1 of 3: Vienna

Dear friends,

One city down, two to go!

After a 12+ hour plane ride to Vienna, Kristin and I got to our hotel around 10 and slept until about 5 a.m. We couldn't wait to get our day started.

We got an early start and headed out by 7. The morning light was absolutely gorgeous on all of the buildings.

Walked down Graben Street before all of the tourists took over.

Made friends.

We toured the Schonbrunn Palace.

Saw a LOT of gold.

*There's Kristin listening to the audio tour.

One tradition that I really liked about the royal place settings were the green wine glasses. They stood out against all of the fine china and golden platters.

Part of our tour included the Sisi Museum. Kristin and I agreed that it was pretty creepy. The story goes that Sisi, Empress of Austria, was this depressed little girl who longed for freedom outside of her royal duties. She was a really dark character who wore black all the time and spoke about morbid things.

A little creepy.

Lunch right off of Graben Street. Can you believe we ate Italian food in Austria?! Horrible tourists.

Since we woke up so dang early, we passed out at 3 for a nap. I guess that's what jet lag will do to you!

At night, we got dressed up...

walked around and enjoyed the crowds...

watched the opera outside with the rest of the commoners...

and got some late night ice cream! My ice cream was so delicious- vanilla with nutella mixed in there.

YUM.

This was at breakfast this morning. We got a voucher from the front desk guy to go down the street for our breakfast buffet. My goodness, it was delicious: scrambled eggs, cheeses, meats, fresh fruit, orange juice, croissants with nutella... HEAVENLY.

Next up... Prague!

xoxoxoxo