Vices and Wiesses

Sorry that it's been so long since I last posted, but it has been a pretty hectic week here. It started with a trip to Austria (details forthcoming) and followed up with a test in International Business (me?) and ended with a final paper about Swiss Direct Democracy, so please excuse my sloth-like posting time.

Last Thursday I hopped on a train to Salzburg, Austria, with 4 other friends. It was an overnight train, so I booked this sweet little bed (they call it a couchette just to be difficult). When we arrived at 4:45 AM, it was obvious that the hills were alive. The city was absolutely stunning. The morning quickly turned into day as the the fraus ventured off for their musical tour of Salzburg and Zach and I went searching for a beer brewing monastery atop one of the bluffs overlooking the city. Our success in discovering it quickly melted into disappointment. What kind of brewery is not open at 1000 hours?

Alas, we rejoined with the girls and continued our journey through the city and actually gained access to the brewery and drank a few liters and split. That's right, we saw the whole city in 14 hours--at least I enjoyed what little we did see. We hopped the next train to Vienna and crashed as soon as we hit the pillows in our hostel.

The next day, we woke up and hit a large flea market on our way into town. Few people bought anything, but it was a good time. Immediately after, we walked to a restaurant that serves a bit of local cuisine and we ate some wiener schnitzel (for those of you who don't know, it derives from Wien, which is Vienna in German, thus making it schnitzel from Vienna). I hijacked a mug on our way out. Ginnie guilt tripped me a bit, but I would soon get her back.

We ventured about the city, saw the Opera house and the Habsburg palace. They ruled. After returning to the hostel, Molly didn't feel so well and Abby, Ginnie, Zach and I sat around waiting for her to feel better. Abby left us that night to return to Geneva while Zach and Molly serenaded Ginnie and I with the Elephant Love Song Medley.

The next day, we saw just about everything. We went to a excavated temple that was ruined in the 16th century, saw inside the St. Stephen's cathedral, and walked the streets. We also ate gelato--two times.

We left for home that night and caught the train back to Geneva from Zurich with about 1 minute to spare. We also barely made it home in time for Monday morning class, again about 1 minute to spare.

In addition to the past, I will post you on the future. I am heading to Paris Monday morning to meet up with my dad his his girlfriend, Kathy. I am excited. We will stay there a few days and then head to Interlaken, Switzerland, and finally back to Geneva before seeing them off Tuesday and 7.

A Bientôt

FYI--You can view more pictures (many more) by going to www.facebook.com and signing up and then friending me. If you do that, you will see pictures from my entire time over here-100's of them. Enjoy.