Vienna

Vienna...old world meets the new world.

As I got off the train from Budapest to Vienna, I was instantly hit by the feeling of not being in a post-soviet country anymore. There were stores, chain stores, lots of chain stores. People dress in alternative styles here and are willing to start conversations on the street. Things look newer, and not everybody is white.

As someone just traveling through, I kinda miss the feeling of being in a country of the former Soviet Union, it has a feeling of otherness to it. A different feeling from that of Latin America or Asia, something solely itś own. The former soviet union is also cheaper, much cheaper. Ex-communists havent quite figured out how to profit off of every.single.little.thing...like Austria has.

Vienna is great in itś own way though. When I talk about the stores, on the way to the old city of Vienna, you walk though a very long avenue of shops, nice shops. Capitalism is bustling in the city of Vienna. They have Forever 21, H&M, perfume shops, makeup shops, everything shops. But when you reach the end of the avenue, you reach a big black gate where you enter the old city, and when you walk inside it transports you into 18th century Vienna. Vienna wasnt badly damaged during WWII. The theory is that because Stalin went to school in Vienna, he established ties with politicians here and fell in love with the city. This kept him from allowing the soldiers to do much damage during the liberation of the city from the Nazis. Austria continued to be occupied for 10 years after the end of WWII, but never made it part of the Soviet Union, because of the political ties. This explains why Austria is so much more modern than the previous countries I have visited.

Honestly, upon my arrival in Vienna, I was beat. I was exhausted, and Vienna has been more of a place to recharge my batteries than anything else. I havent been busy every second of the day like I had been for the past month. This is not to say that I havent done anything though. I did a walking tour of the city, which was sub-par to the free walking tours that I took in the other cities. I went to the Catacomb tombs under the St. Stephens church and saw lots of bones from people who died during the black plague. I had to go inside the church to take the tour, and I am not much of a church/cathedral person, I could take it or leave it, but the inside of this one was stunning. I also visited the Albertina art museum where I saw original Monetś and Picassoś.

An amazing thing happened my second day here. I opened up the door to the dorm I was staying in, and there was Bee! I met her in Budapest and we went to the thermal baths together. I texted Emma the Swed to tell her what happened, and she decided to come down the next day! So when Emma arrived, the next day all of us, plus two new girls, Sarah from New Zealand, and Sophie from Connecticut all went to the Danube River Valley. We took a train an hour outside of town and explored the beautiful mid-evil city of Melk for a bit. We then took a bus to the town of Spitz which is known for itś wine tasting. We went to about three different wineries and tasted. All of the tastings are free, and buying a bottle is quite cheap, about 6 euros. The country side is much cheaper than Vienna. One woman had had the winery in her family since the 1700ś. She was self-conscious about her English, but I thought she did just fine.

It was great having a girls day out. Honestly, some of the men I have met traveling so far need a good punch in the mouth. For instance, there was a guy I met who was travelling from Texas. At first I was impressed that someone from Texas was outside of Texas....but then the things he started saying to the Europeans in the group!!!! He just kept being the American stereo-type talking about shooting guns and his gas gussling SUV (his words). I ended up telling somewhat jokingly, but seriously at the same time that he was giving Americanś a bad name, and he is a representative for his country! Americanś already have a bad enough reputation world wide, we dont need this douche adding to it.

But all in all Vienna has been nice. I do stick to my guns and vote Prague as the most beautiful city over Vienna and Budapest. Prague has itś own kind of beauty that I dont think these cities can match. I guess that may be why Prague is constantly over-run with Tourists.

I am catching a night train today leaving at 4pm. Emma and I are going down to Croatia, and we will be celebrating the 4th of July there! Maybe I can track down some fireworks somewhere.