In Vienna!

For the last two weeks Phil, Grant, and I have been in Bardejov. Now the second half of our trip is beginning. For the next two weeks we will be traveling throughout Europe, visiting Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy. We will greatly miss Ed and Wendi and their family (we wanted to take Shaylee with us, but she wouldn't fit in Phil's backpack), but we are also excited for the certain adventures that lay before us!

Tonight I'm writing from the Wombat's Hostel in Vienna! As I'm sitting here in the lobby reflecting on the events of the past two days, I'm realizing just how much has actually gone on since the last time I posted. Let's jump right in and I'll get you caught up on the events that led us to Vienna.

Yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, Wendi and Shaylee drove Ed, Phil, Grant and I to the train station to board for Zilina, Slovakia. Ed needed to be in Zilina for the start of their intern training and Grant had arranged to meet up with Brano. (Brano spent a year living with Joe and Barb as a foreign exchange student about 14 years ago. I may have mentioned this in my last post but here it is just to be safe).

Brano was waiting to meet us when we got off the train in Zilina. He helped us overcome the language barrier in purchasing our tickets for Vienna the next day and then led us across the street to our hotel. Brano had graciously arranged for us to stay in probably the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in, right next to the train station. Phil, Grant, and I all had our own private rooms, each of which was stocked with bottled water and red wine. The shower in the bathroom reminded me of a space shuttle.

After we had gotten settled in, Brano took us out to dinner at a great Slovak restaurant! I ordered a Slovakian sampler dish, with several different kinds of halusky and pirogie. I even had a Kofola (the national drink of Slovakia. It slightly resembles Coke).

When we had finished eating, we went with Brano back to his house. His wife and 9-month old son were out of town at his in-laws, so we had the place to ourselves. Our incredible host rolled out the red carpet for us again, bringing out plates full of spicy salami's, amazing cheeses, and marinated olives. We stayed and talked at Brano's house until around 2:00 in the morning before we finally headed back to our hotel.

This morning (Wednesday), Brano met us at our hotel for breakfast and then took us around Zilina for a post-breakfast tour. At 11:15, Brano walked with us to the train station and stayed with us until we boarded our train for Vienna. I am incredibly indebted to Brano for the kindness he showed us during our short time in Zilina. I deeply regret that we were not able to spend more time with him in this beautiful city.

Our train arrived in Vienna at around 4:00 this afternoon. From the train station we took a taxi to the Wombat's Hostel, which Grant had previously arranged accommodations at. After a short period of checking into our room and getting settled in for the night, Grant, Phil and I headed out to explore Vienna! This city is absolutely amazing! Just about every other building completely takes your breath away. I've definitely never been in a city like this before, where it seems like you could walk around all day and never see all there is to see.

We ate dinner in the middle of Vienna at a traditional Austrian cafe. I had something with a very long German name that I can't remember right now. It was grilled turkey, pork and bacon on top of small dumplings all covered in a creamy mushroom sauce. I may not be able to remember the name, but the taste can be easily described......amazing!

After we ate, we spent probably another 2 hours or so walking around Vienna. Some of the highlights were: the many huge stone statues that decorate just about every city block, the gigantic catholic cathedral, and the majestic Austrian parliment building. We all agreed that if Jaylin were here she would say that Vienna "has the style".

So that pretty much takes us full circle. We're back at the hostel after touring the city and I'm sitting here in the lobby writing this blog post. Tomorrow morning we're getting up for breakfast at 7:30, then going to tour a palace!

Let the adventures begin!

Until next time, this is Ben signing off from Vienna.