Guten tag!
This past weekend I traveled with my best friend, Emily to Vienna, Austria! We went to visit my high school Spanish teacher, Rene Frazee, and my high school soccer coach, Scott McFarland, and their two kids! They are currently living in Vienna and Scott is teaching first grade and coaching so I was super excited to be able to have
the chance to go see them!Emily and I flew out of Rome Thursday evening and arrived in Vienna around 9 PM. When we arrived we realized...oh dang...we know absolutely NO German. This wasn't going to be like yeah yeah I can figure it out cause I know a little bit of Spanish or Italian or something like that. Sooo..we were excited! I actually thought it was the best language experience I have had yet because I just simply did not know anything!
We got to Scott and Rene's apartment and visited with them for a bit and then went to bed. I have not slept as well as I did that night the entire time I have been abroad! It was absolutely quiet and peaceful. I think also sleeping in the house of people I knew just gave me a lot of comforting feelings. :)
The next morning, Em and I got up and went to the Schonbrunn Palace with Rene, and her two adorable kids, Grace and Ethan! This palace is the former royal residence of successive Habsburg monarchs. This place was incredible! Em and I did a tour through the palace and then explored the grounds. They have beautiful gardens everywhere and statue
s and fountains. They have this area with small labyrinths and mazes and Emily and I had some fun getting "lost" in those. Then we walked up this hill facing the palace..it was where they were originally going to build the monarchy's "summer home" but decided not to. Anyways up on this hill you can look out over all of Vienna! It was beautiful! Emily and I made some 1-minute friends there too! We met Henning, from Germany and Rowan from Australia. They invited us to have coffee with them so we sat and visited for about an hour. They also invited us to a party on a ship that night but we didn't end up going. But they were good 1-minutes friends!
We got to Scott and Rene's apartment and visited with them for a bit and then went to bed. I have not slept as well as I did that night the entire time I have been abroad! It was absolutely quiet and peaceful. I think also sleeping in the house of people I knew just gave me a lot of comforting feelings. :)
The next morning, Em and I got up and went to the Schonbrunn Palace with Rene, and her two adorable kids, Grace and Ethan! This palace is the former royal residence of successive Habsburg monarchs. This place was incredible! Em and I did a tour through the palace and then explored the grounds. They have beautiful gardens everywhere and statue
s and fountains. They have this area with small labyrinths and mazes and Emily and I had some fun getting "lost" in those. Then we walked up this hill facing the palace..it was where they were originally going to build the monarchy's "summer home" but decided not to. Anyways up on this hill you can look out over all of Vienna! It was beautiful! Emily and I made some 1-minute friends there too! We met Henning, from Germany and Rowan from Australia. They invited us to have coffee with them so we sat and visited for about an hour. They also invited us to a party on a ship that night but we didn't end up going. But they were good 1-minutes friends!Later on Friday, Emily and I went to Stephensplatz and saw the Stephandsom Cathedral. This is in the 1st District (aka the high class area!) so we walked around and window shopped at Gucci, Prada, and other high end stores that I would never be able to afford! Scott and Rene met back up with us and we went out to dinner at a Thai place. Oh my gosh it was so great to eat something other than Italian food!
Scott left after dinner and took the kids home and Rene, Em, and I walked down to the Danube (it was really the canal for it but still cool!) and then decided to stay out for a drink. We ended up at this cafe (I'll remember the name somehow) that was supposedly Hitler's favorite restaurant! We had hot chocolate and rum and some applestrudal! It was so great to sit and visit, but it was crazy to be there sitting in the same place that not along ago, Hitler sat and ate and discussed...well..I don't even want to think about what he talked about!
The next day, Scott took Emily and I out on the town and was our personal tour guide. We went to Schloss Belvedere (The Habsburg's summer residence), we saw the opera house, and the building and courtyard where Hitler gave his infamous speech. Rene met up with us later in the day and we went to the Naschmarkt and did some shopping. Rene made us a homemade meal for dinner than night and we enjoyed a night of conversation. :)
Scott left after dinner and took the kids home and Rene, Em, and I walked down to the Danube (it was really the canal for it but still cool!) and then decided to stay out for a drink. We ended up at this cafe (I'll remember the name somehow) that was supposedly Hitler's favorite restaurant! We had hot chocolate and rum and some applestrudal! It was so great to sit and visit, but it was crazy to be there sitting in the same place that not along ago, Hitler sat and ate and discussed...well..I don't even want to think about what he talked about!
The next day, Scott took Emily and I out on the town and was our personal tour guide. We went to Schloss Belvedere (The Habsburg's summer residence), we saw the opera house, and the building and courtyard where Hitler gave his infamous speech. Rene met up with us later in the day and we went to the Naschmarkt and did some shopping. Rene made us a homemade meal for dinner than night and we enjoyed a night of conversation. :)
On Sunday, Scott and Rene took us up to the vineyards because they were having a festival. We drank Sturm..which is essential wine that's not completely fermented. Not entirely sure..but it was good! It was hilarious though because there was definitely more alcohol content then we knew of in the drinks cause it went straight to our heads! But it was tasty! We couldn't leave Austria without having some wienal schnitzel so before we left for our flight, Scotty took us to lunch! It was yummmmmy!
So there's the rundown on my trip but here are some highlights!
First...one word:
STARBUCKS.
Right when Emily and I got off the plane in Vienna there was a Starbucks welcoming us. I basically died of happiness. So the entire weekend (yes it was American of us but I couldn't help it) we drank Starbucks coffee. Oh it was heavenly
Second..the Austrians are so nice! And Vienna is so clean and organized! I absolutely loved my time in the city because I felt like people were friendly and helpful and it was just a very good vibe to the city. I thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely want to go back again! And I kind of want to learn Germa
n now!
Lastly, the Austrians are very..secretive..ashamed maybe..of their involvement with WWII and Hitler. It is very interested. They even have a memorial but it is located off the beaten path...away from the more visited areas. It's just interesting how they seem to try to hide it. The memorial by the way, was very interesting. It's a square made up entire of stone books. The books bindings are facing inward (ie opposite of how they would be in a library). The books each symbolize someone's life..someone's story..that we will never know because they were killed; hence why the bindings (where the title would be) is facing inward so you don't know who's story it is.
Well that's all for now!
Much love,
~K
So there's the rundown on my trip but here are some highlights!
First...one word:
STARBUCKS.
Right when Emily and I got off the plane in Vienna there was a Starbucks welcoming us. I basically died of happiness. So the entire weekend (yes it was American of us but I couldn't help it) we drank Starbucks coffee. Oh it was heavenly
Second..the Austrians are so nice! And Vienna is so clean and organized! I absolutely loved my time in the city because I felt like people were friendly and helpful and it was just a very good vibe to the city. I thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely want to go back again! And I kind of want to learn Germa
n now!Lastly, the Austrians are very..secretive..ashamed maybe..of their involvement with WWII and Hitler. It is very interested. They even have a memorial but it is located off the beaten path...away from the more visited areas. It's just interesting how they seem to try to hide it. The memorial by the way, was very interesting. It's a square made up entire of stone books. The books bindings are facing inward (ie opposite of how they would be in a library). The books each symbolize someone's life..someone's story..that we will never know because they were killed; hence why the bindings (where the title would be) is facing inward so you don't know who's story it is.
Well that's all for now!
Much love,
~K
Wow Krissy. Guten Morgan, Guten Nacht. Your grandmother Brewster knew German - I have lots of German books here you can practice with. What a great trip. Mom
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