Apfel Strussel and other delights!

Vienna is GREAT! It is like a little bit of Florence and Prague with its own unique influences. It reminds me of what I am missing in America because one street will have tons of shops and it will end in front of a huge gothic church. it just makes everything that much more spectacular. Yesterday, we had started a very long but fun day. We woke up early and headed down the main street for some early morning shopping. As some of you may know, I collect logo shirts from every country/city I visit and I was determined to find something from Vienna... and I did (you will see). Then we headed to the history museum of Vienna because someone from job recommended it to me. It set the stage for most of the history of Vienna so we were somewhat prepared for the rest of the sightseeing ahead of us. After the museum we went to the Karslplatz to see the Karls church. It was very pretty with a huge green/teal dome. The inside had intricate paintings and a lift to take us to the top of the church. Aleena and I walked to the very top and I got to see a view of Vienna from way up high. It was fantastic. After the church we went to this nice little cafe called Kleins cafe and I had a brocolli strussel. I am trying out the ethnic foods from all of the places I visit and let me say everything is very tasty. Then we headed over to the Hapsburg palace. It was so big. I cannot imagine how people lived there because now I see people driving a mile down the road to get where they need to be. The people living in the palaces had to walk everywhere. Before we headed into the palace area we were stopped by a man trying to sell us tickets to an authentic Viennese opera, ballet, and orchestra. The music was by Mozart and Strauss. We got suckered in and we decided to go for it since this was our first time in Vienna. Anyway, so we headed into the palace. We got lost many times but finally made our way to the treasury building. We took a tour of the items and I thought most of it was very tacky and bright. But it was still interesting to look at. They also had lots of multi colored jewels and stones. Overall it was ok but I was more excited for the palace. After the treasury we went to one more special exhibit and then headed over for the main imperial apartments tour. We first saw the silver room which had all the fancy china and items that the imperial family used for dining and wining. It was so lavish and over the top. The emperess Sisi had special traveling china when she went to vacation spots such as Korfu. After that we went to the Sisi museum which taught us a lot about the emperess. She was married Franz Joseph at the age of 15 and did not seem to really fit in. The entire museum was full of all kinds of neat facts. For example, we learned that her waist was 51 cm and she was obsessed with beauty. We also learned that she did not really get along or become close to her own kids but cherished her family from Bavaria. I am interested to go back and watch the old films which depicted her and her role as emperess of Austria. After that we got to see the imperial apartments in the palace and that was my favorite part because we had an audio tour which allowed us to view and understand the day in the life of the Hapsburgs. After we finished the palace we decided to ride the tram around the city. I think i was so exhausted I passed out for about 20 minutes. Then we had dinner (thai food which is somewhat different from American thai food) and we headed to our little concert. It was small but there were tons of people and it was really enjoyable. It was about 1 hour and 45 minutes and the first half was Mozart and the second half was strauss. Then we decided to make the most of our time in Vienna by heading to a Salsa bar called "Floridita". Let me just say, wow these people can salsa. It looked like they were all professionals and we were just amazed. We just watched them dance for about an hour. It is funny how open Europeans are to different cultures. I do see that in America too but in a different way. Then we headed back to the our hostel (after a late night snack at McDonalds) and went to bed. This morning we woke up and went to see the stephens church which was a huge green and blackish gothic church. Only pictures will describe it! Ok well now i am off to Budapest so I will write from there. Amit, Thy, Mike... I saw a Doner Kabob today and thought of you guys. Thanks for reading everyone!