Vienna Part 2!

My second day of Vienna turns out to be one of my favorite in all of my trip so far. It is hard to choose between so many days, but this one is up there, if not the top.

I met Audrey and Alison at 10am and after a scare about being out of bikes, we mange to get 3 good bikes for the day. We also get a discount from our hostel, saving us each 8 Euros for the day.

We decide to go to one of the big attractions first, the Scloss Schonbrunn Palace. Which is the Habsburgs summer home and hunter lodge. It is pretty great because I know it is huge and Audrey and Alison don't know what to expect. We roll up to it and they both explain in amazement at its sheer size. I let them know that we are just looking at the front, essentially standing in the driveway and most of the stuff is on the other side. After a walk through about 1/20th of the amazing garden we come out at the courtyard with its amazing floral designs.

Again, my doctors don't know what to expect and are blown away and that is when they look up the hill. I think the most amazing part of the palace is the views it has. From the palace up the hill and then the hill over the city and palace.

We decide to climb the hill for the view, after taking plenty of pictures are the incredible fountain in the garden. The view from on the hilltop is incredible. You can quite literally see the entire city of Vienna. I just had to plank it.

After our long climb down we decide to get back on our bikes and head to the city center. Alison and Audrey haven't been there yet and I am happy to see it all again. It is a great day for a bike ride, warm enough for shorts, but with a cool breeze so you don't get sweaty or hot. Which is good because we have a few mile bike ride to the city center again and its not exactly a straight line there. On our way to the city I manage to take one or two wrong turns that adds a little length to our journey, but nothing big.

We finally get downtown, park our bikes and start walking. Now downtown is a strange mix of old and modern. They have every shop you can imagine and this is a pricey place as well. While Audrey looks at some gifts for friends, Alison and I pretend we are super rich travelers picking out decorations for our mansion back home, snooty accent and all.

After the shopping we head to the main sights I saw the day before, but am happy to see again.

We finally head back to our hostel, tired but having a good day. We have to navigate some tricky traffic and it makes me feel like a real European biking through a busy city with cars.

We return the bikes, sit down and rest and plan dinner. Finally we decide to get some more beer and snacks at the grocery store near our hostel before dinner. After sitting around and drinking, where I am chastised by Audrey, a small Korean woman, for not drinking enough we head to dinner (where the chastising continues). It is pretty funny though because I can't argue back. She just has really good points. And I know she is just giving me a hard time for fun.

Finally, they have to be up early and its almost 10pm, so they pack it in. We add each other on Facebook and talk about keeping in touch and the funny thing is, I know we will. They are going to try to get to Budapest early enough on Saturday to get lunch with me before I go to Sweden. We talk about all going to Ireland for St. Patties day not this year, but next and even visiting each other in the States when ever I go back. Its funny, but in that one day we all bonded a lot. This is the European adventure and experience I was hoping for.

Audrey and Alison try to convince me to join them on their 8-hour boat tour the next day instead of going back to Budapest (wish I could have) and they tell me that it is funny, because I am the first person they have invited with them the entire time they have been here. They say mostly, people give them the creepy vibe, but when I started talking to them I just seemed genuine and non-threatening (which are both true...I mean look how scrawny I am). It was just really nice to get those compliments though. I try to be a good and legitimate person and it's a good feeling when other people notice that.

The night keeps getting interesting though. After my new friends have left, I am hanging out at the bar (which is pretty packed by now) and I hear, "excuse me, are you from Lawrence, Kansas?" I look down and around to see if I have any Jayhawk stuff on and I don't. I look up and see a mildly familiar face. After fumbling over the word yes, this guy introduces him self as Travis. We were in Student Senate together at KU 1 year. Yes, that is correct. I went to Vienna and ran into a guy from KU at a random hostel that I did Student Senate with. What are the chances? He is now teaching English in Georgia (the country) and is here for a few day vacation. Awesome! I was hoping I would randomly run into someone I knew and now I have checked it off my list only 18 or so days into my trip.

Now back to Budapest for some rest and repacking before Sweden!