For our final European finale, my roommate and I utilized our last free weekend studying abroad in Prague to visit Vienna, (which I too recently learned was not the same place as Venice).

Our trip started out by nearly missing our bus, which has been a pretty common occurrence this past summer. Once we made it to our platform, I asked my roommate if it was an overnight bus we were taking, to which she replied, “Dude Vienna is only four hours away.” With that, we were off to a good start. Upon on arrival in Vienna, the first thing we did was drop off our stuff at our Air Bnb and seek our the nearest Micky Ds in true American fashion. After dining, we returned to beds and rested up for the long weekend to come.

All day Saturday was spent biking through the Austrian countryside in the beautiful Wachau Valley enjoying different locally grown and produced wines. We departed at 9:30 AM and were engaging in our first tastings by 11 AM. About a glass and a half later, I was remembering how much of a lightweight I am, and was slopping climbing back onto my bicycle to bike to the next site. As the day progressed, we drank more and more wine. I learned why pretentious people swirl and sniff wine, and I discovered that I actually enjoy the taste of wine when it did not come out of a 5-liter box I bought for $15. When the day was done, we had biked fifteen miles, and I had developed a nice golden tan and made it through the trip without falling off of my bicycle. We went out to dinner with a lone traveler we met on the trip (whose name we still are not sure of) and went to bed.

Sunday we had planned to wake up at 7:30 AM but did not actually rise until nearly 10. Then, we set off in search of a restaurant that employed retired grandparents (or just people over the age of 65+) to cook and bake. It was a program designed to keep the elderly involved in their local community. The food (pictured below) was amazing, and it was neat to contribute funds to such a special project. (We felt this made up for our McDonald’s run on Friday.)

Next came the Albertina, which is a museum carrying a lot of well known historical and

modern works. We basked our eyes upon the glory that was Monet’s Water Lillies, along with a slew of other impressive art. Then, we fixed ourselves up with some ice cream and headed off to the aquarium for some last minute thrills. (This branch of the trip involved a lot of me staring through thick glass in awe and my roommate telling me that we needed to keep moving if we wanted to see it all.) I think that my favorite part of the entire trip was the opportunity to stick my hand in not one but two fish tanks and pet my favorite slimy friends (fish). I got to pet both Koi and Red Garra, which are colloquially known as Dr. Fish and ate the dead skin off of my hand.

This concluded our trip. Sadly, we boarded back onto a Flixbus to Prague, and are now anxiously awaiting our next weekend of travel– our flights back home to America.