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5th September 2011- Vienna - Austria
We arrived in Vienna and settled into our hostel. I am in a room with Kat, Zoe and JC. Tinight was a walk about dinner - meaning we go find our own dinner. Zoe, Little Spoon and I went to a little austrian place. Spoon had some boiled steak, I had camembert and Zoe had snitzel. There was a massive language barrier the waitress spoke no english and when we were seated I said to Zoe that I was pretty sure the lady was going to make her a coffee even though she hadn't asked for one. It was then of course time for dessert... Ice-cream! Yummm.
Tonight was our additional optional of a Mozart and Strass concert which was absolutely amazing. The musicians, dancers and opera singers were impressive to watch and listen to. Photos were not allowed so I recorded them on my iPhone. The sound is crisp so I'm glad I recorded it. I wasn't originally going to go to this concert but our tour manager played the culture card so I had to and it was well worth it. At interval we had photos with the band. After the show it was back to the hostel. Most people had a quiet night because it was our full free day in Vienna the following day. I had only one or two drinks and updated my blog. I sat out on the stairs near our room to use the wifi and had a few numerous conversations with peeps from the other CONTIKI tour that were staying here as they stumbled up the stairs. Once the blog was all updated and I paid some bills I headed to the bar to see who was still up. And sure enough I found Little Spoon and Apples playing pool with 2 randos. I stayed for a chat and headed to bed at about 2am when they headed out for a late night kebab. earlier in the night the bar had been a massive alcohol fight, so like a water fight but with alcohol instead. Everyone had water pistols and people were laying on the bar have alcohol poured all over them, this place was going off. I unfortunately had to stay clear as I had only one thong and couldn't afford to slip with my foot the way it is. I had been contemplating the doctor for a few days now and am still unsure.
The following day we were up at breakfast at 7.30am. We headed into the middle of Vienna where we went into the Palace and past the Spanish Riding School. Unfortunately they only do a couple of shows a week and train from Tues to Sat... It had to be Monday didn't it! So instead I paid up for the tour that started at 2pm. We walked down the main shopping stripe where our tour manager left us to explore. For me and Little Spoon it was a mission to get me a new set of thongs as I somehow lost one on the bus. I think it may have fallen out the door.
We finally found some at the adidas shop. Then as Little Spoon was hungover we decided to get a horse and carriage around Vienna. Following this it was time to head to the Australian pub for a bundy or two and my first steak in Europe. It was delicious, expensive but delicious. It was then time for Spoon and I to part ways as I was going on the Spanish Riding School tour. The tour started out in the stables. We were allowed to take photos outside the stable but not inside. We weren't allowed to touch the stallions (all 48 Lipizzenias kept here are stallions) for the safety of the horses more so then the people. The colts are born black and turn white and are bought into the riding soon at 4yo. The training takes a full 6-8 years and these horses are worked up until the age of 25-28 and then turned out on the stud where they were bred for the rest of their life. These horses are boxed up for 22.5 hours a day. They only leave their stalls to be trained which only lasts 1/2 an hour. The youngest rider he is 21yo and you don't have to be an excellent rider to be chosen to ride here. After we walked through the stalls we went into the arena which surprisingly seats 1000 people. This arena is 60m x 20m. The horses names are simply the sires name followed by the dam. If a dam has more then one foal to a particular stallion then roman numerals are added to the end of the name accordingly. I would have loved to have seen a show. Maybe next time.... We also saw the tack room, and let me tell you there is so much leather to polish! It was then time to run to the bus, which I shouldn't have done as my foot was killing me after woods.
We were know off to the schnapps museum where we learnt how schnapps is made and had a tasting also. It was delicious but I didn't buy any as it was too much of a hassle to get back home.
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