Day 18 - Vienna

This is the longest we have spent in one place and we are beginning to feel like we're at home. Us cultured, classy ladies fit right in here in Vienna.

Before I reel off the days events, I have an important announcement. I love my Dad. I am not in the country and he has got me The Killers tickets and also rang uni for me and sorted my stuff out. He is, quite simply, my favourite man in the world (and that's a big statement seeing as Bowie and Bruce are still roaming). I cannot wait to get home and give him the biggest hug in the world... THAT'S A PROMISE.

We carried on our new traveller ways and made our own breakfast and a packed lunch to take out with us. The 6th room mate was not dreadlock guy from the bar, but a Chinese girl who wears crocs. Imagine my horror when I awoke to see them in the room. Also imagine my horror when the middle aged Parisian lady stripped off, she thought we were asleep so I hid under my cover until I knew she was gone. First stop was the station to reserve all our trains for Italy, this was exciting. We are really looking forward to Italy.

We made our way to the State Opera House and all around the outside were men dressed as Mozart trying to sell blag tickets. They were quite rude so I took great pleasure in treating them the same way. We went inside and enquired about tickets to Don Carlo tonight but they were sold out. Gutted. Then we spotted a poster for Carmen and after asking the ticket man, we bought 4 tickets. Not gonna lie, I was so excited! Habañera is just my absolute favourite. The rest of my day was brightened by the thought of seeing Carmen tonight. I had one problem tho, I have no nice clothes with me that are suitable for the opera. A quick trip to the most grand H&M ever soon sorted this.

After a wander down to the canal and around the centre we went back to the hostel and got ourselves sorted for tonight. Made our own tea again, and I nearly got hosed down by a German man when I washed up. Awkward. By this point we were all looking forward to the opera so much, and we'd scrubbed up well seeing as we've had a scruffy few weeks! The metro to the opera house was jammed, we were stuck to each other. We still managed to befriend an old American lady who was also off to see Carmen and was panicking about the time.

Carmen was amazing. Genuinely in awe of the unbelievable amount of talent on the stage. I want to be an opera singer now. We had the best time there, we were so glad we made the effort to get the tickets. We got the metro back, and to continue our classy night, we went to McDonalds. They had no McFlurrys but once we got over the initial devastation, a happy meal sufficed.

All in all, a great day. We did nothing too exhausting but seeing as we have pushed ourselves every other day, we needed this day off. Still haven't found any Viennese whirls tho.

Day 19 - Vienna

Today we check out of Hostel Ruthensteiner. We have loved it here, the staff are fab and the bar is a bonus! Sarah and I have just cooked up ham, eggs, tomatoes and then croissants. This massive breakfast is to get us through the day. We are going to lock our bags up in the station and then go find Mozart's house. We leave Vienna at 7.30pm on a night train to Florence, getting in there at 6am. I'm going to try and do some more postcards today, top of my list are Afterschool Club and Finley, so I'll have to find postcards that have more exciting things on than buildings!

Tonight's train is going to be a long on, we don't have beds on this night train, just seats. Its a good job I could sleep on a brick wall.

Ps, mother don't be too jealous that I've been to the opera in Vienna and I'm off to Italy tonight. I'm just too cultured for you now.

PPs, Happy Birthday Anne! Hope you had a lovely day yesterday and I'm trying my best to get over the fact that the cake won't last until I'm home. I hope it went to a worthy stomach.