Saturday morning we woke up early to get to the Naschmarkt which was an flea market with many different vendors with scarfs, fruits, veggies, meat, fish, linens and much more. This day was especially busy becasue the Sturm season is in session. Sturm is a special kind of wine that is made during the months of September and October in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. It is more of a sparkling wine and tastes a lot like grape lemonade. At this market they sold it for very cheap and you are only able to get it at the market or directly from a vineyard. The market stretched for about 3 blocks of the city and took a long time to see all of it. We ate lunch outside the Opera House and took many pictures. This is one of us outside the opera house next to a fountain. After lunch we went to an Impressionism exhibit at the Albertina Gallery.
We saw 2 floors of artwork from Monet, Renoir, Degas, van Gogh, and many many more. I was very excited to see some of my favorite artwork but no Starry Night from van Gogh. The Albertina is also part of Habsburg Palace and we were able to see some of the Habsburg State Rooms which were very detailed and beautiful. Wish I could show pictures but there were none allowed in the gallery or the state rooms, believe me I 
tried to get some, got in trouble a few times though...oops. A few inhabitants of the palace were Archduke Charles, Princess Henriette, and Archduke Albrecht. I need to read a little more about the history because I don't really know who these people are. We then saw the monument against war and fascism. The walk-in monument is to serve as a memory of the darkest period in Austrian history. The area is dedicated to all victims of war and fascism. Ironically, at the time I took this picture there was an anti-Iran going on. The picture to the right is a bronze sculpture of a kneeling man representing the humiliation of Jewish citizens in Vienna after the annexation of Austria to the Germans on March 12th 1938. On our way to dinner we passed a group of men playing music on the street. What makes it interesting is they were playing Sentimental Journey! Nana and Grandpa, I posted the video here for you. And it will also be on Photobucket. Later that night Angela, Paola, Hillary and I sat outside of the Opera house to 
watch the opera on the outdoor screen. 
The other girls were able to get standing room tickets inside. We saw Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) composed by Tschaikowski. I wish I had known more information about the opera before we watched it becasue it was very confusing and we didn't really know what was going on. We now know that it is a 3 act opera about a man who lost money and falls in love. I am planning on reading more about it. I posted a video of the beginning of the instrumental part of the opera.
After the opera we went to the world famous Cafe Sacher and got original chocolate Sacher-Torte and Hausgemachter Wiener Apfelstrudel (Homemade Viennese Apple Strudel). They were not as good as I was expecting and had heard but the desserts were satisfying after a 3 hour opera in German.
On Sunday we again got up early and Allie and Robin went to the Spanish Riding School and watched a show with the world famous Lipizzaner stallions. While they were there, the rest of us got off on a random stop in the metro and ended up finding a huge amusement park. This park was built after World War II to lift the Austrian spirits and become a public place for people of all ages to enjoy themselves.
After the park we went back to the area we were in on Saturday but went to the Imperial Residence. We laid outside for a bit in the palace gardens, which were beautiful. We were only able to take pictures of the outside of the palace but it was still good pictures. After this we went to St. Michael's Cathedral right outside of the Spanish riding school. This is one of the most beautiful churches I have seen. I got chills when I went inside and saw all the details decorations. We wanted to see the crown jewels of Austria but it was too expensive to see a few jeweled crowns, 18 euros! As we were walking back towards the center we saw a man dressed in all gold singing. He sang to the group in Italian. He was supposed to be Mozart. We found a great little place on a side street for dinner but it ended up being mainly Italian so we all got pasta of some sort.
On Monday we had to check out of the hostel by 9am so we needed to bring all our stuff with us until our 6am bus. After we checked out we headed straight for the Schonbrunn Palace. We were not able to get a tour for free but we could get into the back of the palace which was where the real view was. The area of the palace and grounds is HUGE. The pictures capture only a fraction of the beauty of this place.We took the rest of the day easy. Angela and I went back to the palace gardens where we were on Saturday and wrote post cards and took power naps. At around 5 we headed to the bus station to catch our 6:30 bus and we arrived back in Prague at around midnight but didn't get home until after 2am. Since the metros shut down at midnight we needed to figure out a tram route home. We just rode around on different trams until we started seeing things we recognized. Luckily we picked the right ones to get on and off. Overall this was a very successful and fun trip. I learned a lot about both myself and others and an immense amount of history. I love this whole traveling thing. Its so liberating. Well I am off to register my visa with the Czech Police, hopefully I'll be legal not be sent home next week!!
