A Saturday in Vienna

Unfortunatly I overslept so i was not able to go with Kathrin to the market, but maybe another day. It is apparently open every Saturday. But when she came back we had a late breakfast that included food she had just bought, so it was very fresh! A little later we left with the bikes so she could show me more of the city. We went past a branch of the Danube that had a Freibadeplatz (I think thats what she called it, but it is an outside pool) and a resturant floating stationary near the riverbank. It looked like the deck of a cruise ship. We went on to many places including a park, which they call the Stadtpark, several museums, some famous sights, and a few historical places.

The Vienna Fluss (River) was especially beautiful, which was situated next to the park. next was an architectually intersting building with a long dome that was used to house butterflys. Next to it was the Hofberg, where Hitler gave a famous speech.  Next we saw a set of museums (of science and art) with a monument of, i believe, Maria Teresa in middle, that I think are my faveorite because of their blatant historical beauty, but i have yet to go inside.

A parade was going on at the time (I am not sure why) but the streets were filled with people and music. When we were almost home from our bike ride we stopped at an ice cream shop and I am sorry, Hogan Brothers, but my tastebuds now belong to another. It is called Gelatiana Italiana (if I remember right). The flavors i got, on one cone, was Tirimisu, Nociocolone, and Hasselnuss. The second is chocolate with nuts, but the last was definatly my faveorite.

I went around the some of the same places with Rafi (Kathrin's nephew) and I learned that the 'city' that he refered to was actually the first district. He took me to the Rathaus (in smaller towns it is similar to a city hall but i think this one is bigger than that) where we ate at the Würstelstand. It is their equivalent to fast food. Würst is sausage and we got cheese filled ones with a type of roll. It was like a thanksgiving meal wrapped into a link. That is how heavy it was to me.

On Friday night I went with Kathrin and her sister, Anette, to the top of a small mountain where a cafe was located. We ordered some Lemon drinks that also had mint in it. The first sip honestly tasted like lemon Colgate, but I got over that and the rest was delicious. We were able to overlook the city all lit up at night, and in another district it was storming so I could see the lightning (Blitz) cracking over the city, which was a haunting but beautiful sight.

Tomorrow I leave for language camp, and will be driving there with some other rotary students. So my next post will be all about that!