We arrived in Vienna yesterday morning, well rested from our naps on the train and ready to start exploring. After being pointed in the right direction by a friendly man who saw us struggling with our map, we started walking towards the old part of the city. I should note that the main reason that we were struggling is that Maggie’s compass seems to have a mind of its own, usually pointing in the entirely wrong direction. Anyway, it was a European holiday (we are still not sure what exactly), so all of the stores and grocery stores were closed. Not the gelato or kebab places though! In my 4 months in France I never tried a kebab from one of the many vendors just in my neighborhood, but I have discovered that they are a tasty and cheap option that leave money for ice cream later (both of us have yet to have the same flavor twice - pretty impressive I think!)
It was still a bit chilly but I decided to wear shorts since I had been wearing my one pair of pants for almost a week, and luckily it did warm up and turned out to be a very nice day. We first walked past the Hapsburg's winter palace, an impressively large building, and then ended up at St. Stephen's Church. Unfortunately there was scaffolding on the front where they are doing restorations, but the inside was open and though it was a pretty typical style for European churches, we were impressed by the size and by some of the gold decorations.
We hadn't really set out with any plan, so by wandering some more we ended up at Karlsplatz, where there is another impressive church in a much different style than the other one (it reminded me a bit of Montmartre in Paris - white with a domed top.) After that we headed back to the hostel and I went out on a run, determined to find some gardens I had seen on my map. I hadn't had too much trouble navigating the other cities, but Vienna seems much larger and the streets are definitely not in a grid. I think I stopped about 15 or 20 times during the course of my run to look at the map (I must have looked pretty ridiculous standing on the street corner sweating and wearing bright pink shorts, examining a map). After almost 30 minutes I finally made it to the outside of the gardens, but then found that there was a high concrete wall around them with no entrance in sight. But I was determined to get in, so after another five minutes or so, running uphill of course, I found an entrance and was immediately rewarded by possibly the most beautiful building I have seen on this trip - the Belvedere palace. On either side were gardens with flowers and fountains, and from the top end you could see out over part of the city. There were lots of other people out walking and even running.
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