Something that really cracks up Americans when they first get to Austria is the similarity between the Hofer grocery store and Aldi!
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Same store, different name, same low prices! |
Some friends in my dorm, who were in Vienna last semester, started the wonderful tradition of family dinners. Each person takes a turn making dinner for the group and then others volunteer to do the dishes. It’s a great system and I was lucky enough to get in on it =) Last semester the dinners consisted of about five or so people, but this past weekend we had a record number of fourteen people join the cooking club!
My roommate Sabine and I went on a stroll one beautiful day and took some pictures :)
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Karlskirche -- St. Charles Church
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The Rathaus always has events going on in front of it. A month ago I was ice skating there, last weekend I went to a BMX bike show, and this past week a festival.
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| Rathaus |
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| Vienna for you. |
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There are cafes all over the city of Vienna and it perfectly expectable to buy a cup of coffee and sit for couple of hours with someone or alone doing work. I've found that enjoying a cup of coffee in Vienna is more of an experience than simply grabbing a quick drink to go. It comes in a real mug, and a glass of water on the side and it's great. But 'To-Go' coffees are becoming more and more popular with the influence of Starbucks. While I throughly enjoy a Vienesse cup of joe, I do miss the bottemless cups of coffee in American diners.
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The film The Third Man, is a classic film about Vienna in 1947, a time when the city is shell-shocked from the war and occupied by four powers (American, British, French, Soviet). I went to see this movie in a theater and really loved it. It's a murder mystery that deals with scandal and the black market and is surprisingly mostly in English because the main character is visiting from America. It was neat to see the city on the big screen directly after WWII.
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Adventure to Salzburg! We left Friday afternoon as soon as class got out and returned on Saturday around midnight.
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| My travel buddies |
Train to Salzburg was about three and half hours.
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| Salzburg |
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| A storm rolled in shortly after we got there. |
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| We needed to find dinner quick! |
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Awesome restaurant-- Rick Steves' number one recommendation!
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| The best meal my friend has ever had! |
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| It was so good Lauren and I went back the next day to get the potato sauerkraut soup, again. |
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Mozart's Birth House!
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Everything Mozart!
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| Spring is here :) |
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| We hiked up to Festung (Fortress) Hohensalzburg |
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| Österreich |
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| Small cemetery by the fortress, I have no idea how you get buried here, but there were old and recent graves. |
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| Not that recent! This tomb stone said 2009, but they must have just laid down fresh dirt... |
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Dom zu Salzburg
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| What I will wear. |
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| What my children will wear. |
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| Beautiful Painted Blown Easter Eggs! |
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| Beautiful City |
Salzburg was amazing. I would certainly go back. The hills were alive with the sound of music!
I did not go on the Sound of Music Tour, but I did try to do my fair share of Do, Re, Mi-ing! My roommate told me the funny thing about that movie is people in Austria have never even seen it, but it's so popular in the States!
Salzburg was awesome.
xoxo
Maggie
