We're heading where?!

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Guten tag!
It's nice going to countries that speak the same language haha, that way you don't have to keep learning the langueage! Then again, it's really easy to speak english and most people will speak it back to you. Kind of a cop out!
So here I am, on the road again. Off to Bad Gastein!
But first....Vienna. My time there went incredibly fast! I only had 3 nights there, and the first night I just stayed in feeling kinda homesick and not in the mood to socialize or go out to find dinner. So I had a long facebook chat session with Adam bomb (much needed) and called it an early night. The next day at breakfest I started talking to a guy and a girl from florida who were travelling together and they invited me to go sightseeing with them for the day. So we ventured out! They had bought one of those computer 'books' that you just download a book onto it and can flip through the pages electronically. They had a travel book on it that wasn't only 'go here, so this' it actually had full tours in it. Really cool, it led us through all sorts of buildings. One thing often recommended by guide books is a tram tour around the old town. The circular loop of the tram used to be where the defensive walls of the city were. So many gardens and old buildings are seem on that tour, and again their guide books goes through the whole thing, just like a normal tour guide would! The only negative to that was you glimpse things so quickly that you have to make a seperate trip back later but it gives you a good idea of the area.
As you may know, vienna is the center of classical music....in the whole world some would say!! So their opera house is a main attraction. Now the musicians and performers and lucky in that they get july and august off for holidays! What a great job perk! hahah
Now I hadn't really thought of seeing an orchestra while being there. But Sam and Megan wanted to go and i was convinced!! A-ticket-seller-random-guy-on-the-street-dressed-up-in-old-clothes sold us tickets for a great deal! 26 euro each got us middle class tickets with a free drink. considering that the worst class price was 39 euros, we hit this deal up. It was quiet touristy but whatever!! So we had that to look forward to on the following night!
For the rest of the day we went to the apartments of 'sisi.' This royal lady who married am emporer of Austra. In this museum was also a HUGE collection of royal dishes and cooking pots and everything used in dining or in the kitchen. It was actually pretty cool, you would have liked it grandma! They platters they had were massive.
So this sisi person...i guess she had ankle length hair and was so obsessed with her appearance that she wouldn't let anyone paint her after she was 25 so she would be remembered by her youthful look. She also dieted and worked out all the time. her waist size was freakish....20 inches!!! I'm thinking she wore her corset so tight it moved her kidneys. So going through her rooms she had an exercise room that had acrobat rings and ladders she climbed up and down! Pretty funny thinking of this high class woman twirling around on acrobatic rings.
The viennese love their gardens, there are numerious gardens and parks around town! We walked over to pretty big rose garden 'volksgarten.' It was neat because they had tons and tons of different kinds of roses and they were all labelled with their names. All sorts of random names!
BAHA!! just a side note....this train is going to salzburg. There is a family who just got off because they thought it was the train to budapest. They were all freaking out and then they all started laughing saying 'SALZBURG!!?!?' at least they made light of the situation and weren't all grouchy pants.
But yeah, the day ended pretty early after that, they went out for dinner and i headed back to the hostel. Like a giant loser i went down to the bar alone to have my free drink included when staying at the hostel, hoping to meet a friend. It didn't happen. The chain of hostels that i'm staying at is australian and they get a lot of tour groups going through, so i felt like it was really clicky and no one was interested in making friends with a single travellor. Oh well!! I went up to my room and talked to the asians that were staying in there! 1:5 ration between myself and asians. haha. They get pretty comfortable....I was in the shower one morning and realized to my horror that I hadn't locked the door correctly because there was a girl spitting into the sink RIGHT BESIDE THE SHOWER! At least they were all girls. hahaha
Then a couple minutes later another girl opens the door and asks if she can use the toilet! At this point i don't care and i tell her to go ahead!! Hopefully the glass was super steamy by this point or else they got an eye full!
Yesterday was a more production day, I went out with a plan! Firstly...the frued museum. Sounds cooler than it actually was. But it was his original apartment and were he had his consulting room and office! Unfortunately, there was no oringal furniture in the consulting room, just pictures that had been taken in the 1930s before the war. But there was oringal furniture in the waiting room and some pictures on the wall that were weird. Vienna is also famous for it's huge fair, and ferris wheel that's from the late 1800s!! Now, i don't know what rain and thunderstorms love vienna so much, but in the 3 nights i was there, there were 3 bad storms. One of these storms came on as i was looking around the fair. If it hadn't meet for the pouring rain and the fact that i had my purse....i would have been all over those rides like a fat kid on cake! As it was...it had to be passed up. But this fair was just huge!! I counted at least 3 of 4 seperate bumper cars set up! Pretty much just saw a lot of random stuff strolling around by myself. There's a social housing project that has a weird look to it, remined me a lot of the gaudi work that we saw in barcelona. and they had modern art toilets that i paid 60 cents to check out!
The world aids conference was held in vienna on the weekend so there were ads, red ribbons, and concerts going on at the city hall. Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Clinton were supposed to have been in town....but they stayed out of my sights haha.
After going back to the hostel to freshen up (even with the rain, it was almost unbearably hot!) we headed out for our concert! The venue was awesome! It was on the street beethoven platz, having been named this because beethoven used to play here! It's the only place still standing that he did. It was beautiful inside and not too big. So the orchestra came out and played mozart and strauss music. A man and a woman would come out and sing opera, at one point they made an entrance through a back door with yelling and arguing...took me a minute to realize it was the performers and not an angry couple! hahaha. A famous austrian ballerina also performed during some of the music, along with a man. What would you call a male ballerina? No clue. Our free champagne was not the best tasting, but was free! All in all i really enjoyed the show, mostly because i've never really seen a live orchestra play classic music before, especially the songs that you recognize! The best part of the concert was that it started storming outside, so while this couple is signing opera, there's lightning lighting up the sky through the big open windows and thunder really setting a dark mood. Except when we got outside....it was POURING. We got pretty wet and just headed back to the hostel. It rained and thundered all night long! This sweet chinese girl was so excited because she had never seen lightning before! and this lightning was lighting up the whole sky, it was great!
All in all, the buildings in vienna were beautiful. not just some of the buildings, but pretty much all of them! But i don't think it had as much to offer as most the other town i'm been to so far. but it was still nice. Next stop is the austrian alps!! The place i'm staying has a deal on a thermal bath. Apparently there's one that's nude. Unfortunaly i sent my bathing suit back with alyx because i didn't think i'd need it! i guess that nude bath will come on handy!.....KIDDING.i'll stick to hiking and day trips 😊

Funny story.............i'm on the wrong train.
We arrive in Salzburg and I look for the next train to Bad Gastein, it's all laid out on their departures. 4:12 on platform 3. great! so a train rolls up, get on....it leaves a minute early but i think nothing of it. listening to the announcement the lady says we're running 20 min late and will be in munich later than planned. hold the phone. munichis north, i wanted to go south!!! Turns out the shuffled trains around a little bit. So i'm getting off at the next stop, going back to salzburg, then getting on the right train.

It's comforting when you're not the only one who had to get off at the next stop and wait for train back to salburg. 2 men did it too...what's even better is that they're from the area! hahah
So Borris, Georg and myself had a beer together and joked about how dumb we were haha.
Can you say Karma though! I was laughing at that family who thought they were going to Budapest and I did the exact same thing.
All worked out though, I'm sitting in my hostel, which is actually a hotel!!! HAPPY HAPPY
They upgraded me to a private room for free, and since I'm paying for 2 nights the third night is freeee. And breakfast is included. There's even a balcony overlooking the mountains! And a really good restaurant/bar downstairs that serves my fav beer from munich, and I've learnt that traditional austian liver is not too bad at all! Actually quiete tasty. mmmmm.
Now, I've only got 2 full days here so I will be deciding to go to the giant ice caves, paragliding, or white water rafting. Day trip to salzburg is probabaly out since there is a lot to do here! It's so cute and beautiful!
A huge change to get off the train and almost be able to see your breath since it was an exceptionally cold day!
After hearing that this was more of a winter vacation spot (which it is) I was worried that i made a mistake booking here, but am really happy that i did!

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