Belated Update, and Vienna Pictures!

I have been really busy! School really picked up, and my weekends have been busy with excursions. On the weekend of the June 19-21, some of my classmates and I went to Vienna to visit one of my oldest friends from middle and high school. She has been in Vienna since January or February of this year, and showed us all around. Though it rained all day Friday and Saturday, we had a really wonderful time! We did as much as possible in two days, including the Flea Market, the Hofburg, Museum Quartier, St. Stefan's Cathedral, Schönborn Palace, the Central Cemetery, the Opera House... here are some pictures.

D, V, and I on Mariahilferstraße. I'm the only one smiling, because I didn't get duped into paying five Euros for three roses by a con artist. The con artist was a sweet-looking girl who approached us in the street and handed out flowers; the others took them, but my dad always says, "There's no such thing as a free lunch," haha. Of course, J was the one who ended up paying for all of them. I'm holding J's flower.

On Saturday, we had lunch in a cafe in the Museum Quartier. J had waffles and hot chocolate - such a little kid! We got scammed again, when the bread the waitress brought to the table ended up costing 1.20 Euros per piece!


One of the museums - the art museum, I think.
The Hofburg - seat of the Hapsburg dynasty.

The antique foundations of the city - about two millennia old!
Rounding the corner and seeing this massive Gothic cathedral in the midst of downtown Vienna was quite a shock - there's a hilarious picture of us with our mouths hanging open.

Inside St. Stefan's Dom. In our art history lecture the following Monday, Dr. Süß had gotten wind of our trip, and had a slide on the cathedral!
A shrine.

Atop St. Stefan's Dom! We took the elevator to the top, and I didn't think it would be that bad, but it actually was kind of scary.

A long way down.

That's all for now... I have to run into town to pick up some things for Prague! I'm leaving tonight with eight of my classmates, and we're going to be arriving at around 5 in the morning. It should be interesting. There's another wine festival today, this time in the Hofgarten of the Residenz, and a bunch of us are meeting there withour professor, Dr. R.

More soon to come! I won't let 20 days pass again without updating. :)