This Air Conditioned Hotel Room is the Bomb.com

View of the Rhine from the castle

Before I even get to talking about Vienna, let’s go over the few days before the trip. On Friday, we visited the Hildegard von Bingen museum in Bingen. Women are rarely mentioned in history and much less so in medical history, but Hildegard was such an outstanding woman. Writer, composer, Abbess, philosopher, and prophetess, this girl did it all. My favorite fact about her is that whenever she doesn’t get her way, she “falls ill” until the others agree to her demands. After the museum, we took a cruise along the Rhine and saw the beautiful castles and vineyards that line the river’s banks.

The Labyrinth

This past weekend I had a staycation and enjoyed relaxing in Bonn. On Saturday, I had brunch and went shopping with some friends. Afterwards, Martha and I had a photoshoot in Rheinaue, a large park in Bonn. We also did the labyrinth in the park. I was overconfident when entering the maze since I had done a few large mazes before, but I was soon humbled. The yellow tarps and sharply angled turns made the labyrinth visually confusing. There were no landmarks to help me memorize where I had been. Eventually, I just started walking really fast and somehow made it to the exit. I rewarded myself with a slushie.

"Dr. Schnabel"

On Sunday, I just relaxed at home and did some homework. I knew the next few days were going to be rough since we had to get up at 3:45 AM on Tuesday. After our SUPER early flight to Vienna, we were given a walking tour of the city by “Dr. Schnabel”, who mysteriously looks like Dr. Wasser. Now, I’m not saying that Dr. Wasser and Dr. Schnabel are the same person, but I’ve never seen them in the same place at the same time.  

A painting I liked in the Albertina

We did other fun things in the afternoon like a crypt tour and dinner at the goulash museum, but the memory that will stick with me is the horses. This isn’t the closest death encounter I’ve had with horses, but it still hurt. For some reason, my immune system kicks into maximum overdrive whenever horses are nearby, so my airways get inflamed. At least some justice was served since Madeline ate horse goulash for dinner.

Another painting I liked

After a full night's rest, our group went to the Drogistenmuseum, a drug and pharmacology museum. I found it really interesting that mummies were consumed by people and believed to have medicinal properties. The rest of the day was free time, so a few of us went to a cat cafe. We drank coffee while playing with the cats and almost witnessed a fight between the cats and a passing dog. Next, we went to the Austrian National Library and the Albertina. The library was enormous and a lot nicer than the libraries on Texas A&M’s campus. The Albertina had an exhibit with works organized chronologically from Monet to Picasso.

I also liked this painting

We finished the night by going to Prater. Our plan was to ride the Ferris wheel, then head back to the hotel and get some rest; however, we soon realized that this was not an option. Prater was more than a public park, it was an amusement park. Of course, we rode a few rides ranging from mild to extreme. Along the way, we played a few crane machines and won some prizes. Our last ride was the Ferris wheel that gave us an amazing view of Vienna at night.

The next morning, we took a tour of the Narrenturm and saw pathological and anatomical abnormalities from real patients from the 18th and 19th centuries. In the afternoon, we had a lecture about Sigmund Freud and visited the Freud museum. Our last activity of the night was a string quartet concert at St. Anne’s church. We still have one last day in Vienna, then I’m heading to Budapest. Vienna was lots of fun and I think we all made great memories, even if they were a little sweaty.

Auf Wiedersehen!