You may find yourself in another part of the world

Tuesday in Vienna.

 We had several options to choose from: small tours to certain points, classes, or doing whatever. Felicia and I wound up going with Jeanette and her friends from Frankurt. We went with a group to see Schloß Schönbrunn. We walked around the grounds. None of us wanted to pay to go inside. If you walk around the back side, past the beautiful fountain from whence it gets its name, and up a hill and then look back towards the palace, you get a most lovely view of not only the palace but also the city. I was in awe the entire time! Palaces are beautiful, but Vienna! Oh Vienna! And to have it all in one! We had a sack-lunch picnic on the grounds.

Parliament

Later we met up with a friend of Jeanette's friends who is studying in Vienna, who then gave us a tour of the city. I don't know if I can remember the names of everything, but I do know that it was all lovely. We came up out of a U-bahn (subway) station and BAM! in front of us was the magnificent Stephansdom. It was so huge, I couldn't fit it into one picture. It didn't help that it was impossible to get far away enough and still be able to see it. Just google it. Here we ran into our Swiss friend, who decided to hang out with us. Then we went and got Eis (ice cream) which was heavenly! Nutella ice cream is a real thing!!! This is a dream come true! In no particular order, we saw the Rathaus, Parliament, some building where the Kaiser worked (I forgot the name of it), some ruins of a Roman wall... and a bunch of other things.

The building where the Kaiser worked

Vienna

 By this time, we were beginning to wonder when we would head back to the hotel for dinner. Then someone decided we needed to see Prater. It's a little theme park that's apparently really famous. Being an ignorant American, and a product of public education, I had never heard of it. At this point, Felicia, Jeanette, our Swiss friends, and I decided to quit the tour in favor of going back to the hotel. There was no hope for dinner at this point, but we would still be back in time for the dance. Besides being hungry and tired, we really wanted to be back for the dance because the theme was traditional dress. Can I just say, Lederhosen are the coolest things ever! Of course, not everyone had a Dirndl or Lederhosen, since they are rather regional clothes. Sadly dance pictures never turn out well... So to make up for it, here's a little gem we found on a staircase in the University of Wien:

"Only Chuck Norris finishes his studies in the minimum time"