Jeff's Eichsätt Adventure!: Wien, Österreich! (and some other stuff)

So for my first trip outside of Germany, Cody and I headed to Vienna, Austria. The four/five hour train ride was a lot better than the previous trip to Switzerland, since this time we only had to change trains a few times, not seven like my aforementioned Switzerland trip. I also wasn't crazy tired. Always a plus.

Eichstätt, Deutschland nach Wien, Österreich

Once in Austria, we checked into our hostel, which was awesome. It was located very close to the train station, so it was easy to get to once we arrived and it was easy to get around once we bought train tickets. The room was pretty good, too. We had minimal interaction with our roommates, which is fine. It's better than having bad roommates.

For the first night Cody and I mostly just planned for the weekend, but we did head out for a little. There was actually a protest that had something to do with the Kurds and Syria (I think). Two people almost got in a fight (quickly broken up by the police).

Vienna is beautiful with tons of awesome cathedrals, churches, and other buildings. Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) was particularly impressive. It caught fire back during World War II, and most of the cathedral's stained glass was destroyed (some had been removed prior to the fire and are persevered in one of Vienna's many museums).

Stephansdom

The roof of the cathedral was a beautiful, intricate design, such as double-headed eagle, a symbol of the Austrian Empire from back in the day.

Stephansdoms Dach

We were even treated to some music outside of the cathedral.

Vienna had tons of statues all over the place. Tons of them draw on upon Greco-Roman myths and figures. Hercules was a very common sight around the city, as were various gods and goddesses. Athena and Poseidon were the most easily identifiable.

some cool Austrian sculptures

Food was pretty good in Vienna, as well. Especially this delicious Apfelstrudel. It really was quite delicious.

Apfelstrudel

Back in the day, Vienna was home to a Roman fort, built to prevent intrusion from the badass Germans from the north (whom the Romans were never able to conquer, hence the reason why languages south of the Danube River are Latin-based, and languages north of the river are Germanic). There were some ruins right underneath the streets of the city, which I got to (almost) touch! It was so cool and interesting; there were no barriers preventing you from touching these 2000+ year old structures. It's not like the 3€ entrance fee would cover it if people started removing souvenirs. (Hopefully no one actually does such a thing!) What's also cool is that, as I mentioned before, I'm actually underneath the street right now.

me with Roman ruins!

There was lots of cool street performers as well, especially this guy. He was making some awesome art with just spray paint.

A definite highlight of the trip were all the directions that were up for Christkindelsmarkt (or Wiehnachtsmarkt in Germany). The entire city was directed, and there were multiple Christmas markets all over the city. All of them had great food, cool stuff to buy, and delicious Punsch, which is a fruity drink (available in both alcoholic and nonalcoholic varieties). We drank plenty of that stuff. It's so good.

decorated for the holiday season

Parliament building with the Rathaus in the background.
The Weihnachtsmarkt was on the grounds in front of the
Rathaus. It was pretty big area.

entrance to Christkindelsmarkt

delicious Christkindelsmarkt food

Rathaus

Finally, we visited Schloß Schönbrunn, home to the late Franz Joseph I of the Hapsburg Dynastry. It was a pretty palace, but we were unfortunately not allowed to take pictures of the interior.