Report #1
As I began to recall today, I turned to something that’s been with me through it all: my Fitbit. Today, in the eyes of the Fitbit, my day has consisted of 26,071 steps, 49 flights of stairs and 10.84 miles. My Fitbit highlights the amount of traveling by foot we’ve done. While both my feet and back are sore (from carrying my backpack), the amount of joy I felt when I reached the 10,000 mark is only comparable to the joy of finally reaching Austria! We did a lot of walking today mostly for a purpose. Rather than taking a bus or the subway, we walked from stop to stop. Our first stop after breakfast was the Stephansdom. After touring the catacombs, we went up 300+ stairs in a spiral staircase to get to the top of the south tower. I would definitely say the Stephansdom really added to the stairs for my Fitbit. After the Stephansdom, we had free time for lunch where I personally went to a smaller cafe and got freshly squeezed orange juice with a buffet, topped off with a macaron. Everything was very tasty! Following lunch, we went on a tour of the Parliament. Besides having a great front for pictures, the architecture within the Parliament was also very pretty. Then we went and saw the Hofburg (Imperial Residenz) from the outside, as well as other buildings on the Ringstrasse. We decided to give our feet a bit of a rest at the Cafe Central, where we sipped some nice tea and nibbled on cake. Both were very rich in flavor! After we fueled up, we had some free time for shopping. It was quite interesting to people watch, especially in the stores. Austrians act a bit differently than Americans do just in walking and having conversations. There were lots of stores in downtown Vienna that we have back at home; however, their clothing selection varies a bit. Finally, we finished with dinner (Schnitzel) and some ice cream. Overall the day was fun! While we did our best to speak German correctly, I’m pretty sure all the natives could obviously tell we were American. Regardless, they still spoke to us in German and even helped us out by teaching us some typical Austrian things. We also are pretty adjusted to the sleep schedule now, which is nice after our full 12 hour day of touring today! ~Aly
Report #2
Today we woke up at 8am and had breakfast at the hotel. After that we went to go visit St. Stephan’s church and took a tour of the catacombs beneath. After, we trekked the stairs to reach the top of the tower. When we returned we were given free time to explore the area and eat lunch. Upon our return, we ventured through the city to the Volkspark (public garden) and then the Ringstrasse (ring street), where we had a tour of the parliament building. We continued to look at other government buildings and then returned to St. Stephan’s, where we were given more time to roam and explore. We then went to the Bastei Beisl and had a delicious meal and returned to the hotel for the night. ~Luke
Nicely done. Would love to hear how the locals look and sound different when they’re shopping:)