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!