vienna, day 1

It has been a loooong day. Just yesterday (well, Saturday really), Krysta and I were in Champaign-Urbana watching my little sister graduate from college. Then Sunday evening we hopped on a plane in Chi-Town and flew over to Vienna for our first trip abroad together. Although we're both very tired now, I wanted to get some thoughts down because I'm likely to forget a lot of what happened today in the haze of jetlag.

Krysta and I both had a hard time sleeping at all on the planes, but it was otherwise an uneventful couple of flights. Heathrow airport is enormous. It simply dwarfs anything we have in the States, although so much of it is unused space. Vienna airport is just way outside the metro area, meaning a 25-30min train ride through farm country. It really looked a lot like parts of Illinois or Wisconsin, albeit with smaller fields and smaller cars.

We're staying with some friends who are opera singers studying here. This is great for several reasons. It means there's lots of beautiful singing going on around the apartment, it means there's a piano in the apartment so maybe I won't lose all of the progress I've made in the last month, and they know the neat tricks about going to see The Magic Flute at the Statsoper, which is on the agenda for tomorrow.

Vienna (Wien) is a small city, and a rather clean city. After setting down our things at the apartment, we got down to the most important item of business: eating. Mel and Gabe took us to Ice am Schwedenplatz for some outstanding ice cream. Then Gabe and I left the vegetarians and wandered over to the sausage stand on Hohermarkt for the best "hot dog" I've ever had. They take these fantastic french rolls, and stab a large spike down the middle of it. Into the hole created by the spike, they pour a good amount of spicy mustard, and then put a bratwurst in there. Mmmmmm.

We walked around a bit more and got a quick taste of the city center. Here are some pictures from our evening stroll. Between the jet lag and the meandering nature of our walk, there aren't very many and I can't explain what all of them are. There will be more tomorrow, probably with some explanation.

Now, I sleep the sleep of the jetlagged gods.