Exploring Vienna and Venice

Week 5: Group trip to Vienna and Venice

I fell in love with Venice!

The past two weeks have been filled with adventures all around Europe to many different cities. Living out of a tiny backpack for two weeks and hopping from city to city has made me realize that there is nothing like traveling all around the world. You get to experience different cultures, see new ways of living, and compare your norms to others. There are so many things you can gain from stepping into another place. These past couple of weeks I had the privilege to experience life from many new cities. We loaded up the bus, said goodbye to Olomouc, and made our way to the posh city of Vienna, Austria! When we finally arrived to our destination, I was in awe of this beautiful city! After we checked into our hostel, we dropped off our backpacks and hit the ground running! We were all making comments about how clean the streets where and how friendly the people were! (A nice change from the angry Czechs haha.) I could tell that this city was more fancy and high class compared to many other cities that we have been to. Right away we spotted a café famous for their delicious waffles, and of course we had to stop by and try one! This café is where I first realized that Vienna had great food! For example, one night I had spinach dumplings. This may not sound like the most appetizing meal, but they were absolutely amazing! Therin and I spent most of the afternoon one day in a café since this is what the locals normally do. We visited the Vienna’s oldest café and tried their famous sacher cake and apple strudel, which both were just amazing. Vienna is also the place where I found the world’s best schnitzel- seriously the world’s best. I have had a lot of great schnitzel in the Czech Republic, but nothing compares to this 120-year-old recipe of a big, fat, classic schnitzel the size of my entire plate. Just thinking back on it makes my mouth water.

The great waffles! Raspberry spread with bananas!

Spinach Dumplings 

Apple Strudel

The most amazing schnitzel ever!

Along with the food, the sights were also amazing. We were able to visit the Imperial Treasury where many of the Habsburgs valuables are kept. The Habsburg family ruled over a huge part of Europe for many years until they were overthrown. In this museum we were able to see many of their jewels, fancy wardrobes, valuables, and the amazing crown. We also visited Vienna’s museum of Natural History, the palace, St. Stephan’s cathedral, and the beautiful parks! Vienna was an amazing city full of beauty and class.

The Habsburg crown

This was my favorite thing inside the treasury! There is a piece of the table cloth from the last supper, a tooth of John the baptist, a piece of wood from Christ's manger, and a piece of the loincloth of Christ.

The Museum of Natural History

St. Stephan's Cathedral

Inside the cathedral

Our next stop was Venice, Italy! I have always dreamed of going to this unique city. Venice is made up of more than 180 small islands, and is filled with so much charm. What I loved most was that there were no cars and roads; it was all just canals and little allies to walk through with bridges connecting them. Venice is also quite the place to get lost! I never knew where I was going or how to get anywhere, but that was the part of the experience and fun that Venice had to offer. A few of us got to cross taking a gondola ride off our bucket list! It was such a peaceful ride to see and enjoy the great city of Venice. We also spent a lot of time sitting by the Grand Canal, just taking in the view.

The gondola ride!

Venice:) 

A beautiful view of Venice from above!

We made our way to St. Mark’s Basilica, which was originally built in the year of 829- isn’t that crazy!! In every city we see so many beautiful churches that were build so long ago, but this is the oldest church that we have visited yet! It was also incredibly fascinating to be standing in a church were the apostle Mark was buried. It was unbelievable to think that this is where his body is laid.

St. Mark's Basilica

While we were staying in Venice, the University there had their graduation. I found it very interesting to watch how they celebrate their graduations compared to the way that Americans do. The main square was flooded with people! From graduates and professors to family members and friends, everyone was there to celebrate! Besides the fact that the graduates wore wreaths on their heads, the graduation seemed very similar to ones back home.  

Like all places I go, I fell in love with the food! I made sure that ate plenty of pizza and pasta while I was in Italy. Also the gelato is to die for! Which meant that we had to stop and get ice-cream cones two or three times a day.J  Venice is also the place where we found the best little pasta place EVER. My friend back home (shout out to Katie Warneke J) saw that I was in Venice from a picture I posted and messaged me raving about this small homemade to-go pasta place call Dal Moro’s! After an hour of many wrong turns and dead ends, we finally found this hidden treasure. All of us fell in love with this place so much that we went there twice and we were only in Venice for two full days. The second time we went there, we were just going to quickly grab it to go before we had to run to catch our train to Verona. However, we got there thirty minutes before it opened and become very disappointed because we would not make our train if we waited until it was open. The owner’s dad overheard us talking and told us that he would sneak us in if we didn’t tell a single soul, because he might get in trouble. So we all dashed in the shop, ordered our pasta, and then ran out with our delicious meal in our hands only to find people waiting in line right outside the shop starring at us. We all looked at them and then hurried off to catch our train. I will never forget such a fun moment!

The great and wonderful Dal Moro's pasta place!

The girls enjoying a nice diner :) 

Tiramisu for dessert! 

Seafood spaghetti! 

I had such an incredible time exploring Vienna and Venice. Getting to observe their culture and admiring the beautiful sights these cities have to offer was priceless. I enjoyed the little time that I was blessed with to see these cities! Next stop- spring break!!