Weiner...

I don't know if I'll be able to ever attend the.movement again, there are no marble statues, or baraque paintings. It's just not up to my standards anymore... Totally kidding. Really, the Catholic church liked to over do it back in the day! Jesus was a big deal- and they couldn't take the chance of anyone being ignorant to the fact. I think they ensured this with the ornate churches constructed back in the day.

Prague was amazing! Beautiful city! We got in a fabulous final morning of extended sight seeing after having a couple days of much needed rest. It was a great couple hours. Lots of walking, lots of pictures taken and so many images soaked into my memory.

We arrived in Vienna safely on the 27th, another three night stay- just enough time to explore the city without getting too comfortable. We attempted to use the public transit to The Marriott Rennisance, but failed due to the fact that I had printed walking directions from the wrong train station! Silly me! One more taxi ride later we were 'home'. 

Oh thank goodness for a bed with a pillowtop mattress and fluffy pillows! They even had an indoor pool and spa... Which we never saw, I didn't think we'd need swimsuits in Europe in December...

We settled in and set out for some dinner. Being a Sunday evening, not much was open- we ended up at an Italian resturant near our hotel. We ordered beer, wine (the color of my jacket, not the tablecloth), 2 garken salads (no, I didn't spell it wrong), and a pizza that we knew had cheese on it, but the rest of the contents were unknown. It ended up being a fabulous meal! The salad was actually just a huge plate of sliced cucumbers with a very watered down ranch on it- first time we had ranch in two weeks! I had never had corn on a pizza before, but along with meat, onions and garlic it was pretty darn good! Sometimes ordering the unknown can be a great experience, if not- I've got a stockpile of cliffbars in my backpack.

We woke up at a reasonable hour the next morning and headed into the town center. We probably walked 5 miles that day, at least. Wandering through the streets of downtown we found century old churches next to newer buildings selling high fashion clothing, and men acting like a Grecian statues next to starbucks. 

Searching for a resturant in our budget, with food I would eat and in a non smoking environment took a short period of time. We finally walked into a foodcourt type of place, that was three stories under ground! It was simmilar to a souplantation, but classier. You paid after loading up your plate, but before eating. They had a huge salad bar, along with stations with everything from goulash to fillets of fish, ready to be fried to your liking. Different stations had different pricing, not knowing this, Sean loaded up his plate with a smorgashborg of food. The poor gal at the checkout just looked at him like, what the heck am I supposed to charge you for...? She eventually called over a manager. Awesome experience, and some greens were much needed after all the crap I've been eating lately!

We walked off lunch by meandering through the streets, without a map. We had no fear of getting lost, it's just nice to get off the beaten path a bit. Not be such an extreme tourist. I can't even name all the museums and cathedrals we saw. Our pictures will prove we saw too much to remember. 

Needing a change of pace we did a bit of research and reserved train tickets for the next day to Semmering, Austria. The nearest ski resort to Vienna. 

With an early morning we decided to stat close to the hotel for dinner, there was a bar across the street that caught our attention. Unfortunantly smoking inside is legal in most European countries. My right foot went in the door as the left took two steps back. It was like walking into a Vegas casino times ten due to the cramped space. ( I think I've forgotten to mention I lost my inhaler while throwing my tantrum in Prague...) Thankfully there was a pub on the next corner over, smoke free! We esch had a form of schnitzle accompanied by beer, of course, and called it a night. Awesome day.

We were on sensory overload, and I think stepping into one more ancient church would have done us in. Getting out of the city, and into the mountains was exactly what we needed. The train ride was only an hour and a half, which I slept through, and stopped at the base of the mountain. Following the local snowboarders, who looked like they belonged in California, onto a taxi bus that dropped us off half-way up the mountain, right at the base of the lifts, and in front of a rental shop!

I'm so spoiled! I've only been boarding six times, in six different mountains, in two states, two countries. And I own all my own equipment. Haha. Renting isn't the most pleasant experience, but it did the job. 

The resport was small, with mostly man-made snow... Which equals ice, with equals a bruised tush and sore knees. But it was a blast! I am awful! I can baerly even force my body into the correct form. Sean is an awesome teacher though, so I'm picking the sport up slowly, but surely. I do enjoy it. There's just something about how the snow feels under your board as you glide over it. The fear of falling isn't a huge issue in powder considtions, you just get up and dust yourself off. It's exizilerating and freeing. Even if I do suck, I still have a blast. 

Not sure when the train went back into the city, we left the mountain when we were both completly exausted (and my knees were compley bruised). Thankfully a train came in the right direction shortly after we arrived at the ghost-like train station. Unsure if it was what we needed, and with a conductor who spoke only German we took a chance. Anyways, a warm train was better than sitting in the cold! Changing trains once, we made it! Problem solved, easy as eating pie.

The concierge at the hotel was amazing! Very helpful and gave us great directions. With a strong reccomendation we headed out to a local micro-brewery. It could be compared to our Karl Strauss. Awesome beer, and Seans spare ribs where served with a heaping portion of potatos on a wooden plate! Fantastic! We started the meal with the most amusing salad, ever. It not only contained sourkraut and corn, but boiled potatos. Odd, but strangly very tasty. I had beer and cheese dunblings with a plate full of 'American dressing' the super watered down ranch again. Stepped out of my food bubble a little, but it was so good! We pretty much had to help carry each other out of the resturant- full of food, and beer.

Got to sleep in this morning which was glorious. Then enjoyed pizza served to us by an old Austrian man wearing leather pants. Totally normal Wednesday morning... At least I think it's Wednesday... That's when you know you're really on vacation! 

With love, sore muscles, and a couple extra pounds on our bodies,

- Sean & Jae