Vienna and Dad

So I officially am THE WORST blogger ever. We're going so far back, it's actually going to October. I'm very sorry in advance. The last weekend in October, I traveled to Vienna where I met my dad for the weekend. I really didn't have particularly high hopes for Vienna, but I loved it!

I decided this picture above was appropriate, as at least for me, it captures the feeling of Vienna. There is no doubt when you're there that you're at the former seat of the Hapsburg Empire. The whole city feels imperial, and old, and regal.

We arrived on Friday around noon and met in the airport. It was so nice to see a face from home. We took a taxi to our hotel, and after settling in for a bit, we were off! Our first stop was Cafe Central, a cafe frequented by many famous people from Vienna's history. My professor was right, the coffeehouses in Vienna are the best.

After coffee and some soup we were off to the Parliament. However, much to my dismay the stupid Parliament was in session (the website had lied to me about this) and therefore we were unable to get a tour. But it turned out for the best because my dad and I were so exhausted that we were able to take a lovely nap before dinner.

The next day was a tour of Imperial Vienna thanks to my handy-dandy Kindle. And boy, did we fit a lot of stuff in. Bright and early we were back at Parliament, and this time we were able to get a tour!

After Parliament we checked out the Statsoper, or the State Opera House. We then headed to Michaelerplatz, which ended up being my favorite place in Vienna. It was just so majestic...idk. Can't really articulate it.

We visited a few churches, but I'm so bored with churches that I'm not going to bore either you or me with the details. One of them was particularly pretty though, the Minoriten-Kirche, so I'll stick a picture of it in here.

And then of course, it was off to St. Stephen's, the MUST-SEE church in Vienna. I'll give Vienna its credit where it's due...the church is beautiful. You can't really get into the whole thing, so that was frustrating, but the views we got from where you could go were truly amazing.

By then it was getting dark so it was back to the hotel for a quick nap before a delicious dinner at Do & Co. FANTASTIC food. After dinner we were pooped, so it was bedtime :)

The next day we headed to the Town Hall, as my professor had said this was a must-see. And, he was right, as usual. The town hall is HUGE and looks like some hugely important building.

We then took a tour of the Hofsburg Palace which was really interesting. Especially because I LOVED the interior of the palace. This deep, rich, red color, which while also very beautiful, actually was used because it provided better insulation than other fabrics during the cold winter months. After leaving the palace we saw a BEAUTIFUL sunset, before heading off to the Cafe Sacher to enjoy "The Original Sachertorte". Now, one wouldn't necessarily thing that's so cool, right? Wrong. Apparently the Austrians found this such an important title, that they had an actual Supreme Court case to decide which cafe should hold the title, Cafe Demel (which we went to on Saturday) or Cafe Sacher. Sacher won out though, and this is now their claim to fame. Gotta say though, it was delicious!

 After the cake it was back to Prague for a few more days with my dad. He was only here for two, so we had to squeeze in the highlights of Praha, but we managed to do it! On Monday morning I started out with my favorite, Old Town Square. We climbed up the clock tower which was cool, since I'd never done it. I loved the view, since it's mostly just a killer bird's-eye view of the square.

We spent most of the day just putzing around Old Town Square, and went to Wenceslas Square as well. At night it was off to U Medvidku for some good old fashion Czech food and Czech beer. Not surprisingly, it got the seal of approval from beer. Who could resist the best beer in the world?? And I FINALLY TRIED BEER ICE CREAM!!! One of the strangest things I've ever eaten, but definitely glad I tried it.

The next day I was in class for a large portion of the day, so my dad went off to the castle and did all the touristy stuff there. We met up afterwards and headed to Malostrana, the Lesser Town. We went to the Lennon Wall, as well as checked out some churches I hadn't seen yet. We finished off the long weekend with a delicious dinner at Nostress, as always, before saying goodbye.

WHEW! One weekend down! Hopefully I'll get in my next one tonight too, but as always, I make no promises...