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Published: July 24th 2008
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Wow, what a crazy night last night. I woke up a couple times this morning to people in my hostel room rustling through their stuff. It’s one of those situations where you expect people to be more considerate about their movements/actions, but at the same time you know you’re in a hostel so you can't expect much. I know whenever I’m in a room and people are sleeping (regardless of the time) I try to be as quiet as possible. Some people don’t have the same consideration. Oh well.
So I woke up a little hungover from the pub crawl last night. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what time we got back. I guess, just getting back was a feat within itself eh? Anyways, I got ready, checked emails, then set off to see the Schonbrunn Palace. Throughout my research stage, I heard it was the only palace in Europe that could compete with Versailles. I ALMOST gave into laziness and just hung out today, but I forced myself to see this attraction.
I previously thought it was quite a ways from the hostel, but I promptly found out it was only a 15-20 min.
walk from where I was at, AWESOME! I quickly grabbed my iPod, bumped some jungle/D&B (Roni Size to be exact) and set off for a new adventure. When I got to the palace, I was pleasantly surprised. It was much larger and opulent than I expected. Not to say that I didn't expect it to be quite lavish if it competes with Versailles, just saying I hadn't heard all that much about it so I didn't know what to expect.
I walked in, bought my ticket, and headed towards the entrance. It’s funny because I chose to take the Grand Tour. Basically it was the second cheapest tour that did not include the gardens, labrynth, and other sites. However, I don’t know if I walked in there on accident, but I somehow managed to sneak my way into the gardens. In the garden area, there was a hill. I walked up it, took pics, and came back to the palace. I then proceeded to check out 40 of the 1400+ (I think that’s the number) rooms in the palace. If you’re wondering why such a small percentage, those are the only ones they show.
Although it was a
great experience, a lot of information I heard was very similar to the info I heard during the tour of the Hofburg palace. You ever take a class in school and you were bored because you knew all the answers or watch a movie you’ve already seen? It wasn’t quite that bad………..but almost.
Regardless, I’m glad I went. It was pretty wild to imagine that this was someone’s “summer home”. It’s probably bigger than 99.9% of the world’s homes and this was their SUMMER palace. Bastards. All I could think of while touring this place was that there was probably starving people in the country at the time, but taxes went to subsidize the opulent/ostentatious lifestyle of these leaders. Although I heard Francis Jozef was a hard working and well respected leader. The tour also showed that he was not into the overly opulent lifestyle and preferred the ways of the Spartans. Simple and effective and that one should work until exhausted. Good to see some people can keep their wits about them while in positions of power. I wish present day US politicians and people in power could act in the same way in a similar situation.
After being at the palace for about 3 hours, I headed back home. I had already seen pretty much everything I planned on seeing in Vienna (Wien) and then some, so I figured I’d go back, relax, and do laundry. While hanging out in the common area (which was larger than most other hostels) I saw Andrew. He’s a really nice guy and owns a company that makes video games. Although he’s really a cool guy, I figured being his friend could help my friends Josh and Matt that are in the same industry. Well, Matt used to be, but I digress. Apparently, he’s also on his way to Prague tomorrow. At first I thought it was coincidence, but I found out later he decided on the spot when we were chillin’ out having a couple beers.
He seems to be the shy, quiet type, so I guess he wanted to somewhere where he would know people that were cool. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty awesome hahahaha, I keed, I keed. (Triumph reference).
While hanging out we met Kate, an Australian girl and a few girls from Diamond Bar. It’s pretty funny
because this trip has pretty much solidified the thought that I don’t want to marry an American women (no offense for you American ladies reading this). It’s just one of those things you realize when traveling. Granted I know the chances are that I WILL marry an American girl, while I’m on this trip, it’s at least opened my eyes that there’s a lot of other options. It's just on this trip, I see many females from other countries carry themselves quite differently. Obviously, I'm generalizing a whole population from a small sample, but just stating what I see/notice. Unfortunately, since I was hanging out, i never got around to doing laundry.
After hanging out at the hostel for quite a few hours, I headed over to one of the local restaurants. When I walked in, I was a bit worried because it was absolutely empty So far on this trip, I measured how good a restaurant was by how many people (especially locals) were eating there. However, since I was absolutely famished, I decided to eat here anyways. Luckily I did because the food was fantastic. I got the “mixed grill” which had lamb, beef, Vienna sausage, fries,
and veggies. Definitely, one of the better meals I’ve had in a while.
After that, I went to bed. How about that…… for once I actually stayed in on the last night in a city instead of going crazy. I must say, I’m pretty excited to go to Prague. I’ve heard and read so much about it, it’s one of the cities I’m most looking forward to visiting.
P.S. for some stupid reason Travelblog added some of the pictures twice. I'm feeling too lazy to go back and delete the ones that are on twice so whatever. Think of it as getting double the fun haha jk.
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Ames
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For some reason you had me rollin' when you ended the entry with the whole "think of it as double the fun". Vienna looks like a dope city..oh, and thanks for putting it in writing that there ARE exceptions to the stereotypical American girl:) ARTHRITIS HANDS.