An Austrian Adventure

This past Thursday I was very spontaneous and decided to go to Vienna for the weekend.

GOOD DECISION!

My GW friends, Jimmy and Louis who are in London this semester had the trip planned already, so I booked a ticket and joined them.

I honestly didn't expect much, I didn't know anything about Vienna besides that Wikipedia calls it "The Decaying City," so my expectations were pretty low. But I was blown away! Vienna is an amazing city, so much history and culture. It is one of the only cities in Western Europe that was untouched during WWII, so every single building is hundreds of years old, beautifully designed with statues, sculptures and tons of gold. The architecture of the city is incomparable, I don't know why anyone who has been to Vienna would say Chicago has good architecture.

We spent the weekend doing touristy stuff, and I think we covered a lot for the time that we had! 

Here are some shots from the trip. 

St. Stephen's Cathedral. My favorite part, this amazing gothic cathedral is smack dab in the middle of the city. We went to the top and also to the catacombs underground. This was the weirdest and freakiest part. Back in the day during the Black Plague, there was nowhere to put all the dead bodies of plague victims, so they drilled holes in the floor of the cathedral and stored the bodies there. The skeletons are still just piled up in all these rooms. I almost puked all over the place.

 Wow I just noticed how much this looks like a postcard. I'm so pro.

Palace Schloss Schönbrunn. The home of the Habsburg dynasty, this palace was like a mini-Versailles. We walked around the grounds, but didn't take our chances in the labyrinth hedge maze or world famous zoo. Next time.

 Look I am on Mussolini's balcony. Taking over the world from here.

Arms and Armory Museum in Hofburg Plaza. This museum was SO cool, full of medieval knight armor and weaponry. Everything was so ornate, our audio tours told us that there was a heavy Polish influence in the designs and engravings. And the more jewels and gold and colors on your armor, the richer and more important you were. 

  
And of course, we had to have the Austrian food! So I had wiener-schnitzel! It was like a big chicken nugget! Yum.

Overall was an unexpectedly great weekend! Europe is fun!

You can check out the rest of my pictures on my shutterfly account:
www.melaniehoffman.shutterfly.com