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Travel Journal - Vienna - Day 4

day 4
5th june 2012
Vienna, Austria


This morning I woke up to have to tell Puppa that I forgot the Canon charger back home. That's how the day started badly. Then when we left we realized we hadn't locked the luggage in the room - got a huge firing from Puppa which made me very angry and upset. I always end up being the one yelled at. Vienna (Wien) is much safer and friendlier than Cairo - they have a LOT of politeness, civic sense and chivalry; it is also EVEN more expensive. 1 Euro=70 Rs, and here they use 1 euro like 1 rupee!! :( We end up calculating a lot. We saw Maria Teresa's palace today - she was the main empress here. It's also FREEZING COLD!! I roam around with a lot of tops and sweaters and mittens and scarfs and I still feel cold. Freezing cold. :( we travelled by the super fast subway - saw people making out in public n all. Today we visited the empress Maria Teresa's royal palace - it has a gorgeous garden, a pretty difficult maze around the back, and also a viewing point on the top of the hill opposing the palace. Inside it's turned into a museum with all the info and artefacts from that time. I discovered a new style of painting, clothing, colors, framing and decor - 'Rococo' and had studied a little about it on wikipedia before arriving. It uses assymmetry instead of the renaissance style symmetry.

We also had a wonderful session of Apfelstrudel show! There a chef showed us how to make the famous original Vienese recipe of Apple Strudel! :) We also got a free sample which was wonderful. After that dad got reall hungry and so was I. We ate the cheapest (1.5 Euros) burgers and a delicious warming cappucino at McD which was pointless, coz later we bought Strawberries, Cherries, and also had a proper 6 Euro lunch at the youth hostel, which was totally worth it. I know I'm sounding super stingy, but when you're a travelling broke Indian, your jaw drops when you calculate, and it hits you in the face! :-s
Anywho. We quickly freshened up and took the sub back to the palace. There was a concert we attended - it was absolutely beautiful. The music was flawless, well composed (by of course, the Vienese master Amadeus Mozart) and it was performed and conducted so beautifully by these musicians. Some of the pieces had a pair of graceful dancers or a pair of opera singers along with the pieces.

I was stunned by how perfect the loudness, pitch, tempo and synching of all the many instruments was! There were Cellos, Violins, trumpets and a few more things at the back. We were too far to see ALL those guys. In an hour's time we got back to the room. I'm super sleepy now so I'll conclude by saying - "Wien is wonderful, fast, quaint and beautiful."
See you guys, if anyone's still reading.

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