Vienna, Austria and beyond...

It has been some time since my last post. I'll try my best to update you on the past week or so, as I have covered a lot of ground since then. When I last updated you, I was in Vienna, Austria, having just arrived from Prague, Czech Republic. So let's get going with Vienna (Wien)...

First off, the city reminded me of Wisconsin, really UW-Madison, for a couple of reasons. We say Vienna, the Austrians say Wien, so the symbol for the city is a big "W". Secondly, the city's colors are red and white. Third, the stately buildings in Vienna reminded me of the academic buildings on the UW campus. To top it, off I saw a man in a tour group in the city wearing a Wisconsin athletic pullover...

Vienna is very beautiful. It is like Prague with respect to the buildings and decadent facades but on a much larger and more majestic scale. Unlike Prague, Vienna has a "working," real city feel and is less congested, or at least the tourists are less noticeable. The city has a ton of history and culture and is very international. Think Mozart, Beethoven, ballrooms and waltzes, etc. Here are a few words that I wrote down to describe my impressions of Vienna: Royal, Imperial, Grand scale.

The city also has numerous parks, fountains, statues, spires, steeples, domes, and cupolas galore!

I had the opportunity to experience Viennese cuisine with Mike and a colleague in a traditional, family restaurant which was incredible. Vienna is known for its Schnitzel (veal) and I sampled a few variations of it along with some other seasonal dishes.

On my short visit to the city I saw plenty and covered a lot of ground although it is very easy to get around the city center either on foot or by subway (U-Bahn). Highlights of the sights from Vienna include: the Kunst Historiches Museum (Art History) which had some great art and the interior and exterior were decorated very lavishly; The Burggarten and Volkgarten, which are former royal gardens now open to the public; the Hofburg, the royal palaces of the Hapsburg Family; the Rathaus (city hall); the Karlskirche and Votif Kirches (churches); Stephan Dom (cathedral); lunch in the Naschmarkt (a large outdoor market with restaurants, cafes, and food vendor stands where you can buy and eating anything imaginable); the posh Kohlmarkt Street; and when I was wondering around the Hofburg, I was almost run over by the famous, white Lipizzaner stallions that were on their way for a workout in the arena. Just incredible... Oh and one evening, I ate at a "running" sushi bar with a co-worker of Mike's. That was a very interesting and delicious experience.

I left Vienna and Mike and his great hospitality and generosity and took a train to Innsbruck, Austria (roughly a half-way point between Vienna and Milan). The train ride was beautiful, especially once I was up in the mountains, rolling through the small Austrian towns and villages and past steep pastures filled with cattle. I did not get to see much of Innsbruck because the weather was rainy and overcast and it was dusk, but what I could see was beautiful. A very nice ski town in the mountains. I had a nice hostel and met some great people during the short stopover.

The next day (Friday) I left for Milano, Italia, which is where I am writing this post from. On the ascent into the Alps on the train, the rain turned to snow and there were blizzard like conditions. I guessed that in some spots there was already 2" or more already on the ground. It was surreal to see that much snow like that in October, but very beautiful as it stuck to the pine trees. Once we crossed the Austrian-Italian border and began to descend from the mountains the weather changed to rain and then eventually it stopped raining. The signs in the towns on both sides of the border are in both German and Italian which was interesting. As I traveled south, Italian became the only language and the architecture and landscape began to look more "Italian" if that is possible... At least in my mind.

So I am currently in Milan (Milano), Italy and I have been staying with fellow students from Lawrence who graduated a year ahead of me and are now living and working in Milan. Mike and I took an Italian course together and I know Elena through mutual friends. It was nice to see some fellow Lawrentians again!

I have been in Milan since this past Friday and I will be leaving for Florence tomorrow. After Florence, I will travel to Salerno in southern Italy, and then make my way back up through Rome and maybe a few other places before arriving in Spain. Day by day... I'll do an "Italian" post hopefully by the weekend, no guarantees though...

So that's that. It's been a blast so far and I am still going strong...
Ciao!
NPL

p.s. This Tuesday will be the 2 month mark of my travels!