April 15, 2012- Vienna, Austria

Well, it’s been an amazing past few days!  Right now, I’m sitting on the train from Vienna to Innsbruck with my mom and Caroline! They arrived Friday evening. The anticipation had been building for so long to hug my mom!  Wednesday morning, I flew from Thessaloniki, Greece to Bergamo, Italy. I spent a few hours in Bergamo with Madison, who had to wait there 28 hours for her flight to Ireland. We played quite a few games of War, Go Fish, and Egyptian Rat Race, trying to pass the time. After a while, I decided to go for a run, and had Madison watch my backpack. I went in the bathroom for a quicky quick wardrobe change, and went outside to run. It was cold, and right when I walked outside it started to rain. Shizaa. I started off, trying to find a place to run, but the airport was on the highway. I found a small bike path that ran parallel to the runway. There was a barbed wire fence between the path and the runway, and the bike path took about six minutes to run before it ended. So back and forth I went, rain pouring down on me, planes taking off right next to me, the wind from the plane almost knocking me down, and people walking to the airport with all their luggage and umbrellas, watching me run back and forth like a nut. It was pretty great! I wish I had a list of all the crazy places I’ve run! Maybe I’ll start keeping one…

Anyway, then I said bye to Madison, and was riding solo to make it to Vienna. I took a bus from Bergamo to Milan, and had to waste 9 more hours in Milan before my train left from Milan to Venice. I went to McDonald’s and ordered a pistachio McFlurry so I would have a place to sit and get out of the train station. I didn’t have anything with me except clothes, one pair of shoes, and my Bible.  So I read. A lot. It was wonderful to spend some time just reading God’s Word. It’s so easy to get caught up with traveling and seeing everything and neglecting time with God. But having hours upon hours by myself with nothing with me but my Bible was truly a gift to me. The time was truly refueling. I took the train from Milan to Venice, and almost missed my stop at a station on the outskirts of Venice because I kept falling asleep! But I made it, and got off at Venizia Mestra, like I was supposed to. Then I had to switch from an Italian train to an Austrian train. I arrived a little before midnight, but had to wait til almost 2am for my next train to leave. So I’m sitting outside in this tiny station for two hours, freezing cold, sitting on the ground with my backpack in my lap. I turned into survival mode because I was so cold. I put pretty much all the clothes that I had with me on, and sat with my knees to my chest and my hood tied around my head! I’m sure I looked hilarious, kind of wish I had a picture. But eventually the time passed, and I got on the train from Venice to Vienna. It was about an eight hour ride, and we arrived around 9:30 am. I tried to sleep some on the train, but it was a little difficult. The seat across from me was empty, so I made a little plan. I took my laptop inside my backpack, and sat it straight up. Then I laid across the seats, balancing on my laptop, but the “bed” was pretty arched, looking like a “U” and I didn’t get much sleep, to say the least. But sure enough, I made it there. My amazing friends Stina and Carmen were waiting for me at the train station. I went back to Carmen’s apartment and stayed there for the night. The next day, we explored Vienna a little bit and hung out for a while, and then took the train to the airport to go meet my mom!  We were waiting in the airport, holding up a sign that said “MOM & CAROLINE.” I freaked out a little when I finally saw them walk up! I gave my mom the biggest hug ever, and she started to cry. It was awesome!  My mom has a very distinct smell. Her clothes smell like it too. I k now it sounds kind of strange, but I loved smelling that same familiar mom smell when I gave her the biggest hug ever! 

Friday night, we checked into our hotel, and went to a great Italian dinner. Saturday we got up early, and ate breakfast at the hotel. Most delicious breakfast spread ever! I seriously feel like I’m living in a palace compared to those hostels I’ve been staying in. Taking a hot shower and having a towel to dry off with isn’t something I’m taking for granted anymore! It was wonderful. After breakfast, we took off to explore Vienna. We saw St. Stephen’s cathedral, then another beautiful church, then made our way to the Spanish riding school and saw the horses, then went to the Parliament, where we met up with Carmen and Stina again. There was a festival going on nearby, so we walked over and hung out there for a while. We got some drinks and watched traditional Austrian dance and live music. It was great! After that, we took a subway to the summer palace of the emperor. We saw where the royal family used to live, with the servant’s quarters and beautiful garden and the whole deal!  Mom and Caroline went on a tour inside the palace, and learned about some of the history there, and loved it. We were a little tired after that, and decided to head back toward the hotel to get something to eat. We sat outside under heated umbrellas and got some drinks and appetizers at a cute little pub, then went back to the hotel to get some warmer clothes and chill for a while. Later on, we ventured back out and went to another Italian restaurant. I have to say, we’ve been doing our fair share of eating for sure!

This morning, the Vienna City marathon was taking place. I wanted to run in it, but didn’t sign up in time, and couldn’t get a runner’s number. But as my mom would say, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” So I got up and ran in the area anyway, and pretended like I was one of the runners. People were cheering for me and encouraging me in German, and I loved every minute of it. The environment of a race like that is so cool, with all the streets closed off and 36,000 runners. I got a little lost, of course. I knew I was in the wrong place when I found myself in Prater, where the famous huge ferris wheel is. I remembered the people at our hotel telling us to take a tram there if we wanted to go, so that was a bad sign. But I asked people to point me in the direction as I inched my way back toward our neck of the woods, and I found my way back like I always somehow manage to do. We ate the hotel’s delicious breakfast again, and checked out of our hotel. I sniped almost the whole bowl of delicious fruity candies that were on the check out counter, of course. I mean, you shouldn’t fill the bowl to the brim if you don’t want your guests to fill up their pockets, right? Seems logical to me. We hit up the train station surprisingly smoothly, and are on our way to Innsbruck! Caroline is sitting behind my mom and I, and she is having the most hilarious conversation with the precious old lady sitting next to her. The Austrian old lady doesn’t speak English, and Caroline doesn’t speak German, but somehow they’re still talking to each other and smiling from ear to ear. It’s pretty cute. We’re getting further and further into the Alps, and the mountains are absolutely amazing! The train that we’re on goes to Salzburg, then to Innsbruck, then into Switzerland.  It’s a beautiful ride! Huge mountains- here we come!