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Building near Museum Quarter
This is somewhere near the Museum Quarter. I thought it was a beautiful building, even though I had no idea (and still don't know) what it is! This is what happens when you've had 2 hours of sleep over 2 days and set off wandering around a new city (it's a good thing the other buildings I saw this day were listed in my notes so I could recognize them later!). This is my first official day in Vienna and I am operating on about 2 hours of sleep over the past two days so I will keep this first entry short. Our flights were pretty uneventful. I did get an empty seat next to me on the long flight (Austrian Air) so I could stretch out a bit. Unfortunately that little perk did not help me get any sleep...instead I opened my eyes to find the woman who was seated two seats down from me with her head practically in my lap. After struggling to reclaim my extra leg room, she ended up laying down on the floor to try and sleep (which was quite entertaining to watch, right up until the flight attendant scolded her for doing it).
When we arrived it was about 9am local time (as opposed to midnight back home in L.A.), so instead of getting any sleep, we dropped off our bags at the hotel desk and off we went to explore the city. We bought our 7 day metro passes and hopped on Tram 1 to cruise around the Ringstrasse, which circles the outer part of the city. We then got off and
Statue
This was the first photo I took as we made our first venture through the streets of Vienna. This was somewhere near our hotel (in the Museum Quarter)but I was too tired and out of it to pay attention to what it was called! started taking some photos of the buildings nearby. We walked around the Parliament building, Rathaus (new City Hall), Votivkirche, and some other random buildings that I am too tired to remember. After leaving Votivkirche and wandering through Sigmund Freud Park, we managed to get turned around and lost (it wouldn't be a trip without getting lost, would it?). Luckily there are metro stations everywhere so we hopped on a metro and headed back to the general area where we knew our hotel was. We also didn't manage to pay any attention to the exact street our hotel was located, but luckily the name popped out when we looked at the map so we made it back without too much difficulty.
We took about an hour nap and then headed off again in search of food, which led us to a little restaurant just a few blocks from our hotel called Gasthaus am Spittelberg. I had a vegetarian plate of spinach, potato and egg which looked a bit scary but was actually rather good. We split an apple strudel for dessert and the total bill was $34.40 Euro, which isn't bad compared to some of the other restaurants we passed.
Parliament
One of those moments that tested my patience for wanting a photo with no people in it... this is the Parliament building along the Ring. It was sprinkling when we came in this morning but cleared up for the rest of the day so hopefully we will get lucky with nice weather while we are here. Tomorrow we are taking a city tour in the morning and a river cruise on the Danube in the afternoon. These should both be nice and relaxing (isn't that what vacation is about?). There are three computers in our hotel so hopefully I will be able to post daily while we're here.
Oh, and why do European keyboards switch the z and y keys? Just wondering...that will take some getting used to.
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Michael
non-member comment
Heeheehee, sounds like a fun flight over with the woman laying on the floor to sleep! It's true that it's not a proper holiday without getting lost at least once :) I'm glad the weather's turned nice for you to explore Vienna, and a big hurrah for daily updates. It's fantastic to read along as you explore!