up at 8am and out of there at 9am


met renata in te lobby and had breakfast at the hostel for 3.50 euro... it was an all you can eat type thing with a whole variety of things on offer. i really just don't eat enough at an all you can eat thing to make it worth while but oh well..


caught tram no.58 to the schloss Schonbrunn (the summer palace) where we really couldn't see much as they were setting up for the Barbara Streisand concert that was happening later that night.


wandered around the gardens at the back of the palace (free) which were magnificant...


they had a section for kids that included a hedge maze, which of course we had to go into...


got attacked by hundreds of school children jumping out from beind bushes scaring us! but eventually concoured the maze and reached the viewing platform in the middle which gave an amusing view of those lost in the maze below!

it was really fun...


it's the totally random things you end up doing on trips that make it memorable!

caught the underground back to the center of town and did a hop on hop off kind of tram ride around the ring road. (the tram went round in a circle around the center of town hence called the ring road!)

more hopping off when renata felt like it then when there was anything to see... but we did get to see some interesting parts of the city.

walked around the Ratthaus which was all fenced off due to another concert happening there as well, walked back up to the Imperial Palace (the Hofburg)

where we sat in the sun on the steps relaxing and enjoying the group out playing frisbee on the lawn, they were really good, and once they relaised they were being watched they really put on a show!
After about half an hour there was this dramatic change in the weather in like 2 seconds. the sky went from being lear and blue to being black and tornado type winds... freaky
the grounds cleared as people rushed to get to shelter.

and we soon joined the rushing crowds out of there.
it was crazy we were walking under the lovely trees and branches where coming hurling towards us, and we're not talking little ones!

Renata stopped to video tape it all... and i had visions of her being hit in the head by one...
then the rain came
ran the last little bit to shelter under the coloumns of the opera house.
many others had the same idea..

it was bitterly cold.

eventually we decided to head over the road where we could see and open subway that looked warm!
so we ended up having subway for dinner, where we sat and realised just how dirty we ended up being... from the swirling dirt storms to the rain, the two of us looked a treat!

we tried to clean up as best we could, for we were heading to the opera! hahah visions of them taking one look at us and kicking us out
picked up our tickets for the opera, and wandered around the beautiful foyer, and all the lovely dressed people...

there was a huge mixture of people, from the well dressed, in their sunday best to the lowly backpackers like ourselves.. some even in thongs! hahaha we weren't that bad...

found one girl that had been sent away as her skirt was too short, so she'd run to the shops and found some fluro red stockings! haha
but they let her in, and us!

our seats were the cheap seats and right at the very top... so high up that when you sat down you couldn't even see the stage...

we could see the orchestra pit though, well from the wind instruments back!
It was funny, became the running joke of the night being unable to see...

our view

Renata made a run for it early on and managed to score a seat that she could kind of see in, i on the other hand stuck it out where i was... was sitting next to some amusing lads, and we had our own comentarty going on as to what was happening down below that we couldn't see..
in the end the three of us ended alseep on each other shoulders!

were rudely awoken in intermission with people giving us some amused looks...
Renata was kind enough to take a photo as proof that we fell asleep!

then it was on for act 2... my 2 sleeping companions made a run for it, deciding the pub was a better place, and that they had already seen more than enough.

spent the next section semi awake, still not knowing what was going on down on stage... and taking bets on how long it would be till they died!

it finished at 1030pm

Got in trouble from Renata for not watching it! hahaha
supposedly we were talking to loud and annoying the others..
oops

caught the underground back after waiting for a bus that never came (and was never going to!)
got completely lost, and walked around for a good hour in circles, in the seady section of town...

got back after midnight
organised to meet up bright an early in the morning...

ended up spending most of the night in the hostel pub, which was very interesting in so many ways.