Gettin' out of the Country

So for a while the fact that I have yet to leave Germany has been hanging over me. Don't get me wrong, Germany is great! But I still felt the need to get around Europe a little bit while I was here. So of course I jumped at the opportunity for an extended weekend when I learned that classes would not be held on Tuesday the 1st of November due to the observance of All Saints Day in Cologne. This would mean a 4 day weekend if I missed my one German class on Monday the 31st. So the opportunity was there, now to find a destination.

That came up rather organically as well. Several international friends had just gone on a trip to Vienna and Budapest and claimed both cities were amazing. This claim was verified by other sources and a train ticket between the two capitals proved to be astoundingly cheap. I coordinated with the two other American students from the University of Minnesota who were studying in my program and they agreed that a weekend in Vienna and Budapest sounded like a great idea.

The plans were quickly laid, the two of them would be in Munich on Saturday for a soccer game so I would fly down to Vienna that day and stay with yet another University of Minnesota student who was living and studying in Vienna (it really pays to know people). I would then meet up with the other two on Sunday. We would spend that Sunday in Vienna, travel to Budapest Monday, return on Tuesday and then each catch a plane back to Cologne. Fool proof plan!

Well it turned out that there were a few snags in the plan. First my online plane ticket to Vienna was booked for the wrong date. I called the airline to correct the situation but they claimed they had no planes flying out of Cologne on any other day. So I was forced to cancel my ticket (receiving only a partial refund) and rebook with a different airline. By that time the tickets were not cheap either so the amount I payed for transportation alone gave me a headache. The situation was not helped by the airline staff who, it appears, were based somewhere in Eastern Europe, where English was taught to be spoken in a ridiculous accent and  at twice the normal speed. Needless to say I was not thrilled.

After that headache I arrived without any hiccups in Vienna. My comrades traveling to Munich weren't so lucky. They had planned to travel with a German ride-sharing platform called Mitfahrgelegenheit. Unfortunately their ride cancelled at the last minute and neglected to tell them until they called him repeatedly. Thinking fast though they immediately looked for another means of transportation and after exhausting air and rail they rented a car and drove down to Munich.

Meanwhile, I had met up with two other Carlson students who were living and studying in Vienna. I walked with one to the beautiful Schönbrunn Gartens, about a 10 minute walk from the apartment complex in which they lived. The gardens were beautiful, particularly during the Autumn season! They were also massive! As we walked deeper and deeper into their recesses I began to gain an appreciation for just how detailed and large they were. They were also meticulously cared for and all of the paths were perfectly straight. 


We climbed a steep hill to the south of the gardens and looked down over everything. From our vantage point we could see the Schönbrunn Schloss, a massive palace purchased by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II in 1569 and originally used as a royal hunting ground. In 1638 it became the summer residence of the Empress Eleonora Ganzaga. In recent history it was used as a headquarters by the British garrison stationed there after World War II and now serves as Vienna's chief tourist destination. 

The Schönbrunn palace.

After taking in the extraordinary view, we descended the steep hill in front of the palace and approached the monolithic structure. At the base of the hill was a gigantic, intricately carved fountain depicting the sea god Neptune and an assortment of water sprites. We completed our tour of the beautiful grounds and headed back to the apartment to rendezvous with our fellow student. We then boarded the street train for a flea market that was set up every Saturday in a square across town. 

We arrived shortly afterward and stepped out of the underground tram stop to view a huge square filled with stalls and people. We started picking through the tables piled high with assortments of odds and ends. It looked as though some vendors had literally just thrown the contents of their attics into a box, thrown that box on a table and were now attempting to sell everything. Have the fun was searching the piles of junk for interesting artifacts. Some of our more interesting finds were a gas mask, Soviet military surplus, and a German Arbeitsbuch (work book) from around the Nazi era. Throughout our search Nate bought an iPod cord to replace his old one and I found a French Franc and a Brazilian Cruzado, both of which were no longer being minted. 

We ate dinner there at the flea market and then headed back to the apartment were we rested for a short time and then met up with some of Nate and Tom's friends before heading out for a night on the town.