Vienna (Wien)

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So, my semester is finally over and I've begun my European traveling extravaganza!

With my Eurail pass I get 10 travel days within 2 months, so this is the itinerary I have so far: Vienna, Budapest, Arezzo (Italy), Toulouse and Paris before coming back to Berlin to meet Mom, Dad and Tricia. It's gonna be awesome! Glad to fi ally get to travel some; I love Berlin, but I think I could use some time outside of the big city to calm my nerves. In fact, I'm already in Vienna so I'll go ahead and talk about that. I'm writing on my iPod touch, so it'll be a little bit short, though. 

Vienna is an incredibly beautiful city, especially coming straight from Berlin. There's hardly any graffiti, the streets are clean and the buildings are magnificient. The one word I would use to describe this city is classy. Not only fancy-classy but classy ad in classical: built as the seat of the Austria-Hungary empire, much of the city has a an imposing, grandiose feel. I visited Schloss Schönbrunn today and could've sworn I was at Versailles. The best part about it is that there are no tourists this time ofthe year. But...there is still a bit of snow on the ground. I'm used to that by now, though. 

I've also been visiting museums, one of which was all about classical music in Vienna (plenty to talk about there). I'm taking things at my own pace, though, and not running around trying to see everything. I've come to enjoy the Vienna cafe tradition, which is like much of the rest of the city...classy. 

Tonight I met an American living in Vienna that one of my OU professors pit me in touch with. We had a really great time eating Austrian food and talkig about the city, and it wad also good to just alhavr an American to talk to for a change. I live hearing other kinds of perspectives, but sometimes it's nice having someone from your own culture to relate to. 

Anyways, I'm staying at a pretty nice hostel to the center of the city. There's a bar which makes for a social atmosphere. Really not much else to say there. 

I'm staying here another night and then I'm off with the train to Budapest. I'm really looking forward to that. I'll try to keep this updated as I'm traveling, but I can't upload any pictures until I get home. I will then, though!

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