vienna, day 4

Today was probably our last full day in Vienna, depending on when we decide to come back from Krakow. Its a little sad because we're really just getting the hang of everything and settling into the city. That's how these things go, I suppose.

This morning we started off (after a quick kaffe and croissant, of course) with a visit to the Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury). I can tell you that the Austrian rulers over the centuries amassed a serious amount of jewels. There was a sword with a handle and sheath made of of Unicorn horn!? Ok, so it was Narwhal tusk, but they thought it was unicorn horn. Again, I couldn't really take any photos here, because they kept it dark and flash was verboten. I took some video that will be up somewhere at some point. It was a really impressive collection, however, and a morning well spent.

For lunch, we followed a friend's recommendation and made our way over to Sieben Stern Brau, which is a restaurant AND micro-brewery. I had my first (and best) experience with weiner schnitzel, Krysta had a yummy spinach strudel, and we both throughly enjoyed their beers. Our waiter was a very kind old man who I think was excited to practice his English, because he kept apologizing for it while complimenting our mediocre German. In any case it was a tasty lunch in their serene little garden.

Speaking of serene gardens, after lunch we walked over through Burgarten and posed with the nice statue of Mozart. It was nice to take a different, scenic walk home and see some new corners of the city. After dropping some stuff off at home we went over to the Naschtmarkt (farmer's market, essentially) to soak in the sights and smells. We bought some chocolates and soaps, and enjoyed a nice "melange" before coming back home to repack some things for tomorrow's travels.

This evening we set out to do some wandering down one of the major shopping streets, but found most of the shops closed even though it was only about 7pm. After getting a little bit, u, confused as to our location, we ended up hopping a train back to Stephenplatz with which we've become rather familiar, and settled into a nice little trattoria for some pizza and wine. I also finally got some Apfelstrudel, which was quite tasty.

In all today was a nice leisurely paced day with some touristy action mixed with some low-key "vacances." We're a little sad to leave Wien and leave our hosts, but I'm really excited to see Poland for the first time. No more blogging until we're back from Poland. I'll have more stories later next week!