Day 65!

Hey there! I am so sorry it's been so long since I last posted! Nothing exciting happened last week, and I was very busy with school work. I literally stayed in all weekend reading and working on homework. It was pretty cold, so it was a good weekend to do that! It was actually kind of relaxing to just lounge around my apartment, get things accomplished, and not have to go out into the cold.
However, this past weekend more than made up for my lack of action the weekend before! Maria, her boyfriend Michael, Michelle, Rodolfo, Allegra, Alex, and I went on a roadtrip to Austria! We rented two little Italian cars. I rode with Michael, Maria, and Michelle. We all left Thursday night at about 11 and drove through the night to Vienna. I slept almost the whole way, but was awake long enough to see the AMAZING night sky over northern Italy/Austria. The stars were sooo big and bright, and the constellations were really easy to pick out. Easily the most amazing night sky I have ever seen:)
We arrived in Vienna at about 7 Friday morning, but we got lost within the city for about 3 hours! Turns out Vienna is quite a large place and difficult to navigate when you accidentally get into it on the wrong side of town... I enjoyed our morning drive around the city, however. Vienna is absolutely beautiful. It is unlike anything I have seen in Italy. This whole trip really showed me how different Italy is from other parts of Europe. Vienna is much more open, with much bigger, grander buildings than anything in Bologna. We finally found our parking garage and got out of the car to walk around the city. We headed into the center of town and met up with Rodolfo, Allegra, and Alex at the parliament building (gorgeous!). We were all famished and in dire need of nutrients/COFFEE, so we headed to a cafe. I had a delicious and much-needed cappuccino and jam-filled pancakes--yum! After we had all regained our energy, we decided to go see one museum type thing--there were plenty to choose from! We ended up seeing the silver and china collection belonging to the Hapsburgs, as well as the royal apartments/palace rooms. So elaborate and beautiful! Then we just decided to walk around and see the city instead of going through more museums. The weather was absolutely beautiful, much warmer than the past week in Bologna, sunny, very fall. We started walking and ran into a kind of fall festival with lots of food stands, music, activities. It was the perfect thing! I have really been missing the usual fall type activities, and this festival really hit the spot! We tried strum, kind of a mix between beer and wine, hard to describe, but very good! There was a wonderful little candy stand, so of course we all got treats--I bought a marzipan potato:) After that we just walked around some more. Maria, Michael, Rodolfo, and I went into this beautiful gothic church and then talked to a bunch of strangers (everyone in Austria is SO friendly!) to get suggestions for a good place to get wienerschnitzel. We all ended up going to this little pub for an early dinner. I ended up having some kind of wurst instead of wienerschnitzel, but it was sooo good! Right after dinner we headed to Salzburg, about a 3 hour drive (relatively easy!) We arrived in Salzburg about 10 pm or so, checked into our hostel, and IMMEDIATELY went to bed!
The next morning, feeling quite well rested :), I got up early to enjoy the great breakfast spread provided by our hostel. This was my first hostel experience, and it was such a nice one, I think I'm spoiled now! Our plan for Saturday was to do the "Most Unique Sound of Music Tour." The real Trapp family is from Salzburg, and most of The Sound of Music was filmed there! We had this crazy British tour guide, Sue, who was QUITE enthusiastic! We saw the gazebo from the "16 going on 17," but unfortunately couldn't go inside because an old lady broke her hip a couple years ago trying to dance from bench to bench. We saw the lane where Maria sings "I have confidence," the two different houses they used for the Von Trapp home, the convent (both from the movie and the one the REAL Maria was in), the church where they filmed the wedding, the lane they drive down when the kids are climbing trees in their curtain outfits, and the garden where most of the "Doe a deer" scenes were filmed. Besides that we got to see lots of beautiful Austrian scenery, mountains, lakes, and the headquarters of Red Bull (Austrias BIGGEST export, even before Swarovski crystal!). It was a great tour, really cool to be in the places where they filmed The Sound of Music, and a great way to see Salzburg. We got one of Maria's favorite things--apfelstrudel with vanilla ice cream from this little cafe that has won awards for its strudel! After the tour, we spent some time wandering the garden and then went to dinner. We found this super authentic Austrian restaurant. This time I DID have wienerschnitzel :) and Sacher torte, a chocolate and apricot cake that originates in Vienna and Salzburg. We ate so well in Austria haha! Rodolfo, Allegra, Alex, Michelle, and I went to an Irish pub after dinner to enjoy the Salzburg "night life." We were all pretty tired, however, so we went back to the hostel (and bed) before long.
Sunday we got up planning to do some shopping, but soon realized that shops in Salzburg aren't open on Sundays! Michelle and I wandered around downtown Salzburg for the morning, getting pretzels and chocolate:). After that we met up with Maria and Michael and headed back to the hostel to get the car and make our way back to Bologna. We spent most of the day driving back, and finally got back to Bologna at about 7 in the evening. The scenery on the way back (when I was awake) was gorgeous--fall colors and mountains everywhere!
It was a long, sometimes hard, weekend, but I am so glad we did it! Austria is absolutely beautiful. It reminds me of something out of a fairytale, and I really didn't want to leave! I hope I get the chance to go back and stay for more than just a few days.
I have just had class yesterday and today, nothing too exciting. Now I have a lot of work to catch up on since I didn't have time for homework this weekend. Last night, Erin, her mom and grandma, Michelle, Alex, Allegra, Anne, and I took a cooking class at a little bed and breakfast outside of the city. We learned how to make handmade pasta! It was really fun, although I don't know if that will be a dish I make for myself as it is quite time consuming. We had a delicious meal with three different types of pasta (all made at least in part by us!). It was not only yummy, but was also a fun way to spend an evening.
All right, I wanted to get everyone caught up and tell you about Austria while it's still fresh in my mind, but now I really have to get to work!
xoxo

p.s. PIXX OF AUSTRIA