How do you say mayonnaise in German?

My Tuesday began at 4 in the morning. We had to meet very early for the Vienna excursion. The security check was not fun because I brought way to many liquids and they didn’t fit inside that tiny liter bag. I guess I annoyed the security man though, because he let me take all of my things without throwing anything away!

After arriving super tired to the hotel and eating breakfast, we headed outside to meet with Dr. Schnabel. He was ready to give us a medical tour of the city in his plague doctor outfit. In his bag, he brought several items that would protect us from the plague. One of the things that he brought for us to try was little boy urine. The grosser it tasted, the better it worked. 

Next, we had a tour of St. Michael’s Church and the Catacombs. There were lots of bones, skulls, wooden hand painted coffins, and 3 mummies down there, but we were not allowed to take pictures.

The last group activity for Tuesday was dinner at the Goulash Museum. That was my first time trying goulash. Our table also tried 3 different wines and 5 different desserts. Out of all the places I had ate in Vienna, this was my favorite.

<3

Wednesday we visited the Drogistenmuseum. On the tour, I learned of how people used to use crushed pieces of mummy to make medicine. After the Drogistenmuseum, we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. A group of us went to Café Neko. This café was cat themed with 5 rescue cats living there. After annoying the cats, we went to the Austrian National Library. Then, the Albertina museum. For lunch/dinner, we ate at the Naschmarket and I had the chicken schnitzel. After our meal, we decided to go to Prater park to ride the Ferris wheel. I was not expecting such a big amusement park. They had tons of rides, food, and a Madam Tussaud’s wax museum. We all rode a few rides before getting on the Ferris wheel. The theme park was a lot of fun, but I wish we didn’t have to pay per ride.

Thursday morning began with a tour of the Narrenturm. This place used to be a building for mental patients, then it was turned into rooms for nurses. Now, it is known as the Federal Pathological Anatomical Museum. Out of all the museums I have visited throughout the trip, this was my favorite. It was very interesting to see different pathological cases displayed as wax figures. What is even cooler about that is the fact that the wax models were made by creating molds on the real patients.

After lunch, Dr. Wasser gave us a lecture on Sigmund Freud and his theories of psychoanalysis. Then we toured the Freud museum and gift shop (if the Freud rubber ducks wouldn’t have been so expensive, I would have bought one).

I used the break we had to shower and get ready for the classical concert at the St. Anna Church. I sat in the very back so I couldn’t really see the performers. I could only hear them. Professor Waltz was right about those benches, they were uncomfortable. 

Friday was our last day in Vienna. We toured the House of Music and learned about the Vienna Philharmonic and other famous composers. The best part of the museum were the piano keys on the stairs!

For my final weekend trip, we traveled to Budapest. Saturday, we planned to do as much sightseeing as possible. We started touring at Hero’s square, walked through the park, then bussed over to see the Hungarian Parliament building. Afterwards, we decided to visit another cat café. This café was much bigger and had more cats than the one in Vienna. Most of them were sleeping though. For lunch, we went to the Central Market Hall to eat traditional Hungarian food. The best panoramic view of the city is on Gellert Hill, so we hiked all the way to the top. On the hill and in Central Market, there were so many souvenir stands. I could not resist the temptation to shop, so I gave in and bought the cutest wooden spoons. At the Fisherman’s Bastion, we also got a very pretty view of the city. For a snack, we bought a chimney cake, a traditional Hungarian dessert. Then we walked over to St. Stephen’s Basilica. We ended the day by riding the Budapest eye and watching fireworks pop over the city.

We spent our last day in Budapest at the Szechenyi thermal bath house. Budapest is known for their bath houses, so there were many bath houses to pick from. The bath house consisted of 3 large outdoor pools, and several smaller indoor pools. I wish we could have stayed all day, but we had an early flight back home.

This is random, but the night before Vienna, our host sister asked us if we wanted to pack sandwiches to eat on the way to the airport. I like my sandwiches with mayonnaise. So, I said, “Yes I want to make sandwiches, but where is the mayonnaise?” She didn’t understand me because she pulled out plastic bags from a kitchen drawer and said “this?” Then I described what the container looked like and she finally said, “ ahh.. my-yo-ney-zah.”