VIENNA, OH HOW I DESPISE THEE...???

Vienna, the city of beauty, has become to me a city of stress, extremely rude customer service (even for European standards), and one expense after another. This city is probably one of the most expensive in the EU.

The scoop: Our first hotel was extremely rude to us, no sort of customer service at all, the room was so small that it barely fit our two suitcases and Brian's trombone. The bathroom was disgusting, there were no washcloths or any type of shampoo, etc. The bed slept 1.5 people comfortably.

Luckily, our friends from USM were also in Vienna at the time on Dr. Hafer's trip. They stayed at a hotel across town, so we both decided to check into it. Unfortunately, they only had a room for two night. It was a great room though, and it was cheap! Off to find another hotel... for the third time. We are now at the Marriott Vienna. This hotel is quite expensive, but after having slept in it for one night now, I will GLADLY pay the extra money. The room is fantastic, and we have a view of the beautiful Stadtpark!

That's my drama with the hotel situation.

At any rate, Vienna has really not made a great impression with me, not only because of the hotel situation, but also because of the city. Vienna isn't nearly as clean as Germany. But again, it's a bigger city. I can look past that.

Our Activities

Brian and I have been meeting up with Chandler for lunch and activities. In fact, when we first got here, Dr. Hafer let us tag along with his class, so we did have a couple of things paid for, like the Mozart Haus and a tour of the Oper. We both offered to pay, but he declined.

The opera is VERY beautiful. It's large, and looks just like what you would expect an opera house to look like. See pictures.

The Mozart Haus is very plain. There's really not much about Mozart in the house, besides his piano and reproductions (and some originals) of his scores. Furniture has all been removed unfortunately. It was still great to see where he lived.

There are a lot of things to see throughout Vienna Proper. The inner city is quite beautiful, especially St. Stephans Dom (cathedral). Brian and I attended the 8:30 am Fronleichnam Mass at the cathedral on Thursday with Dr. Hafer's class. It was really neat to attend mass in Europe even though I am not Catholic. St. Stephan's also has one of the largest free-swinging bells in Europe, called the Pommerin. It's so large that they ring it only on special occasions (which is rarely), but they rang it yesterday!!!! WOW! It shakes the city. I have a video of it. Today, I hope to climb the steeple and take some pictures of it.

Last night (Thursday), we decided to take the U-Ban to the Danube. We ended up at the last stop on the route, and in a city with which we weren't familiar at all. It was a really beautiful, and very old city. As we walked along the cobblestone streets, we just happened upon the Beethoven Haus! Unfortunately, it was already late, and it was closed. For those interested, it's situated in the Heiligenstadt district.

I'm still not really sure for what cuisine the Viennese are known. The food here has been pretty eclectic. We've been eating mostly Italian cuisine here...

Today's agenda:

Climb the St. Stephan's steeple, go to Schloss Schönbrunn and see the Bösendorfer showroom.