Austria

I wanted Spring Break to be a chance to explore more of Europe. I scouted the internet for cheap flights in order for me to go. I found great deals - for Airbnb and flights - for me to stay out for an entire week! I decided to travel to Austria, somewhere I never thought of going. Paris - a place that I've been very anxious to travel to. Lastly, Barcelona - it was a cheap ticket to get to and get back to Florence. It was also one of my favorite places that I visited when I went to "Teatro Liceu" earlier in the month.

At this point, my Italian was becoming better, and all I wanted to do was speak in Italian to everybody. I had no idea what there was for me to see in Austria, until I realized that Mozart, a very famous composer, lived in Austria! When I arrived to the airport in Vienna, I felt very comfortable, but I was very lost as to how to get to my Airbnb. Thankfully google was at my side. I eventually went up to a gentleman who was selling train tickets and very kindly told me how to get where I wanted to get to.

Once I got to Floridsdorf's train station, my airbnb host told me that he would not be home for a another two hours. I figured that I might as well kill time and go to eat. I found out where exactly my airbnb was just so that I was not so far. Once I found it, I went on Google to see where there was something close to eat. I am a big believer in not going to something chain like - like McDonalds - in another country. Although the menu options are different, they're not different enough for me. I knew that such a thing called a "wiener schnitzel" that I had heard about, so I searched to eat just that. I eventually came to a restaurant that was of walking distance of my airbnb. I felt terrible for not being able to communicate, but thankfully because of the singing I've done in German, I can pronounce things, but I cannot speak/hold a conversation. I came up to the restaurant with a lot of fear and they recognized me as a solo traveler trying to eat. it turns out that the restaurant had outside seating that they were using because they were doing repairs inside of the place. Once I was seated, I went on Google Translate to figure out how to say "I would like," "Please," and "Thank you." I then started looking into the menu, and my waiter came up to my table asking me what I wanted to drink followed by the universal drinking sign. I nervously asked for a rose which then lead to asking what I wanted to eat. I asked the gentleman what was a typical plate for the Austrians. He exclaimed "the wiener schnitzel" and I was beyond excited. I cannot tell you how hungry I was by this point, so I was really excited. After devouring the Austrian delicacy, I asked the waiter what a typical dessert was in Austria. He then told me that it was a "Nusstorte." I had no idea what it had inside, but I just wanted to try it, so I said okay. He then comes back with a piece of cake and a coffee that he gave me for free. He said "You have to have a coffee after you eat this cake." The cake sent my tastebuds to heaven and back. It was amazing. This made me not want to ever try sweets from America ever again. After having a hearty meal like such, it was time for me to go back to my airbnb.

It was 4 in the afternoon and I wanted to make the best of the three days that I was going to be in Vienna. After settling all my stuff down, I wanted to go exploring. I had no exact location where to go to, but I knew I wanted to see something. I remembered as I was coming into the city, there was a huge Ferris Wheel, and I wanted to check that out. After doing a little research, it turns out that the name of that Ferris Wheel was called the "Wiener Riesenrad." It said that this Ferris Wheel was part of an amusement park called the "Prater" and that it was a sight to see once up top. That to me sounded like a great place for someone like me who wanted to explore. The thing was that it was an hour away from me. It was still daylight outside, so I decided to walk there. Here are some pictures of my walk towards there:

I eventually got to the prater amusement park and i was living my 16 year old life again. The bright, blinking lights made my heart spark with joy. As much as I wanted to go to everything, I had one objective: get into the Ferris Wheel. I eventually made the line and I made it on time for the last round of people to go for the night. I felt extremely lucky. When you first walk in you're presented with really cool scale models of the Ferris Wheel by different artists. Waiting to get on took a little longer because there were a couple of the cabins that were rented out to parties and/or couples who paid to have the entire cabin to themselves. Once I entered the cabin with other people, the first thing that I wanted to search for was to see what they spoke. Some were speaking French, others German, and some people spoke English. Before I realized it, we were already on top, and I could not believe what I saw. The city of Wein, right before me. Amazed would not be enough to describe my fascination with what I saw. Here are those pictures:

For the remainder of the trip I tried to find more things to do, but I would find out about them either too late or I didn't have enough to break out of the budget for the rest of the week. Here at the rest of the pictures that I took, I even got to visit the bodies of composers: Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Strauss (father and son), and Brahms.it was a place I never thought I'd love as much as I did and I cannot wait to one day return to sing at the Wiener Staatsoper Here are those pictures: