Vienna, Austria

Nearing the end of our 10 day break, we arrived in Vienna around noon on Saturday. Our hostel, 'Wombats', was right across from the train station. It was a great hostel, very clean, young crowd, easy to access public transportation from. After checking in when went to a Viennese restaurant down the street and had some delicious food. We went into the city and first went inside St. Stephan's Basilica. The stained glass inside the church was beautiful, it wasn't quite as spectacular as the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but still wonderful. We walked around the city and saw the Albertina, which is a popular art museum, and the Opera house. To maximize our limited time in Vienna we rented bikes to take around the city. On our bike ride we saw the Royal Palace, the Parliament building, and a fantastic park with a statute dedicated to Mozart. We rode up and down the river and it was a beautiful day (the first bit of sun we'd seen in a while) so I really had a great time. After spending the day riding around the city, we decided to go back to the Viennese restaurant we'd been to earlier since we loved it so much (the restaurant is named "Mariahilfer Restaurant"). For dessert we all got strudels since it's supposed to be a Viennese specialty, and it sure was amazing. We called it an early night since we had to catch a train back to Riva early in the morning. We didn't get to see much in Vienna because of the limited time we had there, but as first impressions go, that was probably my favorite out of all the places we visited and I fully intend on spending more time there in the future.

 Inside the St. Stephan's Basilica

 In the park with Melissa by the Mozart statue

 Building in front of the park 

 The Royal Palace

 Parliament building

We had a long 12 hour journey home, but the views from the train once we got to Zurich made the ride incredible. The sky was clear blue and now that the leaves are starting to change color, the mountains looked even more spectacular than usual. Back at Riva, we've began our finance classes which makes for long and tiring days. A short day of class is 6 hours, and other days it's around 9. Definitely not easy but I feel like I'm really learning a lot. Time for Italian class, Ciao!

Train ride through Zurich on the way home