Latest Travels: Vienna and Prague!

Helloooo everyone!

I can't believe I have less than two weeks left in Barcelona!  I am getting ready to get back to the luxuries of home but I'm also so sad to think about leaving. :(  I had an absolutely amazing week in Vienna and Prague, and now we're all trying to do everything in Barcelona that we've put off until the very end!

My last week of travel was a truly incredible trip.  I left for Vienna on Sunday (July 3) with Hannah and two other guys from our program.  We were greeted by some NASTY, unexpected weather when we landed!  It was about 40 degrees, super windy, and pouring.  We had come from 80 degree, sunny weather, so we were wearing shorts, tank tops, and sandals - luckily I brought my raincoat so it was bearable!  It really felt like a blizzard!  So the first thing we did when we landed was check in to our hostel, and then head to a Cafe Hawelka (per Erica's suggestion) for some hot chocolate and to wait out the weather.  The rain stopped while we warmed up, so we ventured out to explore a little.  We walked by the opera house and walked down Kartnerstrasse to look at all the shops - I fell in love with Vienna immediately! :)  It was so beautiful and clean and pristine, and everything was so well kept!  It felt much more quaint than Barcelona, which I liked.  We also went inside St. Stephens, which was beautiful.  The organ was amazing!  After exploring a bit more, we stuck with Erica's itinerary and went to Augustinerkeller for dinner - a little restaurant that looked like a cellar underneath the Albertina museum!  This was seriously the best meal I had all week - I got schnitzle with roasted potatoes.  SO GOOD.  I got some sparkling white wine which was good too!

Best meal of the trip - schnitzle and potatoes!!!

After dinner, we went back to the hostel to rest for a while, and then we went to an area called the Bermuda Triangle (also on our itinerary!).  We went to a bar there with some people we met at our hostel, and it was fun!  It wasn't very busy anywhere since it was a Sunday.  When we were walking back to our hostel, we stumbled upon the Hofburg Palace - we were not expecting it at all!  It was beautiful, especially at night.  After a busy day, we finally went to bed, and our hostel was so nice!

On Monday, we got up early for an Anker breakfast!  I had a chocolate croissant and hot chocolate.  I took lots of pictures for Erica and Dad!

Anker!  I thought of Erica the whole time! :)

After our delicious breakfast, we got on the U-bahn and went to the Schonbrunn.  We had a blast there - we went in the maze, walked through the gardens, and played on the playgrounds with all the little kids!  It was a beautiful day outside, and the Schonbrunn was truly breathtaking.  The fountain was also incredible.

In front of the fountain at the Schonbrunn - Dave, Hannah, Curran, and me

The Schonbrunn!  So beautiful.

We spent about 5 hours at the Schonbrunn just wandering around!  Afterwards, we went to the Belvedere, but not without an Anker stop :)  I got a pretzel - so tastey!  We walked about 15 more minutes to the Belvedere, which was really cool.  We went inside too and saw all of the famous art.  I loved all of the Klimt paintings and the Napoleon painting!  We spent a good amount of time in here too.

Hannah and me in front of the Belvedere

After the Belvedere, we went back to the Naschmarkt to look at all of the food and eat dinner.  I loved the green olives stuffed with parmesan!  Those were my favorite.  Then we sat down to eat and I got another schnitzle!  It wasn't as good as the first one, but it was still delicious.  That night, we wanted to go to Prater and ride the ferris wheel, but everything was closed!  We still walked around, but it was a little creepy at night when it was so empty.  Then we went back to the hostel and hung out downstairs for a bit before going to bed - we loved our hostel because there was a huge common area with computers and couches and chairs, so there were always people to meet and hang out with when we weren't doing anything.  We met people from all over the world!

The next morning, we went back to St. Stephens to climb the tower.  After what felt like a million steps, we finally got to the top, but the view was so worth it.  It was interesting to compare it to the bell tower in Florence - the climb to the top felt exactly the same but the view was so different.  I liked how the roofs were all different colors, and the main sites had green roofs instead of red.  It was truly gorgeous.

Beautiful view of Vienna from the top of the St. Stephens tower

After St. Stephens, our fourth friend left to go to Paris, so it was just me, Hannah, and our other friend Dave.  The three of us went to get Spar sandwiches, and we sat outside the opera house to eat.  It was so beautiful!  And we luckily got some sun this day!  After lunch, we went back to the Hofburg palace to see it during the day.  We didn't go inside, but we walked all around the oustide.

The Hofburg Palace

We wanted to walk around Graben street after the Hofburg Palace - a street with lots of fancy shops and a famous chocolate shop - but it started pouring again!  So instead we went back to the hostel for a bit.  The monsoon passed after an hour or so, and then we ventured across the street into the Naschmarkt again to see if we could find Dr. Falafel.  This had been about our third try to find it, but we finally did!  Oh my gosh, best falafel ever!!!  They put hummus on the wraps, unlike Barcelona!  Hannah and I especially loved them.  For the night, we had made some plans through Erica's study abroad program director who had connections at a few clubs.  First, we went to the Rathaus to see the film festival!  It was so beautiful - I think this was my favorite thing we did.  We sat for a while, and I had a crepe!  After that, we went to a small club near our hostel and it was a lot of fun - still nothing like Barca discotecas!  After the club, we met up with Tobi (Erica's program director), and he took us to the Leopold Museum in the Museum Quarter.  It was so amazing - it turned into a huge night club at night time, and it was so pretty!  We stayed there for only about an hour because we had to catch our train in the morning, and then we went back to the hostel for the night.

The Rathaus at night - the picture doesn't even capture how breathtakingly beautiful it was.

My nutella crepe! :)

The next day, we went to the train station early in the morning to buy our train tickets to Prague.  It was a bit of an ordeal to get our tickets!  First we went to the wrong train station (they didn't sell tickets to Prague), so then we had to get back on the U-bahn to go to the other station.  We finally got to the right place and got our tickets, and then got Spar sandwiches to tie us over for the train ride.  We got on the train, and it was the worst train ride ever!!!  It was about 85 degrees outside, and there was no air conditioning - a six hour train ride!  We were all exhausted when we got off the train, and Prague was a little harder to navigate than Vienna, so it took us a while to find our hostel.  Two tram rides and a lot of walking later, we found our hostel, and it was really nice.  There were appetizers and beer every night at 5, so we went down to the common area first and met some really nice Australians!  They told us some things to do at night, but we were all so tired that we decided to just get dinner and then go to bed early.  We found a good restaurant (another of Erica's suggestions! :) ) right across from the Bethlehem church near the Old Town Square, and I got a schnitzle for dinner.  We also had some really good bread and butter, something we never get in Barca!  Then we called it an early night and went back to the hostel for the night.

The next day was our big day in Prague - we went to the St. Charles Bridge and John Lennon wall in the morning, went paddle boating on the river, and then we went on a free tour of the Jewish Quarter and Old Town.  Everything was incredible.  Prague is so beautiful, it looks like a movie set or Disneyworld!  The weather was beautiful all day too.  I tried to take advantage of all of the sites while we were there; it was surreal how beautiful the city was.

On the St. Charles Bridge

View of the bridge

Hannah and me writing on the John Lennon wall!

In front of the John Lennon wall

Paddle boating on the river!

Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square

More of Old Town Square

The Adam and Eve towers!

After the tour, we went to TGIFridays for dinner (YUCK!), and then went back to the hostel.  We had heard about a pub crawl that night from everyone we met, so we decided to try that for the night.  It ended up being a ton of fun!  We met lots of people again, and the club at the end was five stories and really fun.  After the club, we went back to the hostel for the night.

The next day, we went to Bohemia Bagels for breakfast and then headed to the Prague Castle on the other side of the St. Charles Bridge.  The Castle was huge and beautiful.  It was also a really good view of Prague since it was up on a huge hill.

Bohemia Bagels - our favorite restaurant in Prague!

The Prague castle

Hannah and me in front of the Prague castle

View of the city from the top of the hill

After sitting in the square by the castle for a while, we hiked back down and walked back along the river to our hostel.  After cleaning up and resting for a bit, we walked back to the Old Town Square for dinner at a restaurant called U-Prince.  There was a terrace on the roof that had an amazing view!  I got stirfry (not a typical Prague dish :) ), which was really good, but the best part was the view.  After dinner, we went to a market and got some chocolate for dessert, and we had a relaxing last night in our hostel.

The view at sunset - so beautiful

U-Prince!  Amazing view!

Before heading to the airport, we went back to Bohemia Bagels for another quick bagel, and then went back to the Jewish quarter with the intent of going in the cemetery, but I forgot it would be closed on Saturday.  I was still able to peek inside and snap a picture.  We walked around a little longer, and then headed to the airport to go back to Barcelona.  Our flight was delayed a few hours, but we made it back safe and sound around midnight that night.

The Jewish cemetery

Cuckoo clocks in a shop in the Jewish Quarter

On Sunday, we had a nice relaxing day at the beach in Barcelona.  We went to our favorite restaurant, Genie's, for breakfast and lunch.  It was such a nice day.  That night, we walked down by the marina for dinner and ate by the water.  Then we decided to splurge and take a cab to Barceloneta beach to go to the top of the W hotel, which was an amazing view of the city!  We had a blast that night.  We sat in the hotel for a while just to look outside.  The hotel itself was so beautiful too.

The Barcelona marina :)

My favorite building by the beach!

Lucy and me eating our dinner by the water

We found a Spar by the beach!!!!  Well a Spar express :)

Acting classy and taking a cab to the W!

Me, Lucy, and Hannah outside of the W

This picture is blurry, but the view from the top of the hotel was beautiful

This week hasn't been too eventful...school and the usual.  I was a little sick on Monday, and I ventured to a nearby clinic and had to get some antibiotics, but nothing to worry about!  I'm feeling back to normal now.  A huge group of us is going to Harry Potter tonight at midnight!  I'm so excited!!!  We bought our tickets online and printed them at school.  No plans for the weekend yet, I'm sure we'll figure something out - probably beach and souvenir shopping!

Love you guys, and can't wait to be back on the same continent soon!!!! :)  All my love!!!