Thursday - today we hit the rode for Vienna. It wasn't a bad trip, it only took a couple hours from Olomouc. When we arrived we dropped our bags off at our hostel and right away we were off to explore the town. There is a really long street full of shops that we walked down to get downtown. I have learned that walking extremely long distances is completely normal. This walk from our hostel to the downtown area is about a 40 minuet walk. I don't mind it because Vienna is a beautiful town with a lot to see and take in and these walks are perfect for this. We planned on doing a few more outdoor activities that day, but it started to downpour! We ran to the nearest dry spot and made a new plan. We decided to go to the museum full of all of the royal collection. The wealth of the Habsburg's is something that I can't even fathom. In this museum, we were also able to see the Holy Lance which was said to have pierced the side of Jesus on the cross, and a cross that was supposedly made from the wood of the cross. They have since proven that these are just stories, however it is still very cool to see.
I also quickly discovered that using euros is expensive, I like crowns better. This area of Europe is famous for snitsle. Thad and I somehow got quick reservations at a restaurant that has the best wiener snitsle in Vienna. It was super dobře! The street we took from our hostel to the main part of the town was very long and full of shops. About a 40 minute walk. We also discovered a little bar where the owner told us of some great wine and wine shop. We decided to check it out. I ended up buying a few bottles, it was expensive but worth it. Later we went to a bar with the group had a bier out of a horn glass, good night!
Friday - We walked to a museum. We had a few to choose from and I decided to go to the museum of fine arts and history. Here we saw some ancient Egyptian artifacts, Habsburg items, and some beautiful paintings. It was a massive building and it was hard to see everything. It was a beautiful sunny day, so after the museum we decided to lay in the grass and enjoy the day. Then we made our way to the royal apartments. We started on the first floor were I discovered that the family had lots of expensive fine china. Then we went upstairs to the living quarters. I learned the sad story of Sissi, "my soul walks alone in this world. The soul that was supposed to my match was never born". After the Royal Apartments some of us walked through one of the most beautiful parks. The lilacs were blooming and it smelled wonderful. We then stubbled upon a small market full of Easter things, great food: fried bread, potatoes,strawberries and laughter.
Saturday - I was the last one on the bus because I almost left my coat in the hostel. But I was able to make it with no problem. Then we started our very long bus ride down towards Venice. We drove through the Alps and it was an amazing site to see. When we arrived in Venice, we quickly discovered the temper that Italians can have. Our bus driver tried to park in a spot that was apparently NOT for us. We were all getting off of the bus and a man quickly came over yelling italian, and he did not sound very happy. Thankfully our teacher Jan can speak Italian and we were able to sort things out. We just had to move down the street, nothing too bad. We then went to the train station to get tickets to go into Venice (we were on the mainland and still had to get onto the island).
We stayed at a hotel near the train station which was very convenient because I am not a huge fan of lugging my huge backpack all over town. After getting settled, Jan took the group out on a tour of the town. It is very unique, and takes some time getting use to navigating the streets. It was so cool to see the canals and all the gondolas. I also liked seeing the buildings that are right next to the water.
The next day we saw the Cathedral, and the prison. It was neat to see these building that were all built in a marsh. It is amazing to see what man can build.
From Venice we all split and went on our spring break. I will do a separate post for this however.
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