Outside of Mozart's house

We stuffed ourselves at a brunch buffet

Brunch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Freud's Office

So a lot has happened in the last two weeks.

For starters, I have quit my job at the hostel. I wish I could have kept that job, it really might be one of the most ideal jobs for me. Unfortunately, the owner was a terrible manager, and really not a savvy spender. Two weeks ago, he spent $400 on a new cabinet for the kitchen (which litterally only holds the microwave), and then didn't have enough money to pay us our salaries! So we all had to wait about an extra week to get our paychecks. Also, he had a really passive aggressive way of approaching every issue, which doesn't really work for me. I had almost zero training, but everytime I asked questions, he would get distracted and then never show me anything. And, in addition, I was making $2.50 per hour and working 50 hours per week. So it really just wasn't going to work.

So I let the owner know that last week would be my last, and then I started looking for more teaching jobs. So far, I have found classes for 4 more days per week. I now have class everymorning except Thursday, and every evening except Monday. I am still looking for some more classes to fill in my afternoons.

So Saturday morning, Olivia and I took a weekend trip to Vienna. We left on a bus at 7:00am and arrived in "Wien" at 10 am. It was freezing cold, and within a few minutes of getting off the bus, it started snowing! And it is the middle of March! So we hustled to a little breakfast shop and popped in for some coffee. We also had huge breakfast cakes and danishes! Between the treats, coffees and chocolate milk, we had serious sugar overload! After breakfast, we wandered back out into the streets in search of our hostel. We had no directions, just the name of the street where the hostel was. So we decided to stop into a hotel and ask at the front desk if they could help us. One very nice man was helping us, and starting to show us on a map, when a white guy came from behind the desk, and pulled the map out of the other guy's hands. He was so rude!!! We couldn't believe it. We were just shocked that that type of racist behavior still exists! So we left there with a crummy feeling to start our trip.

Breakfast of Champions!

We got on the subway, and rode to the main train station in the city, and from there started walking toward the hostel. We met some Americans on the way, who had just arrived in Vienna at the train station. So we walked to the hostel with them. It was a group of two guys and one woman. And man! The woman was a trip! She seemed to be very high maintenance, and quite bossy. We chatted while we walked to the hostel, but as soon as we got there, we left our bags and high-tailed it out. We were not interested in spending our day with that group!

Our hostel is called Wombats Hostel - The Base. There are two other Wombats hostels in Vienna, the Lounge, which is a bit classier, and The Place, which I don't know anything about. Our hostel had a very nice lounge area, a pool table, foosball table, bar, outside patio, vending machines, etc. It was a very nice place, although more like a hotel than a hostel. We had a 4 person room, and private bathroom just for the 4 of us, which was nice!

Wombats Hostel

So we left the hostel and planned our route in Vienna. We started off at the Schonbrunn Palace, where Franz Josef I and Elizabeth lived. Franz Josef, aka Franz Jozsef in Hungarian, ruled the Austrio-Hungarain empire from 1848-1916: for 68 years! Many streets and monuments are named after him in Hungary as well as Vienna. We didn't take the tour of the palace because it was a bit too much money, and we had other sites we wanted to see. But we were able to walk through the palacial gardens free of charge. Even in the winter, when everything was dead, these gardens were spectacular! And enormous! Schonbrunn Palace

So we left the palace, and headed back toward the center of the city. Austria has produced so many talented, intelligent people. Lenin, Trotsky, Eisenhower, Mozart (not all born in Austria, but all lived in Vienna during part of their careers), and Freud. After the palace, we visited the house where Sigmond Freud lived and worked. It was fairly small, but some of his original items were still in the house. We also got a chance to see some of his actual documents and papers, and pictures of him and the people in his life.

After the museum, we went in search of food and drink, and a warm place to sit! We ended up in an Irish pub (one of the only decent places we could find in the city - most places are expensive cafes, closed on Saturday/Sunday, or posh coffee shops touting that famous people played chess there...). Then we wandered through the city, and eventually found ourselves back at the hostel. We hung out in the lounge for a bit, and then went to bed.

The next morning we had to check out of the hostel at 10, and we were starving! So we went in search of food. We found an amazing little restaurant (which will be even more amazing in the spring, with outside seating and a glass dining area) serving a brunch buffet. It was delicious! There were cheeses, breads, fruit, meats, spreads, olives, cereals, desserts, coffee, tea, everything! We ate until we couldn't breathe!

Then we headed to St. Stephans in St. Stephensplatz. We arrived at the end of a mass, so we waited across the street and had some coffee. After the mass was over, we went in and toured the cathedral a bit. After the church (which has been almost continually under construction since the 1100s) we headed just behind it to the house where Mozart lived.

And then we started out to the Belvedere palace - another grand palace were Prinz Eugen lived. It turns out that Eugen was a poor Frenchman who was forbidden from serving in the French army. So he defected, wrote a letter to the Austrian army, fled France in the night disguised as a girl, and served very successfully for the Austrians. He was then rewarded for his military success with lots of money and privileges, which afforded him the ability to have two huge palaces built in Vienna: The upper and lower Belvederes. In addition to being able to tour the palaces, there were art exhibits in each palace. Eugen was a lover of arts as well. And, lucky for Olivia, the largest exhibit of Klimt paintings is housed in the Upper Belvedere! So we got to see some of his most famous paintings! It was great! There were also many other famous paintings in the palaces.

After the Belvedere, we had to head back to the hostel to get our bags before going to the train station. We had a little bit of time to kill, and we were hungry! So we stopped in a somewhat traditional Viennese restaurant for some grub. I had two huge meatballs (more like meatloafs) (and yes, I have been eating some meat since being here... I am trying to take it all in) with mashed potatoes, and Olivia had some pork with potato salad. All delicious! Then we left for the bus station, and headed home!

It was a great trip, but we decided that we like Budapest better than Vienna. It has definitely fared better since the fall of Communism, and is a much more advanced society that here in Budapest. But there is something missing - I think its the lack of charm and character that Budapest has. In Vienna, all of the buildings are grand, and things are so expensive, and elegant. In Budapest, things just feel more "comfortable".

So today we are off work again, it is a national holiday: March 15, which celebrates the revolution in 1848. Typically, extremist groups clash violently with police, and the main street where things usually get hairy is just a 5 minute walk from where we live. We are kind of holed up in the apartment today, just taking a lazy day for a while. We bought all of the essentials last night. We will venture out a little bit later, to see if there is any excitement.

So, Happy March 15 to everyone! I hope your Monday is as relaxing as mine! :)