Vienna

Last week, we only had a two-day week and were free to travel from Wednesday through Sunday. Three of my friends and I decided to go to Vienna, because it was the top place I wanted to make sure I visited this year. On Wednesday morning, we took a bus from Logroño to Bilbao, and took a flight from Bilbao to Vienna (layover in Dusseldorf). At the airport, I saw a Starbucks for the first time since August, so I ordered a Caramel Macchiato while we waited. When we got to Vienna, we checked into our Airbnb and then went out for Indian food before going to bed.

On Thursday morning, we woke up early and walked around the city. We took a tour of the Hofburg palace, where we learned more about the Hapsburg family. Next, we visited the cathedral, which was absolutely beautiful, even though it was burned in a fire at the end of WWII, which left the walls damaged by smoke.

After the cathedral, we headed to the outdoor Christmas markets, which was my favorite part of the trip (we tried to visit one each day). Even though it was freezing, we stood outside and had dinner from several of the market stands - I had a bratwurst and hot Christmas punch. To warm up, John and I went to a famous cafe in Vienna and had tea while Lexi and Katie went ice skating.

On Friday morning, we went to the Schönbrunn palace (the Hapsburgs' summer palace), where we took a guided tour and went to a strudel-making show. Towards the end of the show, they asked for a volunteer to come up and "help" make the strudel, and I raised my hand. I went up to the front and put on an apron and a hat, and I painted the strudel with butter before it went into the oven. As part of our ticket for the show, we got a cup of coffee and a large piece of apple strudel, both of which were amazing.

After the palace, we went to the art museum and spent a few hours looking at art by Rubens and Velázquez. Katie and John grabbed cupcakes from the Christmas market, and then the four of us tried to go out for dinner. We had looked up a popular place to get Viennese food, but when we got there, the line was out the door. We decided to order food to go and take it back to our Airbnb, where we ate and watched The Sound of Music.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and packed our bags before heading to a cafe that is famous because Hitler and Stalin have been there. We ordered chocolate cake and tea, and spent an hour eating before calling an Uber to the airport.

We took a flight from Vienna to Madrid (layover in Palma de Mallorca), and through the airplane window we were able to see snow-covered mountains. In Madrid, our Airbnb ended up being a twenty-five minute drive from the airport, but the host picked us up and drove us out to a small village in the mountains. The Airbnb didn't have heat, so we didn't get a great night's sleep, but it definitely beat sleeping in the airport. The next morning, we took a bus from Madrid to Logroño, and went grocery shopping before heading home to lesson plan for the week. We were exhausted at the end of the trip, but we had a great five days. Vienna was the most beautiful city I have ever been to, and I'm so glad I went!