Vienna was a beautiful and majestic city. We spent two days here and tried to soak it all in. I loved all the large stately buildings all around the city. We spent some time at the Vienna Art Museum, which I think the building itself was the best part of it all. Such grand staircases and architecture... it was incredible. I think I would have enjoyed it more, but I was running on zero sleep. It had been about 26 hours since I slept. So we headed back to our B&B and I took a short nap and slept. It's amazing what a few hours can do for you.
We picked up my sister and her husband who flew in later that evening...then the party started.
We found a fun little cafe and had to try authentic Wienerschnitzel in Wien(In German Wien is the city Vienna) and couldn't resist their apple strudel bathing in a vanilla sauce. We seriously couldn't believe how delicious it was.
The next day we walked the city. Every city we visited had what they called the "Altstadt" or the old city. There was clearly a division between the Altstadt and the rest of the town. We started with one of the most majestic cathedrals. St. Stephen's Cathedral and Platz
It had one of the most fantastic view from the belltower at the top...although we didn't last long, we were freezing! I loved the mosaic tiles on the roof. What was even more incredible was to tour through the catacombs below. The huge marble sarcophaguses and a wall literally made out of human bones stacked like a pile of logs from floor to ceiling from when the black plague went through Europe. Incredible in an eerie sort of way.
We walked through the ringstrasse which is a circular road with many famous buildings, the Heldenplatz (where Adolf Hilter made the announcement that Austria would join the German Reich), The Hofburg Castle, museums and of course the famous Vienna Opera House.
We toured through the amazing opera house where many ballads and arias of Mozart were performed. It was incredible to stand in such a historic and world famous place. I loved seeing all the gorgeous rooms and being behind the scenes.
After a long day of walking we were tired. We grabbed our luggage and took a train down south to Graz where my parents live. It was a beautiful ride winding all through the alps with little villages scattered between the peaks and snow filled mountains.
After a two hour train ride, we rode a bus for a bit and then hopped on the strassenbahn for a while before we made it to the church. where we piled all five of us and all of our luggage in my parents car and headed for their apartment.
This train, bus, strassenbahn, and car ride is a typical route for my parents. They are in the Vienna stake and go there often for meetings and trainings. Gives you a whole new perspective for Stake Conference.
We finally got to see their little apartment! (we'd only seen a few glimpses from skyping with them over the last year.) We certainly did fill the small place with five of us there.
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