The Hills Are Alive-- Vienna and All Its Beauty

Guten Tag!

I hope everyone is doing well! I am still enjoying my time abroad! It is hard to believe I only have 12 days left in the Czech Republic before I return to the United States.

At the end of the Staropramen Brewery Tour.

This week was rather eventful! For my history class, we went to the Staropramen Brewery-- it is a popular beer made right in Prague. It was interesting to drink a free sample of beer at 11 am. But when in Prague, right? Czechs love their beer. I also visited the Kampa Museum which is right along the Vltava River that runs through Prague. There was beautiful and thought-provoking modern art there, along with an awesome Klimt, Kupka, and Mucha exhibit. Then, Thursday I left Prague.

I am currently writing this post from a train on my way back to Prague from Vienna! For the weekend, those of us who signed up went on a weekend trip to Vienna, Austria. It was a great experience! We were taken on a tour by Dr. Marietta Rein, a trusted source on the city of Vienna, and got to walk the streets of the city. It was incredible to walk around every corner and see a historic building that was constructed during the Hapsburg's reign of the Austria-Hungary Empire. We visited the Kunst Haus Wien which had the Hundertwasser Museum. Please look up his art! It is mesmerizing: www.kunsthauswien.com/en/home

On this balcony, Hitler once stood and gave a speech to Austria.

For me personally, I had never felt so excited to be in Austria! I even sang out the window of my hotel-- they don't put screens on their windows in Europe-- most likely annoying the locals! But nevertheless,  I was so excited to be in a German speaking country. I have 6 years of German under my belt, so to finally be able to read it on every street sign was incredible-- a moment I had waited for since I had started learning the language in 7th grade. However, it also made me realize how much I forget! Therefore, my new goal: take more German classes!

We were fortunate enough to experience the wine bars and local beer gardens where they mostly serve wine and wiener schnitzel. Also, the cuisine was great-- better than Czech food, in my opinion! (But I am also a biased source.)

Outside the Belvedere Palace with my friend Liz!

I even visited museums there: the Natural History Museum and the Albertina! Both were fantastic. The Albertina was a former palace owned by a duke who wanted to store his art collections there! Also, we visited the beautiful Belvedere Palace, which had also been formerly owned by the Hapsburgs. It was awesome! Some friends and myself went to a film festival two nights where they had over 20 food vendors and a giant screen playing an operetta and the one night a concert! The backdrop was the Rathaus-- city hall. Unbelievable! Seriously, it was a fairytale.

At the Film Festival at the Rathaus-- doesn't it look like a church or a castle?!

Sorry for the long post! I just had such a lovely time that I needed to share it! I hope the pictures help show it justice!

Aufwiederschreiben,
Victoria