Vienna

We arrived in Vienna from the night train from Venice. While we didn't sleep much, we were excited to see the city. Vienna has the best little transit system. There are trams above ground that easily connect you to the many areas of town. We have been so impressed with all of the city transportation here.

We found our hostel, which was very close to the train station we arrived at. The first day, we took a tram tour of the town, giving a brief glance to all of the major sites. We then spent a little more time on apartment stuff, but while we were doing that, we got to spend a lot of time walking through some cool districts. That evening, we had dinner at this fun place called WeinerWald (pronounced "vener vald). The WeinerWald is the country side in Vienna, which we visited the following day.

We didn't have the much time in Vienna, but the time we did have, we very much enjoyed. We took a Rick Steves guided walk of the area near the Opera, as well as taking a guided tour of the Vienna Opera House. It was incredible. We were able to see the back stage, and the many different parts of one of the oldest Opera houses in the world. We went to one of the two palaces in Vienna - the Hofburg Palace, which was the palace of Franz Joseph, the Emporer from way back. We also went to a museum called the Haus der Musik. It was a very interesting look at sound, the brain, and several of the "big guy" composers from Vienna - Beethoven, Mozart, Hayden, Strauss. It was a bit overwhelming, but we really liked this museum.

On our last night in Vienna, we had one of our best nights so far. Every night during the summer, the city of Vienna puts on a festival of music and food. There are around 25 stands of all sorts of ethnic food and drink set up. We had some amazing Japanese and Australian food. Then, around dusk, they play a classical music concert on a jumbo tron. It is a way to expose people to good food, and music that they may not otherwise here. It was such a great night.

We left Vienna, wishing we had more time, but all in all, it was such a great city. We will return!