Vienna

My first impression of Vienna is boring. We're in the neighborhood right next to Westbahnhof because the area around Stephanzplatz is way too expensive. Our hostel is also crap. We get a teeny weeny, itsy bity little room that can barely fit our packs, let alone us. It also has a junior double, which is somewhere between a single and a double. I tend to roll around and do gymnastics in my sleep, so things aren't looking too good for Skip here. We have our own bathroom, yes, but the shower will only go on for 30 seconds at a time (deliberate, not a malfunction) and you can't open the door to it without forcefully shoving it past the mattress. It also doesn't have windows, so it is boiling hot. What is it with Europe and air conditioning? Even the one in the upscale super-duper Hyatt wasn't as good as my air-conditioning back home. I think Europe just likes to drown in its own sweat every night. The internet also doesn't work in any area outside the common room. Which has a bar. And very noisy people playing the bongos. 'Nuff said.

I also try to do laundry, but the machines aren't big enough to fit more than a couple things - a couple shirts, maybe a pair of pants, so we do enough to survive to Munich and leave it at that. There was also huge line for these two rinky-dink washers and since they close the kitchen/laundry at 10, the only time to do it is during the day. When you want to be out sightseeing. Great sense of planning this place has.

Not wanting to spend any more time in the room than we have to, we hop on the subway up to Stephanzplatz for food.

The next day, there is no real walking tour in Vienna that costs less than 40 euros a person, so we head over to Schonbrunn Palace. There we learn all about Vienna's absolute obsession with Sisi, or the Empress Elizabeth as she is formally known. They are absolutely in love with this woman, who is kind of like the Paris Hilton of her day. She's anorexic, travels with men other than her husband all the time, and constantly complains about everything. I can see the attraction already. The palace itself was very pretty - all the rooms are still pretty much furnished, so you can get a good idea of what they lived like back then.

After that, the sun is absolutely boiling so we head out into the garden which are pretty and mercifully full of shady spots. We slowly make our way over to the other end, where the royal menagerie of days past has been turned into fully-functioning zoo - one of the best in the world. It's about 3 now, and we won't have enough time to get over and see the other palace, the Hofburg, so we stay and see the zoo instead. I'm glad we did because it had some pretty killer views of Vienna. It also had Giant Pandas, which I don't think I have ever seen in person before. And it had penguins, of course. Lots of pictures were taken and lots of money spent on bottle after bottle of water. Don't these people believe in water fountains?

That night we head out to this Irish bar near our restaurant last night to watch the World Cup game of Uruguay vs. France. Nearly everyone in this place is an ex-pat. Even the waitresses are native English speakers. It had great food and TVs everywhere, so we settle in and watch the game with a bunch of drunk Englishmen.

Overall, I would love to come back to Vienna because there are so many other things I would like to see - the Kaisergruft, Michaelerkirche, the Hofburg - but I would definitely stay somewhere else. It's sad, but where you stay kind of influences how you see the city. I'm trying not to, but it's hard to see Vienna without that horrid, horrid room sticking in my mind.