Sorry for the delay! They’ve had us swamped with work for the past couple of weeks.
The last stop of the travel week was Vienna, Austria. A place where history is literally everywhere, as are concerts, operas, and ballets.
We arrived in Vienna at 4:00 pm, after a 6 1/2 hour train ride and hopped a tram that would take us closer to our hostel. We got on the right tram, unfortunately it was going in the wrong direction so we rode it to the end and then back again. When we finally arrived at the right tram stop or hostel was nowhere in sight, so we split up and our group found it first 
I did some much-needed laundry, but the washers in the hostel were so tiny! It’s a good thing I was only travelling for three more days, or I would’ve been out of luck. Hit up KFC for dinner. Ihave found that I eat more American fast food here than I ever do at home!
The next day was our big sighseeing in Vienna day. We took the subway to the museum district and looked for the Hofburg Palace for about 15 minutes before we realized it was the building that we were walking around. We visited the Imperial Apartments, which included the Royal Silver Collection and a museum dedicated to Empress Elizabeth. Exciting stuff. I don’t know how anyone could have any use for that much silverware and china. Empress Elizabeth was an interesting character. She was married to Franz Joseph and absolutely obsessed with her appearence. She eventually got depressed and then was stabbed by a radical while visiting Geneva.
Hofburg Palace
The back of Hofburg Palace
After the Imperial apartments we walked around a bit, and a guy in an old-fashioned costume sold us tickets to a concerto. He seemed legit to us, but Kate kept getting sketched out and walking away. We got a picture with him too. He told us that the dress code was casual, but we still liked the idea of getting dressed up so we decided to do some shopping that night to find dresses. I didn’t find one but I got a nice winter jacket instead
Mr. Anton
Contiued walking around in i big circle around the museum district after we bought our tickets, and found a big circus in front of the City Hall called Circus Roncalli. Didn’t go inside, but it was still pretty cool. Got some really good Chinese food near the city hall as well.
The next morning we went down to the train station to get our tickets back to Venice, and then we took the metro down to the summer palace of the Hapsburgs. Did not get a ticket to go inside, but the grounds themselves were amazing. Tons of gardens, a big fountain, a maze, and a huge monument on top of a hill.
Summer Palace
That night was the concert, which was awesome. There was a small orchestra, two opera singers, two ballerinas, and an emcee who switched back and forth from English to German so often that sometimes it did not register that I could understand him. The concert hall was smaller than we had expected, but the music was great! While we were at the concert the boys and Kate went to see a movie. I think we had a better night than they did!
At the concert!
The next day we left early to catch the train back to Venice, and we all made it but two laggards who had to take a later train that took way longer to get back!
We were so glad to get back to Paderno! After living out of a small bag for 9 days and running to catch trains and buses and subways it was fantastic to stay in one place and have good food–at least until the next weekend!
Here is the link to my travel week one pictures again: Travel Week 1
Who bought you roses?
Blake got them from a street vendor. It was the most random thing ever.