An Exciting Week

So last week there were riots in Vienna because of the unrest between Kosovo and Serbia. Apparently there were police in full riot gear running around the 1st District trying to keep a demonstration under control. My friend happened to be outside at the time and said all she could smell was tear gas. I'm ok though, no worries. So I only had one class this week so we explored Vienna a lot. One day we took the U-ban (the L in Vienna basically) to a station and just walked around. We stumbled upon the Belvedere, which is a palace in the south of the city. The botanical gardens are there too. I can't wait to go in the spring when all the gardens are blooming! We also walked around the 1st District with my friend Kim from home, who is visiting. We visited the Rathaus, which is the town hall, and Parliament. Today we went to Bratislava, which is in Slovakia but only an hour train ride away. When we got there it started downpouring and was really windy. Some boards were flying off a construction site and we though we were going to die. But we survived, and made it to the city center. We had to walk through the rain to the castle. Unlike Prague castle, we actually made it inside. We walked around for a bit but the tower was closed for construction. So right now we are .5/2 for castles, which is not a very good record. Then we got lunch at this great little restaurant. I love Slovakian food; it was delicious. Then we walked around Old Town a bit and headed back to Vienna. It was a nice little Saturday. Bratislava doesn't have much to see, but now I've checked another country off my list!

Exploring Vienna

We have been exploring some parts of Vienna over the last few days. The other day we decided to go exploring, so we took the train to Karlsplatz, which is right by the Opera house. We just started walking around and stumbled upon the Belvedere, which is a huge palace! There are botanical gardens that are going to be beautiful in the summer, lots of fountains, and a huge lawn. Then two days ago we went to the Hofburg, one of the main palaces in the city. We went to a museum there that contains a lot of the royal treasury. There was an emerald as big as your fist and a relic of a nail from Jesus' cross. Then yesterday we went to the Nachmarkt, a big open air market in the middle of Vienna. There is a food section and a flea market section. We stuck by the food section, but they had dried fruits, fresh vegetables, sausages, cheeses, anything you could think of basically. It was really interesting and we're actually going back tomorrow to buy things (we just looked yesterday.) Overall, I'm having a great time! We're going to Graz on Saturday to explore there, which should be exciting. I miss you all!

Hello!

Hi Everyone!
So I'm starting a blog so everyone can keep track of what I'm doing in Europe if you want to! There's also a link to pictures on my Picasa page. I miss you all so much, so comment, whatever you want, and let me know how you are! Come visit!