Eastern Europe!

So, Friday night- we went to the Ballet at the modern Opera House (Opéra Bastille) in Paris. It was my first time and it was really cool! The dancers were so talented, and so were the choreographers, and the costume designers and the lighting designers (for certain ones)- there were three Ballet schools: Noureev, Balanchine and Forsythe (two of them are from NY- represent!). It was really nice, even though our seats were SO high up!

We went back home instead of going out because Jess and I had to get up at 4:30 on Saturday to catch our flight from de Gaulle to Vienna, it left at 7:15 and by 9:30 we were in the city. We hopped on a tour at first and they brought us to all of the great places in Vienna, including the Schonbrunn (Beautiful Fountain, in German) Palace- which is a copy of Versailles (smaller) but more beautiful. It was incredible. After that, Jess and I grabbed fresh Apple Strudels and coffee and went back on the bus to finish the tour. After the tour, they dropped us off in front of the Opera house (Statsopera). From there we wandered around some of the parks/gardens to the Nationalbibliotek (National Library), Shmetterlinghaus (Butterfly house), Parlament (Parliament), the Rathaus (Town Hall) and some great churches- notably, Votivkirche. We were sooo tired after that (it was only 3PM)- so we went back to our hotel, on the main shopping street in Wien (Vienna, in German) and relaxed for a bit. Then, like we had already gotten married, lived our lives and retired, we went for a nice ITALIAN dinner at 5pm. By 5:45, we were done. We headed over the ferris wheel to get a good view of the city. It's really beautiful and baroque- I liked that a lot (see pictures).

We headed back to the hotel like a pair of AARP members and I was in bed doing some homework (like the nerds we are) by 8 and by 8:45, I was sleeping. How cool.

We had an excuse though- we got up at 6:30 on Sunday to take a bus to Bratislava, only 60km away- the capital of Slovakia (used to be part of Czechoslovakia, now it's Czech Republic and Slovakia). It took about an hour to get there, then our tour guide met us at the bus. He took us to this old castle/fortress on the Danube- but it was undergoing renovations, so we could only walk around the grounds. It was still so beautiful and quaint. It was interesting, since Czechoslovakia used to be part of the USSR, to see the communist architecture, aka Co-op cities on the other side of the Danube river. It was very communist- oil refineries (due to the 4000km long pipeline that sends crude oil from Russia) and housing- live and work. The other side of the river (traversed by this ultra-modern bridge that looks like a mutation of the Space Needle in Seattle) is the old city- it's so charming! Adorable churches, some famous- one where many (11 kings, 8 queens) royal family members were crowned during the reign of the Hapsburgs (the ruling family of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for like 600 years!)

Since the city is so small, and it is a capital, the majority of the buildings we saw were old palaces that were converted into Embassies. It was an adorable city. We had some time to kill before our bus back to Vienna- so we sat outside in the square in front of the Opera and the Bratislava Philharmonic soaking up the sun- it was a gorgeous day!

We sunned for about an hour and a half then headed over to the bus station, and took the bus back- through the Austrian countryside. It was gorgeous. I was so impressed by the number of windmills for electricity generation! The windmill farms stretched out as far as my eye could see, in all directions. Rows and rows and rows of them. They're huge, and they look so cool on the green countryside with hills and mountains in the distance (the Alps are on the other side of Austria, these are the Capetians).

The bus actually stopped at the Airport, so we got off there instead of going into the city and then coming back. We were early, but it was ok. Thank God our flight back was much better than the way there. We were on Air France from de Gaulle to Vienna and our plane was so old it still had ash trays in it. The seats were so close to each other, I think I need to have my knees replaced. On the way home, the flight was code shared with Austrian Airlines, and this was much better! New plane- but the seats were all teal green with red or yellow headrests. A bit bizarre, I'd say. Especially since the flight attendants uniform is a red blazer, red skirt, red stockings, red shoes and a little light blue scarf around their neck. Quite the sight.

Overall, it was a great weekend. I enjoyed myself very much, and despite not understanding any sign anywhere, everybody spoke English or French and I really look forward to going back and exploring more of Eastern Europe- which is "Europe's undiscovered gem".

One a side note, I'm SO incredibly excited for my family to come visit! As of now, 3 days and 17 hours left until I see them- it's UNREAL! I'm also very excited for our vacation together and my spring break in Italy too- I'm especially excited to see Scott (who I haven't seen since January!) and Meg, Alli and their friends too (who I saw recently).

Alright, I should run to class now- since I'm late (due to online signup for courses next semester- 8AM EST is 2PM CET!) Next semester, oh boy. Not going to be fun, let's just say it now.

But here are the links for pictures from Vienna and from Bratislava. I hope you enjoy!

A toute à l'heure!
-Josh