Vienna: Albertina and Prater

My alarm clock didn't wake me up this morning; my paranoia at oversleeping did. I was up at 4:20 and Diane and I were down in the lobby ready for our taxi at 4:45. We left the hotel at 5, arrived at the bus stop at 5:15 and got on our first bus to Brno at 5:50. We arrived there at 8:45, switched buses and arrived in Vienna at 11:20. The second bus had free movies, so I watched Flipped--very cute!! We successfully navigated the subway system and made it to the hostel around 11:40. We freshened up and decided to start our touring right away. 

We walked toward the museum quarter with no destination really in mind, but with the weather looking ominous, we knew we wanted to do an indoor activity. We walked by the Opera House which is GORGEOUS, and then decided to go to the Albertina Museum. There was a really neat photo exhibit by an American photographer, Sternfeld, and there were a lot f pairings by famous painters. My favorite painting was by Sinac, but I also liked the other impressionist paintings by Degas, Renoir and Cezanne. 

We were pretty tired after this and it was starting to rain, so we got some food from a cart nearby. I tried käsekrainer which is a sausage filled with cheese. It was very good! We went back to our hostel and took a power nap. 

I skyped my mom to wish her a happy birthday and then Diane and I made plans for the night. We went to Prater where there was an amusement park. It had free entrance so we walked around and had a light dinner while waiting for it to get dark. Once it was dark, we went on a really awesome ferris wheel with enclosed box cars and had a cool night view over the city. 

We hopped on the subway and got off at Schwedenplatz to check out the night life area and then wandered to Stephenplatz to see the cool gothic church. It was open because of a Sunday night service so we even got to go inside! The subway was closed on the line we needed to get back so the trip home took longer than expected and I am exhausted now! Going to sleep because I'm waking up early to get breakfast with a college friend and teammate, Dana Roberts, tomorrow morning, (she just so happens to be vacationing here for a few days!), and then Diane and I are doing a lot of sight seeing. Can't wait to share photos!