Can I Say Wicked in England?: Finally Catching Up: Vienna

Sorry for not posting sooner, it's been a weird week trying to get readjusted to life in Bath and not living out of a backpack! Last week, I was in Vienna from Monday night to Thursday. Here were my favorite things:
1. Seeing my friend Lexi who I go to Gettysburg with in Vienna! Prior to my trip, I told Lexi I was going to Vienna and it was such a great time hanging out with her and her friends for a few days! I loved seeing someone who reminded me of the burg, and she made us feel right at home, cooking us dinner and watching Hocus Pocus with us. It was also amazing to have a personal tour guide who knew so much about all of the buildings we were passing!
2. Schonbrunn Palace- This was the home of the Austrian royalty during the summer months. Wow-I've seen many country houses this year and some pretty incredible gardens but Schonbrunn was so big! I found it fascinating that such a powerful family- the Habsburg family who ruled Austria and Hungry controlled so much of the world because of their ties to Rome and France! We did the guided tour of the Palace and it was well worth it because each room was so overwhelming we got to see so much. Because it's fall, I loved walking around the gardens too and seeing all of the trees turn colors! :D
3. Because the center of Vienna isn't too large, it's very accessible by foot which is my number three on this list goes to walking around the city with Lexi and Lara. Walking around we got to see the Natural History as well as Art History Museums and they are huge buildings that are symmetrically in a courtyard with a huge statue of Marie Therese in the middle! We also saw the Opera House, the Parliament and State Buildings which were beautiful.
4.Perhaps one of the prettiest we saw was St. Stephans Cathedral or (Stephansdom) that's gothic architecture makes it look out of a fairytale. The inside was really cool too and it was full of tourists but the stained glass was beautiful and I loved some of the statues.
5. St. Charles Church was totally different but equally as beautiful compared to St. Stephans. With a green dome, and huge "plague pillars" to ward off the plague in the 18th century, the building was a great place for some serious photos...people probably thought we were crazy.
6. Celebrating a national holiday-Austrian Independence day! I can't believe we were in two cities that celebrated their independence while we were traveling! To celebrate, there was a huge parade and a military festival with all sorts of cool vendors and stands. I loved the candy market...but i resisted! Instead we got a classic meal of kaiserkraner which is basically a hot dog with cheese in the middle, except better because it was like a real sausage. haha I would've never tried this concoction but Lexi convinced me to and I loved it! Also, I tried glue vin, or hot wine, which was delicious! Even if the taste was hard to get used to, it warmed me up and I was thankful for that because it was pretty cold out.
7. Wombats City Hostel- We knew going to Vienna that our hostel was going to be wild...but we didn't know we would receive a free drink voucher when we got there or that the hostel could hold at least 300 people! It was like a hotel designed for partying! haha needless to say, we enjoyed it and the people were so nice. We also met this awesome girl in our room named Kelsey who ended up coming to Schonbrunn with us and I loved hearing her stories. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience to stay at this hostel as long as you remind yourself that it's not supposed to be a five star hotel.

Overall Vienna was amazing! After the craziness of Rome, I think both Lara and I were ready for a quieter and more relaxing city so Vienna seemed to fit! I loved having Lexi there as well because she made us feel so at home even when we were traveling so much. Besides the cold- the city was so fun and I really hope I can go back there someday! To find a comparison, it kind of reminded me of Zurich which I liked because it had a great street for shopping as well as a large outdoor market but also a feeling of history and old architecture that made it seem so European!

Here are some photos!