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Published: July 13th 2008
The group
Minus me just after we woke up outside the trainn stationOk so I’m on the train back right now and decided that a recap of this amazing turn of events was in order. I mean the past twenty four hours have been absolutely amazing and only took up one day of travel on my euro rail pass. ha ha. So I won’t be able to publish this until I get back to my room tomorrow but here is the story of what it takes to get to Vienna and back in one day.
The trip all started on Thursday night when Toni, Laki, Chris Shutte, Josh Stutte, and Aaron king and I were talking about how we were getting stir crazy here in Innsbruck and needed to go somewhere and do something. SO someone mentioned Vienna and that sounded like a great Idea. SO we all decided that after classes the next day we would figure out what time we would go and head towards Vienna for a day because we all needed to get back on Sunday to do homework and stuff.
So now it’s Friday. IT really sucked today because we all got up and there was no breakfast being made which threw everyone’s day into a
rut. When we got onto the bus to go to class there was more bad news waiting for us, the fact that the Mensa was not going to be serving lunch either. SO we all went to class hungry and knowing that there was no free lunch in Europe or America. So Laki and I decided to go to the grocery store and have a baguette. After that which was so good as usual we hopped back on the bus back to the panorama and found out the great news that everyone in the group except five and us had all been wrong and that the Mensa had had lunch today. So we just spent money for no reason, oh well we knew we had a great day ahead of us so we didn't really care. When we got back to the Panorama we decided that we didn’t want to pay for a hostel so we would take a night train. After much research, five minutes on the train website, we decided to take the 2:30 train there and reach Vienna at 8:30. So we went to the train station and made our seat reservation, they would later become invaluable
to us, and headed out to the city. After we had been putzing around for awhile we all went back to the panorama to take a shower and maybe a nap before our late train ride. Borrowed some olive oil from the kitchen and were dipping the bread in it. It was an explosion of flavor and deliciousness in my mouth. Aki and I though heard our stomachs as soon as we got off the train and went to the grocery store. WE got a loaf of bread, a package of baby tomatoes and some local cheese. IT was so delicious everything here is, the tomatoes were so sweet and juicy and the cheese was fresh and smooth. Well after I had gotten ready I went downstairs to see what everyone was up to and found out that everyone was going out to the bars for the night. I asked Laki and Toni is they wanted to go and they said yes so we went. IT was after about 30 minutes at a bar we call the golden crown that has some of the worst 1980-'s techno we realized we needed to go back and get our passports and stuff
for the train. So Laki and Toni and Shutte went back to get everyone’s stuff. Well while they were gone Artie disappeared. We waited at the bar about ano0ther half hour forty-five minutes and we couldn’t find him so we just said hope he got home and went to the train station. After Laki asked multiple people in broken German for directions a police officer told us it was 3 blocks up and one block left so we were set. WE made the hike down the streets and to the station only to find that Artie was there, he had apparently left early and gone to the station without telling us. OH well we were all together and ready for the trip.
So this leg of the journey is interesting all it its own. We get on the train and start walking up and down it and see that every compartment is full of people stretched out across seats and passed out like they are paid for it. We were starting to get worried about finding a seat then we remembered we had reserved seats so we pulled out our ticket and found our way to our compartment. When
we finally we got there the seven Euro each paid off when we could tell the people to get out because they were in our seats. So we sat down and started to get comfortable when something completely unexpected happened. Stutte, Shutte, and Artie all came by the cabin saying they couldn’t find a seat, they had forgotten to reserve them, then they came back by twenty minutes later walking the other direction and then again ten minutes after that. When they didn’t walk by again me and Toni decided to go see where they were. We go up and climbed over the other people in our cabin and made our way down the train. We didn’t even make it out of the car before we almost tripped over Stutte lying down in the hallway in front of the bathrooms and Artie sitting against the door of the train. This was pretty funny and taught me the lesson to always reserve a seat. After that I had to go back to the car and go to bed though because it was three in the morning and we only had 5 hours until we would get up and go explore Vienna.
Okay so we wake up in Vienna and its beautiful of course. We get out of the train station and have no clue where we are so we find the nearest map and try and match it up to Aarons travel book and think we know where we are. We start walking looking for a cafe and think we see one. WE end up walking down like three side streets and end up exactly back where we started except now a cafe has opened where we were standing. We sit down and order some drink. Artie of course though buys a beer. He actually got the best deal though as his beer cost less than our bottle of water, which were interestingly glass bottles. After we have our drinks we get up and start walking towards the subway station to go towards the old city. We go down in it and buy our tickets, get on the train, and ride to the Old City. WE get out of the train and walk right up the stairs to look at St. Stephens Cathedral. IT was absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t believe the way everything was so perfectly match and a mirror
image inside the cathedral. IT was so tall and so impressive. I loved the architecture inside and the way everything seemed to be carved directly out of a giant stone. The pictures speak for themselves. Once we walked around in there for awhile we decided to go find the rest of the old city, especially the imperial treasury. We walked down some side streets and across some lanes of traffic and arrived outside what I believe was some official building. After we all met up outside and watched the changing of the guard ceremony we walked into what looked like a bank vault door and into the treasury. Inside they had many imperial robes and swords but this was not what I can to the treasury to see, I came to see the Spear of Destiny. After searching the museum for awhile I hopped on the back of the tour and realized I saw what I was looking for. The Spear of Destiny was sitting next to a large golden cross which had a smaller cross next to it with a piece of wood in it.
A brief history lesson.
The Large golden cross is carried down the aisle
every time a new pope is conferred. Inside this the smaller cross sits and the spear of Destiny is also involved. The reason these are so important is biblical. The spear of density is the spear that was supposedly used to pierce Jesus on the Cross to see if he was still alive. It also inside a sheath of gold and a sheath of silver hold a nail that supposedly was one of the ones used to crucify Jesus. The small cross also has immense meaning in the piece of wood. The wood is supposedly a piece of the Cross and the hole in where a nail was driven into it. Another interesting thing about the wood is that the stains on it are supposed to be stains from the blood of Jesus.
So after I saw that I was pretty happy and went and found everyone else, we were all pretty tired at this point and decided that we would try and find someplace to eat. When we went down in the subway though to head back across town we realized that we would not have enough time to sit down so we all grabbed some food at
a bakery down there and hoped on the train. Once we got off across town we walked upstairs and realized exactly how tired we were. SO we went and sat down in a park across the street. Once we were all under the trees and talking about the day we all proceeded to pass out. SO anyone walking by saw a group of five kids laying n the grass, dead. Well two hours later we all start waking up and realize that we had just slept in public for two hours. Ha-ha. We get up and on our way out see that it was actually a dog park. We didn’t really care though because no one got dog crap on them so we were all good.
We then headed out towards the Imperial palace of the Hapsburgs which was absolutely amazing. When we finally go to the front gate the courtyard was at least a football field in both directions and had two beautiful fountains in it. After walking across that and into the building we see a long line for tickets. All of us being broke at this point really didn’t want to pay anything so just before
we go to leave an angel appears. An angel in the form of some random women showing us how to walk around the line without paying, awesome. So we are inside now and walking through the imperial gardens. IT has a massive fountain and huge floral arrangements in every direction. I was amazed at the sheer size of it all. We then saw that there was a hedge labyrinth and decided to go through that. It was the most fun thing I think all day. Especially when I finished and went up on this lookout and watch everyone else walk into dead ends and the wrong way, so funny. After we did that we went through a couple other themed mazes on the estate before finally leaving. When we did leave we went straight to the train station and back to the main station where we all had KEBABS which are delicious by the way. While we were eating the other guys went and got Train reservations so they weren’t sleeping on the floor on the way back like they were on the way there. So then we get on the train and head home.
So that was the
Awesome
Spear of Destiny, Crucifix wood, Golden Cross trip absolutely amazing right. I really do feel like the pictures pay for themselves. I love it here and I still can’t believe we went there and back in a day
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Gina Hauenstein
non-member comment
YOU
Make some of those slackers take a picture with you in it. I want a picture of YOU.