Vienna, Austria
To continue the story of my Easter Break journey, I would like to start by discussing Vienna. It took a long train ride from Ljubljana to arrive at this beautiful city, but that didn't take away from its charm. Unfortunately we arrived relatively late to our hotel, meaning that there was no one on duty at the reception desk when we arrived. Thus, we had to phone the night watchman and have him to let us in electronically. This was my first real encounter with the Austro-German accent, and it was a bit difficult to grasp at first. Luckily, the night watchman and I were eventually able to understand each other, and Rose and I made it to our room without any real issues.
The next day, Rose and I decided to take a hop on-hop off bus tour around the city since we had enjoyed it so much in Munich. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating very much that day, but we did manage to get nice pictures of the pouring rain and plummeting hail.
Even though I'm from Chicago, I still find snow exciting.
Sleet as seen from atop a hill overlooking the city
Our bus manages to maintain its happy demeanor despite the weather conditions.
We saw a number of beautiful sights in Vienna including the Museums Quartier, Staatsoper (National Opera House), Parliament Building, Klosterneuberg Abbey, and Vienna National Library. Still, my favorite site was that which we saw on the third day: the Vienna Zoo.
The Vienna Zoo is the oldest in the world and boasts fascinating exhibits of animals from all over the world. The animals were quite lively, which was surprising considering how cold it was that day (although some of the active animals, including the polar bear pictured below, are most likely used to this). Throughout the park we were met by signs describing the renovations being made to the giraffe exhibit, demonstrating the continued dedication of the city to its zoo.
Hello there!
One can never run out of compliments aboout Vienna, and it's a stunningly beautiful city that I would love to revisit. Despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions, the city was so culturally-rich and charimg at the same time that I couldn't help but enjoy everything I saw. Hopefully I can return soon in order to see a performance by the Viennese Mozart Orchestra and thereby enjoy the sounds as well as the sights.
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Ali DeGuide
<p>My name is Ali, and I'm a Political Economy major at the University of Southern California (Trojans!). Ever since I was a little kid and found out that there was such a thing as "study abroad", I dreamed about doing it. I'd stare at the famous Midwestern cornfields and wonder what it would take to go see the world. I loved the idea of picking up and leaving everything, even if it was only for a short while. Now, I'm living the dream and studying abroad in Berlin, Germany.</p>
