Adventuring

Tom: my 25 photos for the week are posted as:
69. Festwochen
70. Schloss
71. Obsession
72. Treasure
73. Habsburg

Everyone else: here are photos NOT for photo class (meaning, I'm in them) :).  Maybe I'll post details about each photo later, but I'm leaving to Innsbruck tomorrow and I need to pack.

Love you all (i.e. Mom, Kyle, Jessie & Brittany....and anyone else that reads this)

73. Habsburg

There were these people, the Habsburgs, and pretty much everything beautiful in Vienna was their doing.  Well, not everything.  But A LOT of stuff. 

72. Treasure

On Thursday we went on a tour of the Austrian Treasury.  It was SOOO interesting.  However, it is quite difficult to take good pictures when the rooms are VERY dimly lit and you aren't allowed to use your flash (understandably).  Here are a few that came out alright.

Below: The largest cut emerald in the world.

Here, a narwal tusk originally believed to be from a unicorn.  That's one big unicorn.

And my favorite, a crown given to the Austro-Hungarian empire from Turkey.  The audio guide said that the Turks really didn't know how to make a crown, or what to model it after, so they took inspiration from all sorts of stuff.  As a result, a very non-traditional looking crown for its time.  I thought it turned out beautifully.

71. Obsession

We eat gelato.  We eat gelato almost every day (sometimes twice a day).  We usually choose go for Zanoni and Zanoni (Nutella, Biscotto, and Schokolade) near school, but we had heard there was a place called Tichy with the best gelato in the city.  We took the U1 all the way to the end of the line to try it out.

We decided that while it was delicious, we prefer Zanoni's.  They have more flavors at Zanoni (including Nutella), AND we don't have to go as far to get it.  Maria did try this blackberry flavor though, and it was GOOOOOOD.  

Since technically I didn't take that photo of me (obviously), here is one I did take earlier in the week when we went to explore a park down by the Danube.

Love her (Esrimodo).  Love gelato. Love this city.

70. Schloss

This is the castle (Schloss) right by my house.  Yes, a castle.  Right by my house.

You kind of have to hike up to it, but there are all sorts of lovely views from up there.  And you can hear the church bells (Sound of Music style) as you walk along.

And this is where I had to stop and hide from the rain for a while.  It was wonderful weather when I left the house, then it rained for twenty minutes, and then it was beautiful again.  Bierget (my host mother) says that this is unusual behavior for May.  I hope it goes back to normal soon.

69. Festwochen

Vienna (which, by the way, was just ranked as the #1 place to live in the world) has festivals ALL summer long. Music, schnitzel, wine, pastries, and rides all over the city. This last week we went to Festwochen going on at Rathaus.

I thought this big W was advertising for the festival, but now the festival is over and the sign is still up. So, I don't know what it is for.

Looking up to this while rocking out to a band that you don't know and is singing in a language you don't understand is a recipe for an amazing evening.  The weather was perfect - despite the horrendous downpour a few hours earlier.  Vienna weather is CA-RAZY!!! 

Like any true festival there were rides and lots of unhealthy food.  I personally ate a hot dog with cheese in the middle (heart attack...I know) and one of those Langos things shown in the photo below.  They are seriously twelve inches in diameter and covered in garlic butter.  So good.  Don't worry Mom, I didn't eat it all by myself.

68. Palace

I promise I'll give explanations and details later.  

67. Stephans

66. Strasse

Images from the street where I live.

And if anyone is wondering if I still eat Eis everyday.  I do.  As evidenced by the lovely, but empty, gelato dish.