Le Nozze Di Figaro @ The Vienna State Opera

I am excited to report that tonight we officially attended our first real opera and, lucky for us, The Marriage of Figaro was playing so we sort of knew what was going on!  The Don Giovanni marionette show brought out more of an appreciation of opera for me, but tonight took it to a whole new level and I can’t wait till I get a chance to go again.  Paul isn’t quite as enthralled, but he played the part of the good husband and stood through 3/4 of the performance with me, so I can’t complain…

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Rick Steves’ Vienna

While going to ask a question at the hostel’s reception last night, I noticed a huge pile of guidebooks available for guests to borrow, so I picked up Rick Steves’ Vienna and planned today according to his itinerary and recommendations.  We had recently used his book Rick Steves’ 2009 Italy throughout our 4 weeks in Italy since the friends we were travelling with had brought it along, and it felt familiar and comfortable to follow his book again today.  Having a route to follow and a list of places that are “must-sees” just makes sightseeing so much easier!

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Bye Bye Prague, Hello Vienna!

It’s been almost 11 weeks since we’ve stayed in a mixed dorm with strangers at a hostel (the last time was Edinburgh, which I have yet to write about), but today it’s back to hostel living with strangers again!  Fortunately, our roommates are two totally normal and easy to get along with Australian girls that we have stuff in common with, the room is comfortable and spacious, and we even have an en-suite bathroom.  It’s not the best hostel we’ve stayed at on this trip (wi-fi doesn’t work in the room), but we can’t complain too much

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Daytrip to Salzburg

After a lot of arguing/contemplation, we decided to daytrip to Salzburg, Austria today.  I initially wanted to go to the town of Füssen (in Germany) to see the famous Neuschwanstein Castle  of King Ludwig II (it’s the castle that Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle is modeled after), but Paul was more inclined to check out Salzburg since it’s right at the border of Germany and Austria and it’s more convenient to visit it now than during our trip to Austria later this year, when we’ll be in the eastern side, nowhere near Salzburg.  (more…)