Happily Hannah: Austria

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Europe Day 10- Vienna

Today is going to be the last day of the European series:( The twelfth day was of travel (another day at the beginning is tacked on for travel too). I have loved recounting this trip! It makes me want to go back so much! I hope you all enjoyed an inside peak of Eastern Europe through my eyes!

Vienna, Day 10: 6/19/2013
I did not actually write a journal entry for this day due to pure exhaustion. So this post is all from memory!
Today was a bittersweet day. I am so sad that it's our last but I'm kinda ready to go home and shower and out on clean clothes. I lost my little wallet thing that hooks onto my bra strap that had my credit card, euros, and driver's license. I went into full panic mode but as I kicked the bed in frustration (which I never do), my wallet appeared behind my bed! Sweet relief! I went down to breakfast and had two shots of espresso. We got on the bus and drove into the city. We had free time in the morning instead of the afternoon and I was not a fan of that. It went by a lot faster and we were rushed. We decided to rent bikes and explore the city! That only took about 45 minutes (no joke. It took FOREVER) We rode to Zanoni and Zanoni's to get more delicious gelato. It felt very European to ride our bikes through the city and eat gelato;) We broke off into two groups and Maddie and I went to the Albertina to see the Monet and Picasso exhibit. That was AMAZING. I love love love art and it was so cool to see such famous artists original works right in front of me! I am still in awe that I saw Monet's Water Lilies. Afterwards, we got a few little things from gift shops and went to the Mozart Cafe. That was so beautiful! We grabbed doners on the way to the bus and some lady swindled us into giving her money for a "sick child". That's just all part of being a tourist I guess. Then we went on a bus tour (thank goodness because it was SO HOT). And guess what! We all slept through it. Except for like three kids. Literally, the entire bus was asleep. But the guide just kept talking! We stopped somewhere and we all got off, asking each other where we were and what we were looking at. Classic. We saw a really cool artistic apartment building, and then go ice cream. Magnum bars are the best and America needs to get them ASAP. After that, we went to Schonbrunn Palace, the residence of Maria Teresa. That was great, and fascinating, but there was no AC so it was also sorta miserable. Then we went to some other grand palace and took some pictures. It was gorgeous. We went back to the hotel afterwards and got ready for the classical music concert! I was sooooo excited! I LOVE classical music!! We had one last dinner that wasn't anything special, and we went to the opera house. The concert was fantastic! Mack, Jess, and Maddison sat across the house from us and they seemed to really enjoy it;) Afterwards, we went to the train station to get back to the hotel and the train we needed to take was not going to run for another hour. So we had to wait. We got ice cream from McDonald's- how European. We got back to our hotel, I repacked, and hung out with some kids in the lobby for a while. Our last day in Europe was a good one.
#idontwanttogohome

outside the opera house

am i european yet? i rode a bike, in a dress, and am eating gelato

sleepy sleepy

schonbrunn palace

seminar!

the gardens at schonbrunn palace

stunning.

representing the us of a wherever we go

very hip, very modern

we would wear coordinating outfits. it's very hip, very modern

b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

i spy with my little eye... mack, jess, and maddison

it was all so overwhelming to mack

aww, maya and matt<3 ;)

i love these people.

xo
Hannah

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Europe Day 9- Bratislava and Vienna

Bratislava and Vienna, Day 9: 6/18/2013

This morning we left Budapest around 9am. :( The Texas and Oklahoma group left at 3am so I'm pretty happy about that. We traveled to Bratislava, Slovakia for about 2.5 hours. We had a quick walking tour but honestly I was so hot that it took away from me really loving it. Bratislava was a cute little town but it WAS so blasted hot! We had margaherita pizzas the size of the sun for lunch that we could have split but didn't know better. At the restaurant, I took off my cami and spandex and felt 20 degrees cooler. Afterwards, we went and cooled off in a clothing store kind of like Forever 21. It had the most wonderful thing in the world, air conditioning! <3 Then, we had gelato of course. But it was sort of disappointing because I had lemon, and it was way too creamy. We met up with our group and went to a really cool old church that had a crypt. It was SO cool! We got on the bus to make our last trip to Vienna, Austria. I am going to be straight up honest and let you know, I was fried by the time we got to Vienna. I was hot and tired, nothing was appealing. Don't get me wrong, the architecture was beautiful, I was just done. Agnes, our tour guide, took us to the BEST gelato place!!! It's called Zanoni & Zanoni's and I got two scoops- nutella and biscotto (before dinner of course). Dinner was schnitzel and fries. The bathroom lights did not turn on, or so we thought! Maddie and I figured out how to turn them on after messing with some stuff in Austrian. But we did have to go in the boys bathroom. Just another European adventure! We got back to our hotel and the madness began. First off, there was no elevators. And NO AC! Death was among us. I had to room with Karina and Kori :((( But Maddison, Mack, and Jess were right down the hall so that's good news. We were soooo hot, and just began to scream. As we were trying to prop open the window, Jessica threw her shoe at us, but it flew out the window. Classic. We all tried to cool down but it was just a hot miserable night.
#austriaishotterthanaustralia