Hi everyone! I made it to Vienna on Wednesday night after a very looooong set of flights, and have spent the past two days sight-seeing around this beautiful city! I unfortunately caught my daughter's cold the last day before my flight out of Seattle, so I've been struggling through the sniffles and a cough since Tuesday. It's rare for me to get a cold and the timing is terrible BUT I'm not worried because I gave myself an extra week in Austria before the start of my program in case something like this happened. I wanted to be able to adjust to the time difference and get over anything if I got sick on the way over here. Thank you, intution! :) I feel a bit better today and can vocalize just fine without straining so I'm confident this won't affect me next week. Whew!
To sum up the past few days: I love it here! The city is just gorgeous, the people are friendly and there are a lot of great things to see and do. Yesterday was jam-packed with fun stuff. I rode the U-bahn into the city center with my friend Christina (she and I were friends in middle school and she has graciously let me stay with her while I'm in Vienna). After she went off for work, I made my way to the Hofburg Imperial Apartments to see the incredibly lavish residence of the Habsburgs, and then I went to the Treasury. Wow, there is some serious bling there! The crowns and ceremonial clothing are incredible. What a dynasty.
After walking the palace, I headed to lunch at a Polish cafe where there were slices of bread with about 30 different varieties of various toppings. I didn't understand most of the description cards (my German is still a bit rusty), and the line was long, so I just pointed to a few, smiled and paid. They were very tasty, even if I wasn't completely sure what I had. :)
After lunch I headed to the Opera House for a tour. The official opera season ended last night, so I unfortunately wasn't able to catch a show, but it is going to the top of my list for next time I visit Vienna. The opera house is absolutely stunning, and what a history it has! I joined an English tour, and we saw the reception rooms, the main staircase, backstage, and of course, the main hall. I was sitting in the third row and had to pinch myself for actually being there and knowing that some day I might be singing on that stage. What a thrill!!!! Visiting the Opera House made me even more motivated to do my best in my opera program over the summer. I really want to get on that stage and knock 'em dead.
After that - to celebrate - I had my very first Sacher Torte! I sat down at a table at the Sacher Cafe (right behind the opera house), and gave my order completely in German. I was feeling a bit proud about it...until the server brought back my Sacher Torte (chocolate cake with apricot jam and whipped cream) and what I thought I had ordered as an iced coffee (Eis Kafe) but was really a gigantic parfait glass filled with ice cream, coffee and whipped cream on top (and a few cookies inserted because I needed more calories). Whoops! Oh well...at least it was a tasty mistake. :) After my filling dessert I headed to Stefansdom to try to burn off the million calories I had just consumed.
Stefansdom is the city's most impressive cathedral. This was the place where Mozart married his wife, attended Mass, and had his funeral. What history! So incredible. Finally, after a very long day getting to know some of Vienna, I took the train home, ate dinner, played games with Christina's 10 year old daughter and had a great night's sleep. What a day!!!!
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