Monday, April 20, 2015

Field Trip 2: Vienna and Venice

           Hello again everyone! I am finally updating my blog again after our two weeks of spring break. This blog post will be about our field trip to Vienna and Venice as a class, and then I will also post again about what I did over spring break. The past two weeks have been a blast, but it is nice to finally be “home” again in Olomouc and not have to live out of a suitcase.

           Our spring break started out on Monday, April 6th, with a 4 hour bus ride to Vienna. When we finally arrived and checked-in to our hostel. We went on a brief walking tour to the town square and were set free to go eat lunch. After lunch, we went to the Imperial Treasury and saw so many amazing artifacts. It’s always fun for me to see the crown jewels and just imagine what life for the royalty then was like. After that, we had the rest of the day free. So I walked around for a while with another girl, Siming, and we saw quite a bit of Vienna. We went to St. Peter’s Church and St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and then we just walked by quite a few other beautiful buildings. After a while, we ran into Stephen and Ellie, and I went with them while Siming went to an Opera. We walked back to the hostel and got food, and then I just hanged out with a few other people who were back at the hostel. We did go out for more food eventually, and then walked around for a while looking for an open convenience store, but then we called it a night and went to bed.




           The next day, we all went as a group to a horse show. It ended up being a training day and not a show though, so we left early and all went to go do our own thing. Most of us went to the Natural History Museum, and it was such a neat museum. Besides having exhibits on geology and other earth-related things, they also had dinosaurs, which were obviously the best part of the museum. After that, I went with Stephen, Ellie, and Siming to the National Austrian Library. It was a beautiful library with so much history, and it was amazing to go see it. After the library and eating some lunch, we went to St. Charles’s Church. It was an outstanding church with so many decorative elements with a lot of impressive baroque architecture. We then went to an opera at the Vienna State Opera House. The opera was Parsifal, and it was all in German. There was an English translation we could read, but since the tickets were standing room only and we had only paid 4 euro for them, we left after about an hour. However, it was a really neat opportunity to see an opera and I really enjoyed it. Then we went to the Sacher Café for coffee and to try some Sachertorte, which is one of the most famous Viennese desserts. Then we just went back to the hostel for the night.




           We left early Thursday morning for Venice, and it was a very beautiful drive. We drove by the Alps and even stopped for lunch and pictures. When we finally got to Venice and checked into our hotel, we went on a walking tour to St. Mark’s square. After that we had the day free. So Miranda, Jessica, Keyli, and I walked around Venice and got lost. Though to be honest, the streets there are so confusing that there was no way we could not get lost. Thankfully though, there are street signs pointing you towards main things in the city like St. Mark’s square and the Rialto Bridge. We eventually got supper and gelato, and then got a little lost again finding our way back to the hotel. Once we made it back there though, we enjoyed the beautiful weather and sat outside at the bar near the hotel for a while. Then we spent part of the night wandering around the city and enjoying how beautiful it was at night. However, our hotel had a curfew so we eventually had to make our way back and go to bed.




           On Friday, Miranda, Jessica, and I started early and went and explored more of Venice. We wandered down quite a few streets, and eventually found some delicious pastries for breakfast. At 11, we all met at St. Mark’s column in St. Mark’s square. We then went inside St. Mark’s Basilica and Doge's Palace. The basilica was very beautiful, and the museum was very beautiful on the inside and had many fantastic paintings. We were free after the museum, so we went for lunch at a takeaway pasta place. The pasta was surprisingly delicious, and I would most definitely go there again, assuming I could find it again. After that, I went on a gondola ride with Kara, Marissa, Miranda, Jessica, and Keyli. It only lasted 30 minutes, but it was just one of those things that I am glad I got to experience in Venice. Miranda, Jessica, Keyli, and I did some souvenir shopping after that, and then eventually made our way back to the hotel. We found another takeaway pasta place for supper, and it was almost more delicious than the first place. Then we just all spent time bonding outside the hotel before we split up into our own groups for spring break.




           The field trips were a lot of fun, and I’m glad we were able to go to those places. It really was helpful with just practicing navigating a city on your own, as we were going to have to do that for the next week for spring break. It also showed us how to research what to do before going to a city, so you would not get there and then just be overwhelmed by the options of things to do. Overall, it was a fun start to spring break, and a great learning experience as well.

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