Vienna and the 4th of July

So the day after Bratislava and the Kunsthaus Wien, mother and I wandered around Vienna. We went first to breakfast and got a croissant. Then we went to the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit they were having at the Minoretinkirche (my favorite church in Vienna).

Then we went to Schonbrunn and wandered around the gardens, looking at the palace and the fountains.

We went to lunch at Nordsee and to Stephansdom. By that point our feet felt like they might fall off so we decided to go back to my apartment.

We watched a couple episodes of Arrested Development, chatted some more and then I took her to the train station. After a bit of confusion (due to her train saying it was going to Amsterdam and it being connected to a giant row of cars) I got her in the right compartment. We realized then that we had forgotten her water in my fridge. She said she didn't need one but I went and got her one anyway (without her knowing). When I got back on the train, since we had already said goodbye, she was a bit shocked and said it was like a movie. Me showing up with water. hehe. It was very nice. I was sad to see her go. I had been invited over to Nayeem's that evening once my mom left, so I headed over there. Liviu, Alina, Hyojeong and Martin joined us there. We talked for a few hours while eating.

Ordered 2 pizza's that were supposedly for 4-6 people that were absolutely gigantic.

which we ended up almost finishing...We THINK this was due to the fact that, even though they were gigantic, they were also very thin so we ate more.

Then as we were eating our pizza, I noticed some fireworks. Which is when we (and by we I mean Nayeem) realized it was the 4th of July. I had forgotten about the 4th of July. So Nayeem and Jeremy just happened to have some sparklers at their apartment so we set off some sparklers and had quite a good time!

Then we played this game called the 6 name game which was a lot of fun. Basically each person puts 6 names of famous people into a bowl. During the first round you go around the group. Each person gets about a minute and you describe the person in several one word descriptions. For example, if the person was Jennifer Aniston you'd say "Friends. Rachel. Pitt" or something to that effect and then you try and get the people to guess the person. In the second round you have the same names but you can only use one word (which is hard) then for the last round you have to act out the names with no words. It was a lot of fun and ended up having some rather hysterical moments. (one of the names was Eddie Murphy. The one word used was "donkey" which then was acted out by Alina and basically involved her crawling around the floor. And then one of the names was Michael Jackson and I had to do the moonwalk...actually I think all of us put in Michael Jackson so there were several Michael Jackson dances going on....

Oh I forgot to mention...

The bees we saw in Bratislava. They were practically the size of the killer bees in Jumanji. It was quite shocking actually

Bratislava, Slovakia (and a little Vienna)

Back to my trip with my mom...So we arrived in Vienna on Thursday afternoon (July 2nd). I gave mother the grand walking tour of Vienna before dinner with my friends.

We went all over Vienna to some of my favorite churches and locations (Minoretinkirche, Rathaus, National Library, Spanish Horseriding School etc). After about 2 hours of walking, we decided to head back to get ready. And by we, I mean mother. She was a bit tired announcing "I'M NOT GOING TO MAKE ITT" (hehe sorry mother I had to) which was quite hilarious later on, but she was a bit distressed at the time.

We saw this guy in front of the Burgtheater and it made for a rather amusing picture I think...

After taking showers (due to the extreme humidity) we met Liviu, Alina, Nayeem, Jasmit, and Jeremy for dinner at Centimeter. As a group, we decided to order the thing they recommend for 6-7 people....which ended up being a good idea. Specifically because it was served on a sword.

See, I was not joking...

The next day, mother and I took a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. We took the boat in the morning and came back by train in the afternoon. I thought the boat was at 9:30, but it was actually at either 8:30 or 9. So I got up very early in the morning (around 6) so I could get to mother's hotel and wake her up in time to catch the boat about 20 from where we were. We made it to the boat. The boat ride was very cool. It was a very fast boat, and we saw some very nice scenery.

It was a bit rainy in the morning (releasing a bit of the humidity I think...) Along the river were some towns, and then these little houses they use for fishing!

It took about an hour by boat to arrive in Bratislava. We were told by Nayeem to take the little red train tour (which may or may not be called the "Happy Tour Train" at least I think it is...) so we did. It was a very nice little train,.

There was a bit of a scary moment. Apparently the train was called back to pick up more people...as a result we went on the freeway in the train. The Problem with this little adventure? The train went maximun 25 km/h...with cars zooming along at 100 km/h. (15 mph vs 60 mph.) I did not like that little excursion needless to say.
Here we are on the freeway.....I think the sign is telling the train driver that he is PSYCHO.

so after our daredevil highway excursion, we picked up more people and headed up to the castle, finding some nice buildings along the way. One thing I noticed about Bratislava is that, even though it's really close to Vienna (it took less than an hour to get there by boat...) is that it has a very distinct Eastern European feel that isn't quite as obvious in Vienna...I noticed it in Budapest and now in Bratislava. Also, I can't begin to understand any Slovakian words

The castle was very nice. and the view was great!

After the castle (which was closed for construction), our tour guide took us into the center part of the city, showing us the main areas and the cool statues located throughout the center of town. It was very cool
This is a little mini apartment...if you notice it is barely wider than the lamppost.

This is Napoleon leaning again the bench...
So after the tour, mom and I got lunch and then wandered the town a bit, bought some souvenirs then headed home. I liked Bratislava a lot. It was a very cute town and just very pleasant (and the people were very nice too!)

I'm hoping my hair didn't look like this the entire day....(The Christian Beer Pub...)

That evening we went to Hunderwasserhaus and the Kunsthaus Wien to see the Hundertwasser exhibit. Pictures in next blog...