VIENNA - Jan. 29 - Feb. 1, 2009 January 29, 2009 Shannon Kirkpatrick, Kate Brown, Chelsea Hartnett, Andrew Hagen and I left on a night trip for Vienna, Austria and got there the morning of the 30th. It was a great group and we had an awesome trip together. While there we developed into a small family with Kate and I being the parents (Harold and Beth Von Trapp) and Chelsea, Shannon and Andrew as Madeline, Emmy and Bradford, respectively. We accomplished a lot in a very short amount of time. (Below: The family at the Opera.)
The first day we went to Stephandom and climbed to the top of the tower, saw the Hapsburg Palace and gardens, went to the Museum of Fine Arts (which was a great museum), had coffee in a cafe that was established in the 1800s and went to La Forza del Destino - an opera at the Viennese Opera! Not only did we do all of that Friday, but we also found a great restaurant called Centimeter and ordered a Wheelbarrow of Garbage for 34 Euro that we split between the 5 of us that contained schnitzel, chicken cutlets, sausage and other things. It was an EPIC meal and very enjoyable. 
Saturday we woke up and headed to the Imperial Treasury where we saw the jewels and treasures of the Austrian Empire. Cafe Central was our second stop and there we had an incredibly delicious meal. (Below: Shannon and I at Cafe Central.)
I had Hungarian Goulash, a glass of house wine, a truffle dessert cake and a coffee - I definitely splurged, but it was worth it. From Cafe Central we went to the famous old Ferris Wheel, but it was too expensive for a ride so we headed over the the Danube and walked around there; we had a photoshoot and just enjoyed being in the snow and saw a very cool church.That evening all of us minus Kate went to a cafe, where I had a macciato, and read and talked as we waited for her to enjoy the Leopold museum before heading back towards the Wombat Hostel (very nice place). After getting off the metro we had our last meal at Schnitzel Haus, which is not nearly as good as the one in Heidelberg, but it is much less expensive and was still good. That night we wandered around looking for a place to dance, but we were unsuccessful in that attempt and ended up just calling it a night before having an 11 hour travel day on Sunday.
(Above: a classic, Kaat, Waad, hAgen picture)Vienna was possibly one of the best trips EVER and we all had a great time. Check out my albums with the links below! I still need to blog about Heidelberg and Greece (where I just returned from this evening). Hope you are all doing well. I just put up a ton of pictures on facebook because this weekend and week are going to be crazy with the Junior Writing Portfolio and Mid-terms. Take care!
Wade
PICTURES Vienna - Stephandom, Art and Opera
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001308&id=1534470084&l=219ff
Vienna - Opera, Wheelbarrow of Garbage, Palace, Cafes
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001309&id=1534470084&l=01055
