One of Mark's spiritual gifts (not really but at times I wonder if sleep is one) can fall asleep pretty much anywhere in a matter of minutes. So, on our trips, I typically will try to take pictures of him sleeping. If only I had a picture of him holding a book and then after when it dropped on the ground, he didn't wake up in the process.
Countryside in Austria
Posing on the train...cant complain about traveling via train with lots of leg room and beautiful views. Don't forget about the beautiful gal on the left.
So, we only had about 1 1/2 days in Vienna, which was fine. We honestly had a bit of a hard time finding things to do there. We walked around the city, visited their popular palace which was extraordinary, and then went to do our own little wine "tasting". Not sure what we would have done if we stayed an extra day, so think it was good we were there that amount of time.
Touring the City Centre and enjoying the architecture and beautiful weather
Stopped in a beautiful park to enjoy the random music and scenery
Arrived at Schönbrunn Palace and am excited to be in the gardens; we spent nearly 2 hours just walking the grounds...it was beautiful!
We deliberated if we should aim to make this our First Home someday, but then we asked ourselves, "Does that make sense?" No was the answer. Its crazy to think that someone lived there given the size.
Our First Home....come on over, I'm sure we can find you a spare bedroom(s)
Typical photo - The Navigator in action
Weird pictures on subway for who you should give seat priority to (left to right) old woman and handicapped woman (both must be wearing glasses though or so it would seem), woman with little one and then the expecting mother.
After traveling an hour outside of the city, we arrived in their wine country. Enjoying a nice Austrian glass of wine for about $3...not too bad.
We went to a second place with a fantastic view. Of course it was raining, as it has rained in every city we have gone to, but oh well. The vineyard view in the background made up for the rain.
One thing I learned was that places in Vienna don't really do wine tasting, so we did our own. We ordered all of their wine on the menu (don't worry it was only 5 types; we're not that lush) to decide what we liked best. Additionally, the wines in the picture was split by the two of us. Team Graycoxen all the way; even when it comes to wine tastings.
Our wines that we sampled (top left count five down)
After our wine tasting, we did a water chugging contest...help rehydrate. :)
Mark beat me! This is his victory shot. I know he was the water chugging winner (and yes I really mean water) in high school on his church mission trips, but still wanted to compete against him. Looks like he "still has it". Ahhhhhh, the satisfying taste of H2O.
Things we learned in Vienna:
1. A lot of toilets in Vienna were opposite, if you notice the hole is toward the front of the toilet. It also dawned on me, I can't remember the last toilet I used that had a handle...it must have been in the States last summer.
2. I didn't take a picture, but a way to advertise in Vienna is by having information written on toilet paper. A bit odd, but I guess you do whatever works. ;)
3. When you order a pepperoni pizza, you will get a cheese pizza with hot peppers on it. Mark and I were cracking up! The ordering for the pizza was quite challenging, so we weren't surprised it didn't come out as he had hoped. We will have to do some research about how to order pizza before we get to Italy. So, I ate the peppers with my tortellini dish.
Overall, Vienna was nice, but honestly we probably won't return. We have been in Budapest for only several hours, and both of us agreed we wish we could take Prague and Vienna off our list to add more time to Budapest and other cities yet to come. The views outside of our hotel are stunning along the river along with the ambiance of sidewinding streets.
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