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Thanks for the Keebie update Mom. I had temporary separation anxiety.
Today we walked for 5 hours. We checked out of Wombats this morning and stored our bags for the day. We had breakfast with Jenna (our Aussie roommate) and invited her to visit us in Washington while she is in the states for the next few weeks. When finishing breakfast we met a very friendly American student from Ohio named Steven. After spending a month in Italy he was anxious for some Americans to talk with. We filled the gap.
We headed out down the major shopping strip (Mariahilfer sträße) until we hit Museumsquartier. From there, we went through the gardens at Hofburg Palace and saw the Museum of Ethnology, Michaelerplatz (The Spanish Riding School) and Schweizerhopf (where the Vienna Boys Choir performs-- they have their summer break in July & August so we unfortunately missed that opportunity). Next, Steven, Jocelyn and I walked to Stephansdom. Stephansdom is actually St. Stephen's Cathedral which boasts both catacombs as well as a 343 climb up a spire to one of the south towers. We opted to climb as I'm sure you all have figured out by now that this is one of the "must-do's" in any country as far as Jocelyn is concerned. Next, we walked to the opposite side of town past Stephensdom to the far northeast side of the citz to Praterstern and got our groceries for the trip. I want to take a moment to say that we had to walk to the opposite side of town to do this because it was the ONLY market that was open... because it's Sunday. And we forgot about that.
So, being as we were over at the North Train Station buying groceries, we decided to look out onto the horizon to see their famous ferris wheel. For 9€ you can ride this ferris wheel and get a wonderful view of the city. However, as we'd already climbed St. Stephens and gotten quite possibly the BEST view of the city, we decided to pass. From there we started to backtrack and then walked along the river for a bit to loop back around the east side to see Ratzhaus (City Hall) where the International Film Festival is being held and then Parliament. We also saw the Hofburg Theater as we completed our circle and then went back up the strip to the hostel.
Jocelyn and Steven have opted to eat some lunch now while I succumbed to a local hot dog stand and made an attempt to at least put a dent in it on our scenic walk back. The hot dog won, of course, as the thing was gigantic but it was a wickedly good hot dog so the 3€ was totally worth it!
We will be heading out of here shortly, once Jocelyn and Steven finish eating their lunch and we'll separate as Jocelyn and I will make our way back to Sudbanhof (the Southern train station) to catch our train to Budapest.
At our next hostel, we'll see if we can upload pictures and videos again as we have taken plenty since our last update!
Hope you've enjoyed all that we had to say about Vienna and we'll be back soon!
J & J
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