Austria and Italy

8) Field trip 2
Blog #5

Our class took its second field trip this past week to Vienna and Venice. On Tuesday the bus picked us up from our dorm and we set off for Vienna, Austria. It was only a three hour drive so it went pretty quickly! We had a great view along the way of the Czech countryside and had fun conversation with our classmates.

After we got to the city and got checked into our hostel we made our way to the main town square. We had to go down one of the busiest streets in Vienna full of stores, markets and restaurants making it difficult to not stop and look around! Our class got to the main square downtown and went out on our own for lunch. We found a pizzeria that was extremely fancy (almost too fancy for us) with really good pizza!  

Our first stop after lunch was a museum in the treasury of Vienna. The Kaiserliche Schatzkammer Wien museum was full of royal jewels, mideval outfits and many religious artifacts. I thought it was amazing how the long royal robes, military armour and crowns were kept in perfect condition. I am learning so much relating the things we talk about in class to the things we get to go out and see in real life.

The Maria Theresa statue in downtown Vienna.

One of the many well preserved decorated robe.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the city and walking around on the main strip. 

The next morning we got up and saw a white stallion horse show. We were kind of disappointed because it turned out to be just a practice but it was still interesting to watch the trainers perfect the horses stances and work on their routines around the facility. After the show we went to a little cafe where we met a German couple sitting next to us. They spoke very little English but it was still so interesting to pick up bits and pieces of what they were saying and was one of the best conversations I've had with people while abroad. It was like there wasn't even a language barrier at all. We eventually ended up using an app on our phone to communicate a little better but it was so awesome how interested they were about our study abroad careers from the very few words we understood between each other. They were so sweet and it just shows that kindness is the same in all languages. 

The weather this day wasn't the best so we ended up going to another museum we were completely surprised by. The Haus Der Musik was so much more than we expected it to be. This museum was full of classical composers and some of their most famous works and possessions. What I loved most about this museum though was that a lot of it was dedicated to the science of hearing. We got to be in a room where it replicated what it sounds like to be in the womb and played with lots of interactive computers that explained different parts of the ear and how we hear certain sounds. 

Part of the inside of the Haus De Musik.

For the rest of our last day in Vienna we wanted to kind of walk around and see more of the city so we just wandered and ended up running into some beautiful buildings and fountains and of course did some more shopping!

The next day we took off from Vienna early in the morning for Venice, Italy. It was a seven hour bus ride but was probably the most scenic one of my life! We drove through a lot of Austria, and northeastern Italy.

Our view of the Alps from one of our stops in Austria.

When we arrived in Venice we had to take a train to get to our hostel downtown because the bus couldn't take us close enough because of all the rivers through the city. We got settled into our hostel and our teacher took us to St. Marco's square in downtown Venice. He had told us that it is very hard to navigate around the city and he was more than right. There is almost no layout plan to the city whatsoever with all the rivers and winding streets. Once we got there, he let us have the rest of the day to explore. He told us that the best experience in Venice is when you get lost and have to try and find your way back. You go down streets you normally wouldn't and see different kind of shops and find the best restaurants. He was right again because that happened to us several times. It was kind of frustrating trying to find our way around but we saw some really neat things along the way. While we were exploring the city we decided to take a gondola ride. We knew we wanted to do this but we didn't want it to be super expensive. There was a group of five of us that all got on the same gondola ride so it was a much more reasonable price! It was such a fun experience though. We almost tipped the gondola getting in, had some fun conversations with the driver and got a great view of Venice!

Lauren and I by the marina in St. Marco's square.

Crossed gondola ride in Venice off our bucket lists!

The next day we decided to wake up super early in the morning and beat the crowd to some of the pretty places in Venice. That was the best decision we made on the whole trip! The view we had of the sunrise on the water was perfect. We got great pictures without tons of people in the background and couldn't believe how peaceful it was. I also got to try my first cannoli ever for breakfast!

Beautiful morning looking out on the grand canal!

My first Cannoli!

A comparison of St. Marco's square (the busiest part of the city) from when we were out in the morning to how crowded it was at noon!

That afternoon we went through a museum in St. Marco's square and saw a lot of Italy's history in art and also toured the prisons underneath the museum. Funny story actually... we got lost in the prison for quite a while, but after a short panic we found the stairs to get back to the main area. 

We literally got lost inside the prison in Venice. 

For lunch that day we found a little place off the main tourist area by the water. I had the best seafood pasta I've ever had in my life with a great view. It will be hard to beat that! The rest of our day we decided to spend on other islands. We bought a public transportation boat pass to take us around. We had heard that the island of Burano was one you had to make a trip to. It took us about an hour to get there on the boat but it was well worth it. It was picture perfect Italy. We walked all the way around the island and stopped at several little shops in under two hours and then head back to Venice. 

Italian pasta and wine with a great view!

The beautiful island of Burano.

This was our last day in Venice before spring break and I was so sad to leave! I wish I would have had more time to see Venice and more of the islands surrounding it. It is such a beautiful place and one that I will definitely visit again if I have the chance!