Yesterday, I woke up a little earlier than Smith in the hopes of blogging about our incredible adventures the day before, but I got caught up in transferring pictures and video between memory cards and computer, and computer and external hard drive. I have almost 250GB of video and pictures so far from this trip!
After another amazing breakfast from Mrs. Moran of eggs, sausage, bagels and a piece of chocolate cake, we headed off to see the Prater. First, we grabbed the Straussbahn (the overground version of their public transportation) and rode without paying for just a couple stops to get to a full station where we could buy a ticket good for unlimited public transportation for the day. Arriving at the Prater, we walked through and saw the rides, including the very old ferris wheel, and bumper cars, bumper cars, and more bumper cars. We walked out of the park to see the Danube. We walked along the Danube for a stretch and then turned away from the river to get back to a U-Bahn station. We took the U-Bahn in to the Rathaus to get food. Smith got noodles and I got Indian, which was tasty, but turned out to be a poor choice.
After lunch we walked back to the Hofburg complex to take the tour of the Lippizaner stables. We saw the world’s largest oval horse walk, which is a mechanical device used to force the horses to get some exercise as they have little space to run around here in the city. We saw the horses in their stables, but were not allowed to take pictures of them or touch them. I didn’t think that would be difficult, but then the horse whose stall I was leaning against turned around, walked right up next to me, stuck his nose partway through the bars, looked at me for a bit, and then blew hot air onto my arm from about 2 inches away. But I resisted the urge to pet him. We also go to see the Winter Riding Hall, which is where the Lippizaner shows are held. Interesting fact, you can buy a Lippizaner stallion for pretty cheap, about $6000. But the saddles for the Lippizaners chosen to be in the show are custom made for each horse and rider and run about $8000.
After the tour, I made an Indian food-related stop off at the bathroom, and then we headed off to Schonnbrun palace. We took the U-Bahn, got there about 4, and were told that they were sold out of tickets to see the palace. No matter, we figured we’d walk the gardens. And we did for a bit, until the Indian food hit me again. A 50-euro cent visit to the park restroom and we headed off again, started exploring, made our way to see the Gloriette arcade at the top of the hill overlooking the gardens.
Then it started to rain. And we were as far as you can possibly be from the palace, and hence, the U-Bahn station. But there was a café there, so we settled down to a beer to wait out the rain. I read some in the book I was planning on reading in the gardens, and we waited about 30 minutes. The rain slowed down, and the skies seemed to clear, so we packed up and headed down the hill with plans to explore just a bit more before heading to the U-Bahn.
Those plans were quickly dashed, as not 2 minutes after leaving the safety of the arcade, the water began to fall thick and fast. I wish we could have captured video and pictures of us running through the Schonnbrun gardens in the pouring rain, because it’s probably the most memorable moment so far. But, alas, I didn’t have my waterproof GoPro backdoor, so I had to put it away once the rain got really bad.
We paused for a bit once we made it back to the palace and waited for the rain to slow. From there we made our way to the U-Bahn station and proceeded to form puddles of water underneath us as we stood on a U-Bahn, a Straussenbahn, and then a streetcar, before running from the streetcar stop to the Morans’ apartment. We showered and decided to spend the night in. I spent some time looking for places to stay in Croatia and we had dinner with the Moran’s: chicken tetrazzini, salad with apples, tomato, and avocado, biscuits, and some super-chocolatey brownies. We lingered for a while after dinner, snacking on brownies, drinking, and talking, everything from US soccer development to nuclear energy research progress.
Finally around midnight we went to bed.
"Yesterday, I woke up a little earlier than Smith "
ReplyDeleteSounds like you guys are a married couple. Anyway, I enjoyed the pictures in this blog. I read a few sentences here and there, but way too much detail. The part about you letting all those little kids down in Brazil with your inferior coaching was heartbreaking. But you look good in the pictures. Have you lost weight?
haha, didn't you know? that's why me and Smith are doing this trip, it's our honeymoon, our lifestyle is far more accepted here than in the states, haha, but thanks for reading wool, and just so you know, this blog isn't just for you, it's also for me, so I can look back and remember all the interesting things along the way
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