So It's Pretty Much Amazing Here

The Internet in this hotel is free! Yay for "free" Internet.

We are here in Vienna. It is about 5:30 PM here and we just got back from our tour. Keep in mind that we left the hotel at 9 AM this morning. It has been a day. Vienna looks a lot like Dresden and Dresden looks a lot like the nicest parts of Prague, only here the food is much more expensive. You guys can't even imagine how cheap we can be, lol.

Our guide today was Gerti and she was incredible. She took us all around Vienna and she is a social butterfly, so she basically has the hookup everywhere. In Prague, we could not get close to the alter, but with Gerti, we do everything. Today we went to a palace that I cannot spell without looking at our syllabus and the art museum. The art is so incredible here. I saw the original Jacques-Louis David of Napoleon Bonaparte on a horse in a red cape, three Rembrandt self-portraits, Hirschl, Makart, Velasquez, Schiele, and others I either cannot remember or even come close to spelling, lol.

The weather was okay. Vienna is a windy city and that is no different in January. The weather is actually quite like Erskine this time of year.

Okay, here are some generalizations and observations that I will make about Europe/Europeans after only a week here.

1. The taxi cars are Mercedes...Benz. To break it to you gently, our tour bus is a mercedes. And, in case you didn't know, that means it's uber nice.

2. Europeans love order. Everything has a place.

3. The bathrooms in Europe are incredibly clean. This should be expected in a place where it can cost up to one American dollar to pee. Same price for a number two, lol.

4. Europe is much more fun when your friends are here. I am getting a distinct impression that people who came with people they were tight with before are having the time of their lives.

5. The BEST of everything (art, music, ballet, opera, food....men) all here in Europe. As an aside, I saw a ballet of a Midsummer Night's Dream and it was incredible! For those of you who are familiar with the Bard: You know the part where Oberon sends Puck to get the magic love flower? Well, in the ballet version they depicted Puck's journey by dropping a film screen and playing footage of the sky and sea and hills. Simultaneously, they suspended Puck and spot lighted him. So basically, it looked like Puck was flying and swimming. It was pretty much amazing. And the Opera House in Prague is pretty much the most amazing thing I have ever seen!

Okay, I miss you guys.

-ash