this week down, full of resolve, and get things done! This means everything from applying for summer jobs, finding volunteer work, working on my Robin Hood paper, exploring Norwich, reading those books that I've always wanted to but never seem to have the time for, and planning more trips. Oh, and watching three seasons of Doctor Who, which is the activity that seems to have taken precedence right now. Argh. As Ron Weasley would say, I need to sort out my priorities.
Okay, time-languishing rant over. I have lots and lots to look forward to, and I had an absolutely wonderful week. Sarah and Caitlin came to visit from Durham, and we had such a good time!!! I love my friends. But I'm supposed to be telling you about Vienna! Fear not, I have not forgotten. We finished our bagels and bade an unceremonious goodbye to Bratislava on the coach to Vienna. I was very excited when we crossed the border, because I could actually start to recognize words in German, such as "Sparkasse," which means bank. I was so proud of myself. We checked into our hostel in Vienna, where we got a sunny yellow room all to ourselves! It was very nice, although I was looking forward to rooming with half of Australia again. Sarah and I headed to a traditional Austrian restaurant for dinner (we did not mess around when it came to food), where we discovered an amazing dessert called kaiserschmarren, which is a caramelized pancake covered in powdered sugar and served with stewed plums. It is delicious!
Full of caramelized pancake, we began our explorations of Vienna the next day. The weather was foggy and gross, so that was a little upsetting. I could have stayed in England if I wanted grey mist, Austria! But the weather did not stop us from finding adventures. Beautiful buildings ensued as soon as we got off the metro:


Neue Hofburg, part of Hofburg Palace and home of the Austrian National Library.



The State Hall in Hofburg Palace, which used to be the library. It was built for Emperor Charles VI (the subject of the statue), and the pamphlet calls it a "jewel of profane baroque architecture." I think there's a bit of mistranslation going on there, but Sarah decided that this was the inspiration for the library in Beauty and the Beast. Also, just so you know, the sculptors were named Peter and Paul Strudel.


Yes, really! Complete with Mozart blaring from the speakers.


Karlskirche, or Saint Charles, which has lovely ceiling frescoes that can be reached via this:


An architecturally sound, safe contraption chilling 35 meters above the ground. You take this elevator up to a platform that I swear is just resting on the base of the dome, and then YOU HAVE TO CLIMB STAIRS ON TOP OF THIS RICKETY MADNESS!!! It was so scary. I'm pretty sure that I lost a few years off my life.



Sign on top of the rickety madness. Anne has translated it for me, but I don't believe her. I know that it says "The structural soundness of this platform is nonexistent. Safety is uncool."



The Belvedere, once the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Today it's an art museum that houses a large collection of pieces by Gustav Klimt, including "Judith" and "The Kiss." I have also decided that I want to make this my summer residence.


Hofburg Palace, home of the Hapsburgs.


Stephansdom, or Saint Stephen's Cathedral. I climbed the South Tower, which you can just see over the tiled roof mosaic of the double eagle standard, the coat of arms of both the Holy Roman Empire and later the Austrian Empire.


I am still puzzled by this sign - does it mean that heterosexuality is frowned upon in this part of the city?


Trying the famous Sacher Torte at the Sacher Hotel, one of two places in the entire world where you can get the real thing. It's a Viennese specialty - chocolate cake made with rum and apricot preserves, with a layer of marmalade, cased in dark chocolate. For the cheaper British alternative, try Jaffa cakes.


Schloss Schonbrunn, Maria Theresa's summer home. Sarah has decided that she is going to establish residence here.


Overlooking Sarah's back gardens. They're quite lovely.
So that's a quick pictorial tour of our time in Vienna. We also visited the Sigmund Freud Museum, but I did not take pictures there. Vienna is a beautiful city, but it wasn't my favourite part of the trip. It kind of just felt like another big city, and I kept forgetting where I was. We also encountered some very rude people, which was certainly off-putting. Waitstaff at restaurants would blatantly ignore us, and we had to get up and do a jig to attract enough attention to order our food. Sarah and I sat at dinner once for four hours just because no one would acknowledge us. We clearly didn't fit in, but we weren't being obnoxious and we were very polite. I would have thought that people in cities that depend on tourism for a large part of their annual income would have been a bit more welcoming. Needless to say, I was thrilled to escape Vienna for Salzburg and for the mountains. That's right - there are hills, and they are alive.