I don’t know how a person can walk down a cobblestone street in four-inch-high heels, but apparently this is a skill learned by all Austrian women. Not me. I wore my hideous Danskos that squeak with every step, but I didn’t, and still don’t, care– we saw so much today; I’m exhausted but thrilled by this place.
I’m proud of myself– I’m not succumbing to jet lag. I stayed up until 11:00 last night and got up around 8:30. My boyfriend Thomas, his cousin, her daughter, and I had breakfast at her place. The weather was nice here today, sunny and in the 40s. There was wind, but the sun was remarkable. My boyfriend and I went first to the Schönbrunn gardens (I just learned how to make the umlaut on the keyboard). We had coffee and goulash at the Gloriette, then took public transportation farther downtown (I think) where we saw some Roman ruins and went inside the Michaelerkirche. I am amazed by the Michaelerkirche. We did make it to Stephansdom, but we will wait to do a tour of it and its catacombs another day. We met Thomas’s cousin and her two kids for ice cream (gelato) at Zanoni. The food has been fantastic. Then we simply walked around downtown until we ended up at a pizza place where we all ate. I was interested in finding some local live music, so with much digging, Thomas and I found a place that was supposed to have live piano/vocal music (the other stuff started much later). Unfortunately, the bar ended up to be pretty upscale and smokey, and the music was, well, lounge/piano jazz. Too bad I couldn’t call my mom at that point; she loves piano jazz.
Tomorrow we’re all planning to have breakfast with friends– even though we’re in Europe, Thomas knows people other than his family here.
Very excited. I love it here.