The Hills are Alive...

...with the sound of music, of course!

This past weekend, Emily and I (...have you noticed that we spend a lot of time together yet?) made the hop, skip, and jump to Austria to spend some time in Vienna. Unfortunately, no time in Salzburg, but that's just another reason to go back to Austria one day.

We left on Friday from SAW (the airport on the Asian side of Istanbul). From where I live, it's kind of a trek (a two hour tour, to be exact) to get over there, but we made it using public transport, only spending 5TL getting there. I do love cheap transport with our IstanbulKarts.

Emily, being the sneaky person she is, got her bottle of water through both security lines until after the second one, the security man took the cap off the bottle. No, didn't make her drink it, just took the cap. Very strange.

Anyways, the flight was relatively smooth and took about 2 hours. There was hardly anyone on the flight so Emily and I each got a row to ourselves and were able to stretch out and look out the window (we flew over Budapest...where I will be in 3 weeks!). What was really surprising was the meal we got on the flight. We booked using a cheap airline carrier and were completely surprised that they served us food, first of all, and second of all, that the food was actually quite good. I'm not sure if my standards for non-Turkish food have dropped while being in Turkey, but I was fairly impressed with the rice-chicken-veggie combo we were served.

Upon arrival in Vienna, we quickly headed through customs for an entry stamp. No questions asked. They actually didn't even look at the photo on my passport to see if it was actually mine. Excellent sign. We found the bus our hostel told us to take towards the city center, and set off. Our hostel (Hostel Ruthensteiner, if you're curious) was located on a quiet side street but very close to one of the main roads of the city. It was a very clean hostel with very helpful staff and fairly inexpensive as well.

After checking in and dropping our bags, we decided (okay, I used WikiTravel and wanted) to see the famous cathedral in Vienna-Stephansdom. We first stopped off and got our first meal in Austria-a chicken schnitzel sandwich, followed by a glorious cup of gelato. Apparently, Vienna has the highest concentration of gelato places outside of Italy. Judging by all of the places we saw while there, I don't doubt it. It was about a 20 minute walk from our hostel to the old city of Vienna, where all the picturesque (okay...everything is picturesque) buildings are. We stopped by to take pictures of the giant Mozart statue in front of the Hofburg Palace and the public library as well as the famous Vienna Opera House (Staatsoper). We also passed by many outdoor cafes in the old city and plenty of chocolate/pastry shops. I knew I made the right decision in visiting Vienna. Once we arrived at the Cathedral, we did the tourist-photography thing but were unable to go up towards the altar as mass was in session.

After heading out of the cathedral, we checked out some local chocolate shops to ensure that we could find good chocolate before we left. After that, things turned into a "oh, that street looks pretty, let's go there!" This led us to the other side of the Hofburg Palace, the building where the Vienna Boy's Choir is, and the famed Spanish stables as well as some other buildings, namely the state building. Needing a potty break, we saw a huge crowd in front of the state building and headed towards it. Turns out, we ran into a national alcoholic beverage fest. Everyone had a beer or wine in their hand, and some people were dressed in what we would see as traditional Austrian garb. Oh, to be in Austria. We also spotted several random people with ski poles/hiking poles/extreme walking sticks.

By this time, we were feeling the pangs of hunger, and ended up having a few photo moments in front of the Austrian Parliament before going off in search of dinner. It was only about 8pm at that point, but most things seemed to be shutting down and my stomach was not happy. Finally, we stopped at a place called "Schnitzelhaus" and gorged on what else? Schnitzel (of the chicken variety). It came with fries and real ketchup, two very rare commodities in Istanbul. Props to Vienna for that. After demolishing our food, we headed back to our hostel and pretty much passed out.

The next morning, we woke up with plans to head to the famed Schönbrunn Palace, a 20 minute walk from our hostel. Before this, we went to the pastry shop near our hostel and tried their version of an apple jelly-filled doughnut. I don't think I can look at a doughnut the same ever again after devouring this glorious object. At the palace we got wonderful student discounts and were able to enter the palace with a complementary audioguide. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures in the palace, but I recommend you use Google Images to supplement your imagination. It was one of the most ornate places I have ever been in my life (including the Ottoman Palaces of Istanbul). After exploring the palace, we walked around the grounds before walking up to the Gloriette, a viewing point that gave us a view of all of Vienna. It was gorgeous! We went to go find our way through the maze on the palace grounds and rewarded ourselves with a bredzel (pretzel) the size of my face. Really. Following this feast, we made our way to the kitchens on the palace grounds. We attended a strudel show, got a free sample of apple strudel (no words. None.) and even got the recipe (Patty-I'm saving this one for you!).

Now that I felt significantly heavier and my jeans were fitting a little tighter, we decided to use the free bike rental system that Vienna offers to get to our next destination-Belvedere Palace (have you noticed the trend?). While I enjoy biking and the city was glorious, only having one gear setting (the highest) and minimal bike lanes did not really make me all that satisfied with my life. Nevertheless, we reached Belvedere, gladly ditching our bikes in favor of our feet. We did not pay to tour the palace but were able to freely walk around the grounds and snap some pictures.

After seeing so many delicious cakes and pastries the day before, we headed back towards the old city and dined on glorious chocolate mousse cakes. Mine (called the Schokobombe) entailed a chocolate cake crust, chocolate mousse, chocolate icing, and chocolate shavings. It was love at first sight. After this, we realized it was nearing dinner time (if we wanted to see the opera later) so we headed for what else? Chicken schnitzel. You really don't understand how much I've missed fries and real Heinz ketchup.

We then headed to the opera house (Staatsoper, legit) and were able to purchase tickets for a mere 3 euro. Okay, so they were standing room only...but still! We were able to attend an opera in one of the most famous opera houses in the world. I am thoroughly impressed with myself here. In between getting our tickets and the start of the opera, we made sure to make chocolate purchases, the real reason for coming to Vienna. The opera itself was sung in Italian and it was entitled "The Elixir of Love." If you know me at all, I'm sure you can tell that I was absolutely a fan of this. The standing room only section actually gave you railings to lean on with translations of the lyrics on a little screen above you which was quite nice. Not bad for 3 euro! After the opera, we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hostel.

The next morning, we got up and made plans for the day: pastry hopping. We started off where we got our doughnuts the morning before. This time, I opted for a croissant which was drizzled in dark and white chocolate and filled with Nutella. Delicious. Emily was not so impressed with her sweet cheese and powdered sugar pastry. I also ordered an espresso, which came with a glass of water. This was my first double shot of the day. Second breakfast consisted of a pastry filled with cheesecake-esque cream cheese and fresh strawberries. Heaven. On the way from first breakfast to second breakfast, we encountered a large pack of people with the strange walking poles I mentioned before. Several of the side streets were barricaded off and the people in this pack were all wearing numbers on their chest (like people in marathons do). Apparently, Vienna just likes to house power-walking races from time to time. After second breakfast, we ventured to third breakfast, where Emily somehow found room in her stomach to eat an apple strudel and homemade hot chocolate. I opted to get a(nother) espresso, this one came with a healthy serving of whipped cream. I suppose I was up to 4 shots of espresso by then and would hate myself later. Oh well, it was delicious and worth it.

Unfortunately, our time in Vienna had to come to an end as our flight left mid-day. We did not have a lot of time in Vienna but I saw all the things I wanted to see with good food. All in all, it was an excellent weekend.

You can check out pictures from Vienna by clicking here

This weekend, my big sister is coming to visit me! Very excited to see her and Ian and show them around my favorite city in the world. After that, I head to Italy for Spring Break, have a week of class, and then go to Budapest for a weekend. Moral of the story: I won't be updating this blog until hopefully after Italy.

Hope everyone is enjoying the (apparently) nice weather back home. I can't wait until it gets to be 70 and sunny everyday...!