Austria

Hello everyone,
We are currently in Vienna, Austria. It is a lovely city! We arrived last night, and had a traditional dinner of wienerschnitzel (fried pork) and pomas fritas (french fries). This morning we headed into the city center and checked out a few of the sites. We visited the summer and winter home of the Hofberg family who was in power in Austria for many years. They had a large part in the start of WWI.

Angie and I shared some apfelstrudel (apple strudel) of which Vienna is also famous. Although I do not drink coffee, I did try some since this is another Vienna specialty which was brought into Vienna by the Turks many years ago. For someone who does not drink coffee, it was actually pretty good!

After visiting the main sites, we checked out the worlds oldest amusement park! I was not sure what to expect when we first came upon it, but it was really quite nice. They have some unique and scary rides, as well as plenty for the little ones. We rode the go karts (much faster than in the states), a spinning water ride (we got quite dizzy on that one!), an EXTREMELY high spinning swing set which you can see the entire city (I was definitely scared on that one), and finally a haunted train ride (this was the least dangerous but Andy was the most scared!)

After the amusement park, we wondered into the Vienna film festival where they had loads of excellent food. We were a bit tired of fried pork and brats, so we opted for the veggie Indian choice which was phenomenal.

Following that, we visited the Spanish riding school. There were not any shows going on with the Lipazzaners, but there were quite a few of many different colors pulling carriages through the streets. They are beautiful horses with happy personalities.

Vienna has been one of my favorite cities thus far. We were a bit disappointed we did not get to hear the Vienna boys choir or any other Vienna concerts, but we did get to listen to the various street performers who were quite good and free! It is a nice, clean city with plenty of entertainment.

Backing up a little bit, we met up with our travel group in Roma a few days ago. They are a wacky fun bunch mixed of Aussies, Koreans, Kiwis, Americans, Canadians, English, and Hispanics. They sure do not seem to need much sleep! They enjoyed initiating Team America as Krissy, Angie, Andy, and I are now called.

Our last full day in Rome we checked out the Sistine Chapel and the Colosseum. The Sistine Chapel was beautiful (pretty amazing for someone who was forced into painting it!) We did not get into St. Peters Basilica as the line was probably a few hours, and we were not up for tolerating the intense sun for that long. From there we moved onto the Colosseum which as always is gigantic and impressive. On the bus ride to Venice we watched Gladiator to go along with the Colosseum theme.

We spent most of the entire next day bussing to Venice, and it was defintely well worth the travel. Venice is a gorgeous city on an island on the northeast coast of Italy. There are no cars in Venice, and the main mode of transportation is boating or walking. Since they are not so big on street signs, it is very easy to get lost while meandering through their walking areas. There are loads of street vendors selling beautiful paintings everywhere. We had to participate in the most famous activity of Venice, so Krissy, Angie, Andy, Stew, Tom, and I drank wine while riding through the canals in a gondola. Although there were four other people with us on the gondola, it was still romantic! Venice was a great city, and again one of my favorites. However, if I had to choose, I would visit Vienna again over Venice because there is more to see and enjoy in Vienna.

Well that about gets you up to speed with the travelers! Before we left Rome, we did buy a plane ticket back to the states from Greece, so we will be coming home after all. We are booked a flight into New York where we will stay for a few days, so I am still not sure of the exact date we will be home.

Tomorrow we head to Budapest, Hungary! I do not know much about Budapest, but I heard it is a great place to visit.

I will write more later!! Ciao!