Wien/Vienna

After Prague, our next stop was Vienna! Vienna was the first city I came to in Europe back in 2006 and I really really love this city. It has very 'old European' architecture, and like all cities in Europe, it has a whole lot of history. Also the people are very friendly - it only took seconds for 2 different people at the train station to ask me if I needed help or directions!

Vienna has a great coffee culture, from relaxed cafes to very elegant elite cafes, and they are  always packed! Vienna is another city I really enjoyed walking around myself. There are so many interesting buildings, churches, and grand statues. Some of my favourite are
-St. Stephansdom Cathedral
-State Opera House
-the Hofburg's Imperial Palace (the family that ran the Austro-Hungarian empire for 800 years)
-Schonbrunn Palace (if you have time!)
-the building of the Austrian National Library

From Vienna, I left my Contiki group a day early and took a train from back to Peter's in Rohrmoos-Schladming which was about a 3.5 hr train ride. The day after I arrived it was my 20th birthday, so we went to the Dachstein Skywalk. If you are ever in this area of Austria and the weather is good, go here! It has unbelievable views overlooking snow-capped mountain peaks and deep valleys. The 'skywalk' is a glass platform where you look straight down 250 meters below! From the top you can even see the surrounding regions as far as the coast of Venice, Italy! It's absolutely stunning!

That's all for now, Auf Wiedersehen!

xx