"Vienna waits for you..."

Each trip has a theme song, some even have playlists. Billy Joel happend to make my job a little easier this time around. Vienna is, in one word, enchanting. Strolling the long streets adorned with Christmas lights at night will make your jaw drop. I cannot imagine a better trip to end on!

I think we took Vienna by storm this weekend. KatyWynn, Eveyln and I arrived in Vienna a little before noon on Friday, making a bee-line towards the nearest Starbucks (I am really not obsessed with Starbucks, I promise. It is just a little taste of home and familiarity that we all long for). We relaxed for a minute before heading over to our "lodging." Nearly everything in town was booked this past weekend so we ended up staying in these apartments in the heart of town for 20 euro a night. It was a few stars short of the Ritz Carlton, but we could not ask for a better location. After throwing out stuff down, the three of us went exploring. We went through St. Stephen's and wander the Stephensplatz area before heading to Hofsburg Palace and the markets. The food at the Vienna Christmas markets was incredible-- pretzels, "pounch" (punch), mulled wine, chocolate covered strawberries, chestnuts, etc. We indulged! :) It was really cold on Friday afternoon, so we staggered our exploring with trips inside the Parliament building, Churches, and coffee houses to warm up. The Weiner market in front of the City Hall was really precious: they had a number in each window of the hall, like an Advent calendar, counting down the days until Christmas. They open their presents on Christmas eve, so 24 was the last number. We walked through the Opera and another Church, then to meet a friend of Evelyn's Dad. They were really helpful, pointing out things to do in the city. After that, we went to Einstein's for dinner and Cafe Landtmann for coffee and Apple Strudel (so good!). Then it was back to the apartment to chill and wait on David to get in town. Unfortunately, Austrians write their 1's like the letter "M" so when we tried to enter the apartment code, we punched in "M" instead of "1,1" and had to call for help. I must say, I enjoyed standing in the cold waiting for the lady who knew 4 words in English to come let us the the building. Oh, the joys of Europe!

The next morning, Evelyn, KW, Dave, and I took the metro out to Schonbrunn Palace. We spent the morning touring the apartments there and wandering the gardens. We returned to town, visited the Spittleburg market, then grabbed a bit to eat, and continued to explore. Dave and I went into three Churches in the Hofsburg district: St. Michael's, St. Augustin, and St. Peter's. We rejoined Evelyn and KW at Hawelka, another famous cafe in Vienna, then met up with Austin, Alayna, and Molly for dinner. After dinner, we strolled through the streets, then went to yet another coffee shop, Cafe Mozart for Strudel and coffee.

On Sunday we all woke up early and went to Hofsburg Church to see the Vienna Boy's Choir perform and by perform, I mean they sang one song and left. I must say that they were some of the cutest boys I have ever seen with their sailor-ish outfits! After Church, we grabbed a quick bit and went over to the Royal Treasury to see robes, crowns, jewels, and relics from the Holy Roman Empire. Some of the collection was over 1,000 years old... pretty incredible, I must say! Then, we ate lunch and Evelyn, KW, and I headed back to the airport to come home.

After this weekend, I am confident that I can tell you where most of the Churches and coffee shops are in Vienna. That's what we saw a lot of! We could not ask for better weather this weekend: sunny and warm for this time of year (40 degrees maybe?) but sadly, no snow. I am afraid I will not see any snow in Europe!

This week is my last full week in Brussels (yep, 3 days of work, 2 days of class, and 2 exams stand between me and Nashville, TN). Like, whoa! I don't have a lot of work this week, just preparation for exams, so I look forward to a whole lot of playing! What's in store you ask? Coffee at Aroma on the Grand Place on Monday, running my three favorite parks on Tuesday afternoon with Austin, cafe hopping with Molly on Wednesday, Family Christmas dinner/ Secret Santa on Thursday, maybe Brugge on Friday. Should be a fun last week!