Our first hostel
Such an amazing picture of such an amazing man
After we were refuled, Gürtler took us out on his personal tour of the city. As I said earlier, I really love Vienna. Every building whether two or two-hundred years old has the same baroque charm, even in the buildings that are more than a half hour walk from the altstadt city center. Unfortunately this was the only full day we have to stay in the city. Last night we left after our class and got in the city in the evening with just enough time for Gürtler to take us out for a late night snack/drink, his treat, at a little known, local place. I swear this man is amazing. Anyways, one day is definitely not enough time to explore this grand capital of Austria. We took pictures of the neo-gothic Rathaus,
pictures in front of the neo-gothic Rathaus, and pictures of people taking pictures in front of the neo-gothic Rathaus. 
We saw some other buildings too, I’m sure. At one moment in time, few were there to witness, Goethe and Gürtler were standing side by side. 
After our tour, we were given 5 hours of free time to wander the city and do whatever we wanted. Going to a flea/farmers market, I discovered my new favorite meal, kebabs. Essentually a giant column of meat (lamb or chicken) that’s constantly turning and being roasted and constantly dripping with fat in a rather enticing puddle. 
When you order a kebab, the meat is shaved off and falls in the fat-puddle. The shaved meat and fat-puddle are all then delicately swept into a pita with lettuce, onions, cucumber/yogurt sauce, and red pepper powder. Its essentially a Turkish Gyro. 
There were also rather exciting barrels of sauerkraut. Then Christian and I broke off to take a tour of the Stattoper or city opera which was really cool to see. Unfortunatly most of the theater was destroyed by a bomb in WWII and it was so important, the city quickly rebuilt it in 10 years, but it wasn’t to its original baroque glory. Nevertheless, this little story proves that the Viennese like to follow my credo: “Don’t fix it if it ain’t baroque!” I met some quite nice ladies there and got the digits. 
Being in the lobby though, I swear I saw a group of theater-managers complaining about a bunch of notes they had received. I wonder what that was all about. 
After the oper we went to the Kunsthistorisches Museen (Museum of art history) to see some art! Yarb! In te Egypt section, I definitely found a strange green box with no label and awkwardly made eye contact with the girl standing next to me, don’t really know what that was all about…
pictures in front of the neo-gothic Rathaus, and pictures of people taking pictures in front of the neo-gothic Rathaus. We saw some other buildings too, I’m sure. At one moment in time, few were there to witness, Goethe and Gürtler were standing side by side. After our tour, we were given 5 hours of free time to wander the city and do whatever we wanted. Going to a flea/farmers market, I discovered my new favorite meal, kebabs. Essentually a giant column of meat (lamb or chicken) that’s constantly turning and being roasted and constantly dripping with fat in a rather enticing puddle. When you order a kebab, the meat is shaved off and falls in the fat-puddle. The shaved meat and fat-puddle are all then delicately swept into a pita with lettuce, onions, cucumber/yogurt sauce, and red pepper powder. Its essentially a Turkish Gyro. There were also rather exciting barrels of sauerkraut. Then Christian and I broke off to take a tour of the Stattoper or city opera which was really cool to see. Unfortunatly most of the theater was destroyed by a bomb in WWII and it was so important, the city quickly rebuilt it in 10 years, but it wasn’t to its original baroque glory. Nevertheless, this little story proves that the Viennese like to follow my credo: “Don’t fix it if it ain’t baroque!” I met some quite nice ladies there and got the digits. Being in the lobby though, I swear I saw a group of theater-managers complaining about a bunch of notes they had received. I wonder what that was all about. After the oper we went to the Kunsthistorisches Museen (Museum of art history) to see some art! Yarb! In te Egypt section, I definitely found a strange green box with no label and awkwardly made eye contact with the girl standing next to me, don’t really know what that was all about…
Christian found his Egyptian Twin
HI from the Kunsthistorisches Museen
We met the Gürt for dinner at another really nice restraint serving more authentic Austrian fare, including my favorite noodle-dumplings Spätzle.
After dinner, a group of us wanted to go check out the Opera (a different one plays every night). By the time we got to the opera, it had started a half hour prior and the two euro standing room only tickets were all sold out. Not to be discouraged, we waited outside the doors to see if any bored opera SRO attendees were leaving early and willing to surrender their tickets to us. Luckily after pantomiming “Pardon me Madam and Missour, may we procure your Opera tickets if you have completed your visit to the opera house and are currently vacating the premises?” to confused asian tourist couples and offending Austrians by immediately mistaking them as American tourists (he was wearing an Illinois Harley Davidson hat! …to an Opera!) we finally collecected enough just as intermission was ending.
After dinner, a group of us wanted to go check out the Opera (a different one plays every night). By the time we got to the opera, it had started a half hour prior and the two euro standing room only tickets were all sold out. Not to be discouraged, we waited outside the doors to see if any bored opera SRO attendees were leaving early and willing to surrender their tickets to us. Luckily after pantomiming “Pardon me Madam and Missour, may we procure your Opera tickets if you have completed your visit to the opera house and are currently vacating the premises?” to confused asian tourist couples and offending Austrians by immediately mistaking them as American tourists (he was wearing an Illinois Harley Davidson hat! …to an Opera!) we finally collecected enough just as intermission was ending. 
Inside, we had excellent seats with a bar to lean on and a little screen for a translated libberetto! 
The opera, however, was very strange. It was called ‘I Puritani’ by Ballini. At the beginning we were kind of confused with the plot as the set looked rather like the lobby ofo the Hesburgh Library and there were (we assumed) Pilgrims wearing Pleather costumes who were watching a rather fat lady drunkenly stumble around the stage. Being many of our first operas, we found the whole thing strange. I especially liked how any time a character had an inane thought pop into their heads, they would sing about it for about 10 minutes, but then the plot would quickly move along real quick between these moments in quick a-melodic dialogue-singing. In the end, you think everyone’s all happy, the couple’s together and he doesn’t have to be burned (horay!) but literally in the last two sung lines of the opera (as the female is singing “I’m so happy, I’m confused”), the jealous third party of the love triangle comes and strangles the girl’s love and she reacts by singing another hefty line of “I’m so happy, I’m confused” and the curtain closes. I think that last line wrapped up how we felt about the end of the opera “I’m so happy its over, but I’m really confused.” Though I poke fun, the performers were excellent and talented. We definitely had fun yelling “brava!” as the singers bowed and flowers were thrown onto the stage.
The opera, however, was very strange. It was called ‘I Puritani’ by Ballini. At the beginning we were kind of confused with the plot as the set looked rather like the lobby ofo the Hesburgh Library and there were (we assumed) Pilgrims wearing Pleather costumes who were watching a rather fat lady drunkenly stumble around the stage. Being many of our first operas, we found the whole thing strange. I especially liked how any time a character had an inane thought pop into their heads, they would sing about it for about 10 minutes, but then the plot would quickly move along real quick between these moments in quick a-melodic dialogue-singing. In the end, you think everyone’s all happy, the couple’s together and he doesn’t have to be burned (horay!) but literally in the last two sung lines of the opera (as the female is singing “I’m so happy, I’m confused”), the jealous third party of the love triangle comes and strangles the girl’s love and she reacts by singing another hefty line of “I’m so happy, I’m confused” and the curtain closes. I think that last line wrapped up how we felt about the end of the opera “I’m so happy its over, but I’m really confused.” Though I poke fun, the performers were excellent and talented. We definitely had fun yelling “brava!” as the singers bowed and flowers were thrown onto the stage. 
We then managed to find our way back to our hostel and are preparing for our trip to Budapest tomorrow.
Vienna's little walk of fame
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