We next found ourselves checking out St. Stephan's Cathedral. The building is incredible and we just can't wrap our mind around how it was built almost 1000 years ago! It is so tall and intricate.
Next door is a favorite store of ours - Manner! We enjoyed these famous wafers in their original flavor as well as vanilla and zitrone (lemon). So good!
We wandered the area and then found a restaurant recommended to us by our host - Demel. It is a cute cafe where you can watch the pastry chefs make all the sweet treats. We enjoyed our cakes and coffee! Another favorite way to spend our days!
The highlight of this trip was meeting up with one of the daughters from our first host in Austria and her boyfriend whom we also met during our stay on their farm. It was so nice to catch up with them over dinner and later some more coffee and Sacher Torte! Sacher torte is a Vienna original chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam underneath the layer of chocolate frosting. We walked around the Ringstraße and saw different historical buildings and parks. It was so wonderful to be able to see our friends again and we can't believe the amazing connections we are making during our trip! We were sad to say goodbye but have high hopes of getting to see them again!
To cap off our Viennese experience, we went to William Shakespeare's The Tempest at the Vienna State Opera House or Wiener Staatsoper. We had standing room only tickets and didn't understand everything even though it was in English. However, we both decided that we like operas!
Finally, before heading back to the Mangalitza pigs, we shared a delicious meal of a kebab and pizza! Day one in Vienna was amazing!
After having a host situation that was not ideal, Dana and I did some last minute planning and decision making. We found ourselves back in Vienna for another day and fell even more in love with the city! We found out that the city is full of wonderful parks. After getting bread, meat, and cheese, we claimed a grassy spot near a canal of the Danube. We enjoyed a small snack and took in our surroundings before more exploration. We passed an industrial area of town that included Novartis and Johnson & Johnson.
As it was quite warm, we found shelter in a tree-filled path in a huge park. We found a nice shady grassy spot to do some exercises and rest. We took a nap as it had been an early morning for us. I love napping in the grass on a warm day.
As we love cafés and coffee houses, we decided to frequent one we had thought cute when we were there before. Aida has many cafés throughout the city and reminded us of a Classic American diner. We picked out some eis and an apple torte to share! It was so nice to sit and chat, while also getting to call our Mom. We have decided that subconsciously we were missing home as we chose an American-esqe cafe and enjoyed peanut butter and brownie ice cream!
We were blessed with the opportunity to meet another daughter of our first host in Austria that evening. Her sister arranged for us to stay at her flat and we are so grateful for this wonderful family we have met! It was so great to sit with her and her flat mate and share stories of our adventure. We enjoyed a lovely shower and snuggled into a no-buzzing, bug free bed! We awoke for a nice breakfast and said goodbye to our new friend. Then we were off on our next journey!
We even got to ride the tram as we made our way to the bus station. We found our bus and headed to Prague!
No comments:
Post a Comment