When will you realize, Vienna waits for you!

My Vienna journey started at 3:00 in the morning with a rather crazy cab ride to our group meeting spot. I swear the cab driver must have been an aspiring nascar driver with the way he was driving. No worries I made it safe and sound to the airport and then to Vienna. Once is Vienna we dropped off our luggage and set out for a medical tour of the city by the one and only Dr. Schnabel aka Dr. Wasser dressed as a plague doctor. Dr. Schnabel showed us many thing such as where the old medical school of Vienna was located and even gave us ailments to protect us from the plague such as "little boy pee" and cloves. Although the tour was really cool the weather in Vienna during the whole trip was brutal and seemed to distract from everything we did. After the long walking tour we were free for lunch and of course had to stop for dessert as well at the cutest pastry shop. Once we were fully stuffed we headed to the Michaelerkirche and toured the catacombs. This was the coolest and creepiest thing I have ever done. When walking down into the catacombs I think I just expected to see graves built into the wall but instead I was greeted with tons of coffins lining the floor. Each wooden coffin was intricately painted with flowers, crucifixes, and other religious symbols. Additionally the catacombs were home to mummies that we were able to see and it was crazy to see how intact they were and one simply looked like it was just sleeping. The final note of creepiness was the thousands of bones covering the walls and under our feet. One really good thing about the catacombs was how cold it was down there and was a much needed break from the constant sweating. The day was then rounded out with a group dinner at the Goulashmuseum. For those who don't know goulash is simply a meat and potato stew and reminded me of my moms roast which was a nice taste of home.

The one and only Dr. Schnabel

Michealerplatz

Dinner at the Goulashmuseum

Wednesday began with a tour of the Drogistenmuseum which was a museum solely dedicated to pharmacology and was even run by older pharmacists. After the tour the rest of the day was free for us to do whatever we wanted so we decided to go to the Naschmarkt for lunch where we ate doner, falafel sandwiches, and baklava. From the market we then headed to the Austrian National Library which was then followed by a quick nap. After being reenergized we headed to one of the girl's favorite Indian restaurants and then out for drinks at an Art Deco bar that was actually visited by celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Quinton Tarantino, Mick Jagger and Jude Law.

Baklava at the Naschmarkt

Austrian National Library

Loos Bar

Thursday started with a little tai chi and a visit to the Narrenturm. The Narrenturm was once used as psychiatric hospital but is now used as a museum that shows pathological and anatomical abnormalities. Our next visit was at the Freud House where we were able to learn all about Freud and his career. The last scheduled activity for the day was a string quartet concert at the St. Anna Church. After the concert it was time to go out and we decided to start at a bar close to our hotel and then decided to go to one of Vienna's many dance clubs. We danced all night long and could have kept going until I realized that I had cut my foot on a piece of glass and was bleeding all over the place. It was probably for the best though since we had a full day of activities the next day. Our last day in Vienna came fast sadly and was kicked off with tai chi in the park. While doing tai chi we got many stares and even some little kids mimicking us. After letting our chi circulate we then took a tour of the house of music to learn about the music history of Vienna and some of its most famous musicians. The last stop of the trip was at the natural history museum where we were able to learn about anything and everything. Vienna was a real treat and I do wish we had more time to see everything but I will for sure have to come back when the weather isn't so hot!