The hostel we booked was fairly close to the train station but a subway ride from downtown and all the sights. So we checked in, met our roommates (two “Canadian” girls and two Danes) and left to take a walk around the area. On our walk we found a Volksbank location. We had set up our Austrian accounts with this bank so we decided to see how much money we had left. Scott knew his account was low but Joel had no idea how much money he had left. So we got our balances and they where pretty much done. All things considered, the accounts lasted longer than expected. From there we decided to grab some dinner. Being as we where back in Austria we both had to go for schnitzel with a witzen (a wheat beer that is very popular in Austria and Germany). A meal that was very typical in St. Anton. That night we took it easy and hung out with our Danish roommates at the hostel bar. A top deck tour group (18-30 year olds) was at the hostel that night so the bar was pretty busy. Joel actually met a girl that was in his exact program at McMaster.
The next day the weather looked a little dodgy but we were not scared. Our first order of business was to close our bank accounts, but as we found out we pretty much had to go to the branch we opened it to close it. So we now have Austrian bank accounts, just in case. From there we went downtown and then checked out the palace. While in the gardens a fairly ominous storm appeared to be approaching. Not wanting to get soaked, we headed back downtown where all the cafes that Vienna is know for where and had a coffee. But the rain never came and when we left it was sunny once again. So we ventured out once again and checked out the parliament buildings and some other cool structures. After that we had lunch and then ventured over to The Naschmarkt. This market is Vienna most popular. It had tons of booths and some really tasty looking food. We immediately regretted already having eaten lunch and decided we needed to come back the next day to enjoy some of the delicious looking food. That evening we made dinner; something that was done very rarely on this leg of the trip. After dinner we met up with our roommates and the 6 of us played some drinking games at the hostel bar.
The next day got off to a later start. Joel needed to start thinking about the courses he would be taking for the next school year so he dedicated a good amount of time working on his schedule. Any university student knows how much fun this can be. It was getting close to lunch so we ventured back over to the market. It was Saturday so the place was considerably busier and there was a lot more junk being sold. (I use the word junk because some areas where more like a crappy garage sale than a market.) Joel’s Austrian cellular phone was working again so he put in a call home and Scott did the same. The task of finding lunch was not an easy one with all the selection and in the end we went for some delicious sushi. On the way back to the hostel Joel received a text message from one of our roommates. They where at a “protest” we had talked about attending in the museum quarter and said we should join. So we went back to the hostel and told them we would be on our way. As we where walking towards the hostel Scott spotted two girls that looked awfully familiar and then it hit him. He just spotted the girls we met 9 months earlier on our first pub crawl in Berlin. How random is that? They were gone by the time we realized who they were. So we headed towards the protest. Basically this “protest” was to show that people should be able to drink and hang out in the courtyard of the museum area. They had these “bananas” set up that people could sit on. There turned out to be quite the gathering of people. So we hung out there for most of the evening until we ran out of beer. We then headed back to the hostel for warmer clothes and more beer. After a short break and a bite to eat we headed back to the museum area where the party was still going on. Around midnight the place started to empty out so we hopped in a cab and went to an area with a bunch of bars. So we choose one and went in. It was an alright spot but not the best we had been to and a little on the expensive side. After a few drinks we headed home and passed out.The next day we got up and boarded the train to our last new destination, Prague.
The next day the weather looked a little dodgy but we were not scared. Our first order of business was to close our bank accounts, but as we found out we pretty much had to go to the branch we opened it to close it. So we now have Austrian bank accounts, just in case. From there we went downtown and then checked out the palace. While in the gardens a fairly ominous storm appeared to be approaching. Not wanting to get soaked, we headed back downtown where all the cafes that Vienna is know for where and had a coffee. But the rain never came and when we left it was sunny once again. So we ventured out once again and checked out the parliament buildings and some other cool structures. After that we had lunch and then ventured over to The Naschmarkt. This market is Vienna most popular. It had tons of booths and some really tasty looking food. We immediately regretted already having eaten lunch and decided we needed to come back the next day to enjoy some of the delicious looking food. That evening we made dinner; something that was done very rarely on this leg of the trip. After dinner we met up with our roommates and the 6 of us played some drinking games at the hostel bar.
The next day got off to a later start. Joel needed to start thinking about the courses he would be taking for the next school year so he dedicated a good amount of time working on his schedule. Any university student knows how much fun this can be. It was getting close to lunch so we ventured back over to the market. It was Saturday so the place was considerably busier and there was a lot more junk being sold. (I use the word junk because some areas where more like a crappy garage sale than a market.) Joel’s Austrian cellular phone was working again so he put in a call home and Scott did the same. The task of finding lunch was not an easy one with all the selection and in the end we went for some delicious sushi. On the way back to the hostel Joel received a text message from one of our roommates. They where at a “protest” we had talked about attending in the museum quarter and said we should join. So we went back to the hostel and told them we would be on our way. As we where walking towards the hostel Scott spotted two girls that looked awfully familiar and then it hit him. He just spotted the girls we met 9 months earlier on our first pub crawl in Berlin. How random is that? They were gone by the time we realized who they were. So we headed towards the protest. Basically this “protest” was to show that people should be able to drink and hang out in the courtyard of the museum area. They had these “bananas” set up that people could sit on. There turned out to be quite the gathering of people. So we hung out there for most of the evening until we ran out of beer. We then headed back to the hostel for warmer clothes and more beer. After a short break and a bite to eat we headed back to the museum area where the party was still going on. Around midnight the place started to empty out so we hopped in a cab and went to an area with a bunch of bars. So we choose one and went in. It was an alright spot but not the best we had been to and a little on the expensive side. After a few drinks we headed home and passed out.The next day we got up and boarded the train to our last new destination, Prague.
