The Journey Begins

We began our journey to Austria on Wednesday October 14th. We took off from Norfolk and flew to Chicago, switched planes and flew to Vienna. We arrived in Vienna around 0800, checked into our hotel then took a quick nap. Then we were off to explore the city! We saw quite a few churches especially Stephansdom, a beautiful Gothic style cathedral. We saw City Hall (Rathaus), Parliment, some gorgeous gardens, and Wien Universität (that felt more like a museum than a university). We explored the pre-historic Natural History Museum of Vienna so Laura could fulfill her desire to see the Venus of Willendorf (circa 30,000 BCE). Walking all throughout the city center gave us a great feel for the city and it's vibe. On day two we woke up early to see the the famous Spanish Riding School of Vienna (Spanische Hofreitschule von Wien) have their early morning training session. It was amazing to watch horses and riders practicing in a palace. Afterwards, we hopped on the U-bahn (subway) and heading to Schloß Schönbrunn, a palace Maria Theresa and many other Habsburgs lived. We had a little mishap at the Schönbrunn platform. We did not realize that not all of the doors open at each platform and you had to press a button. Laura noticed a door further up had opened and jumped off the train. Rachel was unable to get off the train in time. We wish someone took a picture of our faces as the train pulled away, because both of us were in absolute shock. Thankfully, Rachel jumped off at the next station and took the U-bahn back the other way. All was right again. Even though it was raining, the tour of the grounds and palace was worth it. We had a wonderful guide and got to experience how the royalty lived in Vienna. For dinner, we found a local restaurant that seats you at any table with empty chairs. Yes, we were put at a table with two older men. It was an experience, but the food (wiener schnitzel) was so good! Tomorrow we head out to Vienna's Main Train Station to jump on a train to Prague, Czech Republic for the weekend!