Linz, Parents, and upcoming trips!!!

Wiener Rathaus Christkindlmarkt!

the Wachau Valley, between Krems and Melk

My parents at Melk Monestary!


Sunset at Schonbrunn



Jetlag on the Metro...and yes, my dad really is sleeping

Downtown Linz at night

a cool building that changed colors in Linz

the Danube going through Linz

3/5 of my apartment in Linz!

Downtown Linz

It's amazing how fast November has come and gone!!!

On November 8, I traveled to Linz--the capital of Upper Austria and the halfway point between Vienna and Salzburg--with four of my girlfriends. It was just a day trip, only 1.5 hours away from Vienna, and a lot of fun! We ate lunch, walked around the city, and kinda just toured around and did our town thing. Linz is a very cute and typical Austrian city, with many different colored buildings, a castle, a river going straight through it, and lots of nice people.

On November 14, my parents arrived in Vienna! We spent that Thursday and Friday eating our away through Vienna--we went to Demel's cafe (a famous pastry and cafe shop in Vienna), went to a wine bar, ate dinner in a 12th century cellar, and had gelato. We also saw the sights, such as the Hofburg, Schonbrunn, St. Stephan's Cathedral, etc. That Saturday and Sunday, we drove to the Wachau Valley--about an hour outside of Vienna. We first went to Melk, and toured the magnificant Melk Abbey! However, in Austria and much of Europe, stores are closed on Sundays and in small towns Saturdays also, we couldn't go into many stores and etc in the cities. But, from Melk, we drove up half an hour to the city of Krems and stayed there over night. It is a very cute old medieval city with a wall around it!!! We ate dinner there and just relaxed and enjoyed the very scenic sights.

That Sunday, I took a train back to Vienna and my parents took their rented car and drove to Salzburg, followed by Fusson and Munich, Germany. Ask my parents for the details on their trip there--but they had a great time!

That following Friday, November 20, my parents drove back to Vienna from Munich, and spent there last days in Europe here in Vienna with me. Saturday, we did a lot of sightseeing--went to the Albertina, an art museum here in Vienna with a special exhibit on impressionists, which was cool to see. We also went to the famous Sacher Cafe and ate a Sacher Torte, as well as the Naschmarkt, the biggest market in Vienna and had a very late lunch there. In the evening, we attended a Mozart String Quartet concert in the oldest concert hall in Vienna, where Mozart himself performed...they musicians were incredible. After, we went to the Christkindlmarkt in front of the Rathaus, which is the most famous Christmas Market in Austria, and maybe the biggest, also.

The next day was my parents last day: in the morning we heard the Vienna Boys Choir at a mass, then took a train ride to Bratislava (an hour from Vienna), and ate lunch there and walked around---kinda just did that so my parents (especially my dad) could say he's been to Slovakia, haha. That night, we went back to Vienna and ate dinner in Grinzing--an area in Vienna in the 18th district of Vienna--and ate at a Heurigen, which is a family owned winery/restaurant. My parents, being the wine lovers that they are, loved it. There was even a violin player and accordion player walking around playing live music---but it got embarrassing when my dad requested "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and the two musicians looked extremely confused.

But, unfortunately for me, I officially leave in less than a month now...on December 23!!! But, I am traveling a lot before then:

November 27-30: Romania

December 5: Bratislava (to visit a friend from Susquehanna--he is a full time international student from Bratislava)

December 5-8: Rome
December 18-22: Slovenia

Along with the traveling...I also have two 10 page papers and some other projects to do too!!! Ugh...so much to do and so little time!!

Thanks for reading...enjoy the pictures!!!