The Viennese Whirl

Sunday mornings are made for relaxing. And so, upon waking up in Prague, that's exactly what we did. We didn't have to check out until 10am, and our train wasn't until 12:42, and so we stayed in bed for as long as humanely possible, before dragging ourselves up. We packed, ate breakfast, checked out, and decided it was time for a supermarket run. Which obviously turned into a supermarket/quick look in the clothes shops run. Soon after we made our way to the train station, and had a pretty pain free journey from Prague to Vienna on a fairly packed train. However, some fairy god-mother type had obviously been looking down on us, as we sat down in the first available unreserved seats which weren't together. But luckily the two people sat next to either of us were travelling together, and once this fact was established Emily and the guy next to me swapped, and we settled into demolishing a pack of our new favourite bacon snacks. Four hours later, we had arrived in Vienna Hauptbanhauf, and it was time to eat a Subway sandwich before boarding the train to Vienna Westbanhauf (our first change!). The journey and the walk to the hostel was smooth, and we were soon settled in, our room already turning into our customary shit pit. The evening was spent skyping/FaceTiming home, utilising the wifi, and drinking a few cocktails!

Monday dawned, and unlike most Mondays where I just want it to be Friday already, we were excited to get out and explore the city! We already had a route planned, and so after a quick breakfast it was time for the first stop, which happened to be the station again. We felt very grown up very successfully reserving the train to Budapest tomorrow, and so we sauntered down to the very long shopping street which (we hoped) would lead us in the direction of the Spanish Riding school. Along the way we obviously had to indulge in a spot of shopping, and so I invested in a few items of clothing and a pair of sparkly sandals, and Emily bought a jumper and a hat. All very essential, I assure you. A quick trip to Starbucks was made along the way when the heavens decided to open, and I discovered the delights of the matcha green tea frappuccino. Thank you Starbucks gods!

After our quick shopping spree, we ventured off to find the riding school via the museum quarter. Looked easy on the map. However, after making our way through, the roads on the map handily ran out. Well. That's what we thought anyway. And so Emily used the free data on her phone to google where it was. Excellent! We cried. We'll find that easily! And we did, after trekking for miles and discovering beautiful buildings and a majestic fountain along the way.

Imagine our surprise to then find that what Google had taken us to wasn't in fact the riding school, but to a hotel with the same name! Thanks google! Not your biggest fans. After consulting the map once more, we trudged the streets and eventually made it to Josefplatz, which was allegedly where the school was. Well, it was closer this time. We found where the horses were obviously stabled. But it wasn't quite what we were expecting. One more consult of google, which came up trumps this time, and it was further down the street to Michaelplatz, where lo and behold we found the majestic renaissance building which held the Spanish Riding School! I have honestly never seen Emily so happy. We admired the building, watched a video clip, and Emily indulged in two tshirts from the shop. Mission accomplished, it was back to the shopping street (which took a mere five minutes this time), and back home to the hostel, both of us practically dead on our feet by this time. After investing in some tape to tape up an aggravating blister, we made it back to the hostel and cooked ourselves pasta for dinner. Oh yeah, be proud.

And now, after hair washing and leg shaving in the sink, relaxing, and contacting home, we are once again indulging in some cocktails before heading back up to pack and tidy, all ready to venture forth to Budapest tomorrow!

We also discovered the best chocolate in the world :D