Lost in Transitions: Sunday, August 22

 After we took the bus back to Vienna, we all waited for taxis to our apartments and most people spent the night unpacking and getting acquainted with their apartments.  We, however, did not have the luxury of having apartments to discover.  So when we got back to the hostel we decided to go for a walk around the area.  So we started walking and stumbled upon the Belvedere, the residence of the one of the princes or someone important.  It was also the place where Austria’s freedom from Russia was announced in 1955.  

The gardens are beautiful and filled with statues and fountains of mythical and other such creatures and beings.  No one was there because it was Sunday evening so the views were all the better.  On the way home, we treated ourselves to some ice cream.  I got some delicious Nutella ice cream that was to die for, although the owner seemed less than happy to be serving us.  I’m guessing they were just closing, but there was no need to be so rude.  One of the funny things that happens when you order something is that they always switch into English with a little smile that says, “Aw, you tried.”  It’s kind of sad.

When we got back, we stopped at one of the many Kebap stands that line the streets.  It’s not kebob, because that confused me at first.  It’s actually just Turkish and Austrian food, it’s very weird.  They sell things like Kebap Sandwiches and Noodles, Ente Noodles, Schnitzel sandwiches and boxes.  But it was cheap and quite good.  We hung around the hostel for a while and then after much protestation I conceded to go downtown with some friends.  We went down to Stephansplatz to meet some other people from the hostel and walked around for a while in search of a good bar and found this place called Morgan’s, which had a kind of pirate theme going on.  There weren’t that many choices because it was about eleven on a Sunday night and there are mandatory quiet hours after ten.  When we left, we tried to find Stephansplatz to get the U-bahn, but got very lost and stumbled on some great monuments which in the daylight turned out to be the Hofburg and the Roman ruins.  

We sort of just hung around on a statue and took in the scenery.  There were, however some very creepy statues that frightened us because they looked like they were bleeding in the night.  When we finally decided to go home, it was about 3:30 and we stumbled on to a Night Bus station (I know, just like Harry Potter). The stage was set for many more wanderings in Wien.