Happy Thursday! I hope it is a lot cooler where you are reading this! Yesterday the temperature heated up to an aggressive 96 degrees. I don’t think I have ever sweat as much as I did yesterday! Don’t worry though, I am drinking LOTS of water to make up for it. Everyone was telling us yesterday that that was the hottest day of the summer. Well, the forecast for Sunday is saying 98 degrees, so we will see about that!
Last weekend, two of my new friends, Andre and Sarah, and I went to Vienna for the weekend. We took a 4 hour train on Friday and arrived in the evening. That night was pretty much grabbing some schnitzel (and beer of course) and hitting the hay.
Saturday was a full day! We started early in the morning at a cafe. From there we just decided to wander the streets and see what we could find! The method of the day was to find a spire (because they are everywhere) and walk until we run into it or something else along the way. This method led us to a lot of beautiful palaces and cathedrals.
It started to rain later in the morning so we popped into an art museum that had a Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso exhibit on display. I’m not really one for art, but I can acknowledge that it was quite a cool exhibit and experience! We also stumbled upon some Michelangelo sketches in another part of the museum.
The afternoon took us a little out of the city center and to the beautiful Schönbrunn Palace. This was by far my favorite palace that we visited. This palace is a bit more recent (to European standards) as it was built in the 18th century. While the architecture is fairly modern, this palace is MASSIVE. When you walk through the gates you enter a massive courtyard with fountains and a view of the front of the palace. We sat on a bench for a while to take it all in and ended up meeting a fellow Midwesterner! Around the back there is a maze of botanical gardens that are very impressive. The gardens are straight out of a fairy tale. It was a scene that I would love to go back to for a romantic walk (hint hint Michael ;))! The gardens open to the back side of the palace that is just as impressive as the front. It opens up into another grand courtyard that ended with a magnificent fountain. Behind this fountain was a hill that we of course climbed. The top of this hill gave a gorgeous view of the city from above. If you ever get the chance to visit Vienna, I would recommend spending the afternoon at this palace!!
The rest of Saturday took us to dinner and a nice night out with another great view of the city!
Our journey ended on Sunday, with a rainy morning spent in cafes and another 4 hour train ride back to Prague. Vienna has definitely captured my heart! The amount of history that surrounds that city is just incredible! I would absolutely love to go back some day and spend more time there! Next week it is off to Italy!
Jenna Goes to Europe 