Long Post Concerning Prague and Vienna

We had no Internet while in Vienna, so y’all get to experience an all-in-one post about our last days in Prague and our entire tour of Vienna.

Following our day of hiking, we decided to each take a day to do our own thing independently. I voyaged out to some of the shopping malls that Prague had to offer and ate lunch at a charming little English bookstore. Brendan walked around trying to find the same bookstore, but unfortunately wasn’t able to find it in the end.

The subsequent day, we made our way to the Museum of Communism. It was all about Czechoslovakia and how communism started and declined there. There was also a tiny exhibit about North Korea and the communism there.  We both enjoyed the museum very much. Brendan and I then walked over to the bookstore that I had found the day before in order to browse the books and consume some lunch. The night before, on a whim, I had sent in a request for us to tandem skydive. I had not expected the company to get back to us in time, but they did! We were informed that we could skydive that night at 6pm! Skipping lunch, we immediately headed back to the hotel to change and grab some money. When we arrived back at the hotel I checked my email once more and they told us they had to cancel our session due to the lack of people in that time slot. I was heartbroken. Fortunately, an hour later, they extended another invitation for 6:15pm. Brendan and I met up at the skydiving office and headed out to an airport about an hour’s drive away with two other guys from California (and our driver). When we reached the airport, we suited up and received a brief tutorial on how to exit the plane, how to free-fall and how to land. We met our jumping partners and jumped on the airplane! My guide was remarkable, and was cracking jokes the whole way up and throughout the fall. I was last to jump out of the plane, and what made me most nervous was the three grown men in front of me screaming as they jumped! The free-fall lasted for 50 seconds and was a huge adrenaline rush! My guide twirled me around and faced me towards the breathtaking sunset. Once the parachute opened, he let me steer a little bit and then he did all these super fun turns. He told me that he has done over 2000 jumps in his lifetime (12 that day)! The fall lasted 5 minutes. I then took landing position and we landed on our butts (on purpose). All in all, it was the most thrilling experience of my life by far and I cant wait to go again!

The next day we got on a train to Vienna! The train ride was about 6 hours, and the air-conditioning worked the whole time! We found our hotel quiet easily because it’s only a few minutes walk from a main train station. Once we got settled, we explored our neighbourhood and found a huge row of stores and cafes and restaurants just around the corner from us.

On Monday, we visited the Freud Museum. I loved it as I have learned lots about him in every single psychology class I have ever taken. The museum was located in his actual office where he saw and treated clients. Although most of the furniture was removed during World War II, there were still little artifacts that were left behind. We then headed to the center of Vienna and participated in a guided walking tour. The tour lasted about 2 hours and took us to some of the most famous Vienna sights, such as Albertina Palace and Hero’s courtyard.

On Tuesday, we decided that we would like to revisit Hero’s courtyard and the museum quarter. First, we tried to go see the crown jewels, but the museum was closed. Then we tried to go to the largest library in Vienna, but they were charging an absurd amount for admission. We then walked over the National History Museum, which was closed as well! I guess Vienna doesn’t do much business on Tuesdays. The preceding day, our guide had told us that there were free concerts every night in Hero’s Courtyard so we decided we would saunter back to the hotel, relax for a while then attend one of the concerts. We ate dinner at a little Austrian restaurant, where we both finally tried schnitzel. It was much better than I was expecting and tasted much like a flattened out chicken strip. We then headed towards city hall. It turns out that it wasn’t concerts every night, but was a film festival that showed different ballets and operas on a large projector screen. We stayed and watched a German opera for about 30 minutes, but left, as we weren’t able to understand what was going on.

Today, we made our way back to the Natural History Museum. It was open! We managed to get in for free because we said we were under 19 and we were not asked for ID.  This museum was cool because they had the Body Worlds exhibit that I’ve wanted to see for a long time, but is always so expensive at Science World in Vancouver. After the museum, we took the subway out to Schonbrunn Palace (I think that’s how you spell it). This was where the royal Austrian family lived. We walked around the gardens which were absolutely breath taking. There were lots of fountains and benches to sit on and admire the view. At around 5pm, we headed home!

Today, we went and walked around the Danube River on the outskirts of Vienna. We dipped our toes in the cool water and read our books (Brendan’s reading the Hunger Games and I’m reading 1984). We then tried heading to the Planetarium, but the next show was in an hour and a half and only for children and in German. So we ventured back to the center of town and were going to a museum called ‘Time Travel Vienna- the 5D experience’. When we got there it turned out to be absurdly expensive for a 50-minute experience. It was 40C today and I was feeling awfully sick from all the sun. We decided to head back to the hotel and relax in the air-conditioned lobby (we had to check out at 11am). Soon, we are going to dinner and then we catch at train to Venice at 8:45pm for 12 hours! We got a couch with beds though, so hopefully we will be able to sleep!