Dreamy love.

I don't think that I have woken up since last night.  I remember thinking about a high school friend, seeing some places my now I'm back sitting on my bed.  Just kidding.  I woke up after a pretty good nights sleep and had some breakfast at the hotel.  There were a couple of Muslim families and I was surprised to see the women in burkas.  I didn't know that Vienna was tourist destination for people from the Muslim countries. 

None the less, today was my dress up day so I had on a spaghetti strap dress and my Moms sandals.  It was interesting to me to notice the contrast.  Know your own oppression right?

Lets move on.  I started out my touring at the train station where I got a ticket for tomorrow's journey to Prague.  The people were so nice to me and even wrote out the timetable of shuttles to my train station.  Nice to be here!

Then I went to the Vienna opera house. Unfortunately there are no shows right now because the companies on on break until the beginning if September, but I did get to your the building.  It is beautiful!  Has a huge chandelier and green carpets at the main staircases.  After the tour I walked around the city with Rick Steve's in my ear explaining some of the landmarks.  I saw the saint Stephens church again and then stopped at a sandwich shop for some open faced goodness.  One if my goals for the day was to tour the Spanish riding school so I did that at four.  Before I had about an hour to kill so went to the famous confectioner 'Demel' to sample some of their treats.  I had some apple strudel and Sacher torte which is a light chocolate cake with apricot jam and melted chocolate layered over the top. 

I initially wanted to sit in the restaurant but only had an hour and couldn't make it work so I strolled over to one of the castles lawns.  What a better choice that was.  The weather was so nice and grass felt refreshing on my tired feet.  

At four I went on the tour and learned a little about Viennese show horse culture. It seems interesting but I would really like to know how these animals are trained.  The tourguide stressed the importance of the relationship between rider and horse. Sounds exhausting!

Alright, then I took a ring tram tour.  Self guided...well Rick in my ear again.  There are too many beautiful buildings in Vienna to name. My favorite is the city hall.  Which is where I had dinner.  My first vegetable heavy dinner in at least a week.  I had delicious vegetable curry with a papadam. I love me some Indian food. 

After dinner I walked down to the Vienna university on my way to the metro.  I liked thinking of the powerful minds that have graced the university halls.  

Uneventful metro trip back to my hotel and now I'm here:) listening to ray lamontagne and getting ready to pack it up!  Next stop Prague!  

One of the many beautiful statues.  It was part of Maria Theresa's purity education pieces.  

Saint Stephens church

My dinner locale 

The university courtyard