Lost in Europe: Eating Schnitzel and Petting Dragons: Vienna and Ljubljana

After Interlaken our next stop was Vienna. We had 3 nights there, and we stayed with Evan's brother Patrick. The train arrived really late, but Patrick was nice enough to pick us up from the train station. He was so sweet, he even brought us chocolate bars!

In the morning Patrick made us french toast for breakfast, then we headed out. The first place he brought us was to Schonbrunn (I may butcher the spelling on all of these places...). It is a huge palace with beautiful gardens that started out as a hunting lodge that kept evolving and eventually became that the royal family's summerhome. We didn't go inside we just walked around the gardens and saw the fountains. It was nice going around with Patrick, he knows a lot about the history of the city ,so we had a free tour guide! Next he took us to Belvedere where we went inside and looked at the art collection. For lunch we ate at a Turkish street stand, apparently they are very popular! I also tried a Radler, a beer-lemonade, which was very refreshing. After lunch we met up with Patrick's friend Axel (again, not sure on the spelling) then went to Stephensdom, the tallest cathedral in Europe (I think that's what Patrick said...). They thought it would be cool to walk up the tower, so we payed the 4 euro to go up. There were a lot of stairs, and they only let you go half up! Then they lead you to a giftshop that has a few windows to look out of. It was a ripoff, but the view of the city was nice.

Patrick made us delicious pasta for dinner. It was so good I completely stuffed myself, to the point of making myself feel like crap! Worth it. We watched part of Miss Congeniality then went to Axel's favorite bar. I don't know what it was called, but it was the first bar Evan and I went to. We only had a couple of beers then went home, where Patrick finished the movie and Evan and I fell asleep.

The next day we woke up late and met Axel at a restaurant where we tried Wiener Schnitzel. Patrick gave us a little tour of the city on the way. I had no idea what schnitzel was before we tried it, but it was pretty good! It is basically just deep fried meat that you squirt with lemon juice. I had the Kinder Schnitzel (kid's meal!) and the waitress made fun of me for ordering it with a beer. They give generous servings, I couldnt even finish my plate!

After lunch Evan and I split from Patrick and got some ice cream then went to the museum of natural history. They had a lot of cool exhibits, I wish I could spend the whole day there. There was an extensive collections of birds, which I liked looking at. When we were finished we met Patrick at the church and then went back to his apartment to change into swimsuits. Our plan was to jump off of the train bridge into the danube. Unfortunately it started thunderstorming right when we got home. Terrible timing! So we hungout at his apartment for a while then went to a bar called the Travel Shack. Its an australian bar with a great atmosphere and a lot of cool shots to try! Some of the shots were called The Pancake, The Smurf, The Cock Sucking Cowboy, and The Red Headed Slut. I only tried the pancake, and it was delicious! I had no idea a shot could taste good. It tasted quite a bit like pancakes with maple syrup.

Unfortunately we had to leave pretty early the next day because the train for Ljubljana left at 8:00am. When we arrived in Ljubljana we were very confused, to say the least. I don't know a single work of Slovenian, and the language looks like nothing I've ever seen before! It was raining pretty hard (of course...) so we ran to an asian food restaurant to get some lunch. Its funny, we have had “chinese” food in Iceland, The Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United States, and it is all the same! Makes me wonder what real chinese food is like.

We ate slowly, hoping the rain would slow down, but it never did. So we put on our packs and tried to huddle under my little umbrella while looking for our hostel called Vila Veselova. It was about a 15 minute walk, and we were both crabby and wet when we arrived. Luckily the receptionist was nice, which put us in a bit of a better mood. We made a quick trip to the grocery store and made dinner at the hostel. Food is so cheap in Slovenia! Its nice being in easern europe for that reason. For the rest of the night we stayed in and went to bed early.

The best part of Slovenia was the nature and the beautiful old castles, so we walked up the hill to see the castle of Ljubljana. I really enjoyed the views of the city from up there.

We also saw the Dragon Bridge. Dragons are huge in Ljubljana, and there are a few different myths behind why. This is the story I found on a postcard while I was there. "Legend has it that Ljubljana was founded by the Greek mythological hero Jason and his companions the Argonauts who had stolen the golden fleece from King Aetes and fled from him across the Black Sea and up the Danube, Sava, and Ljubljanica rivers. At a large lake in the marshes near the source of the Ljubljanica they stopped and disassembled their ship to carry it to the Adriatic Sea, put it together again, and return to Greece. The lake was the dwelling place of a monster, which Jason fought, defeated, and killed. The monster, now referred to as the Ljubljanica Dragon, found its place atop the castle tower depicted on the Ljubljanica coat of arms." At first I thought that this story makes the dragon sound like the villan who needed to be killed, but it is actually quite the opposite. The dragon is seen as a hero to the town, because he sacrificed his life to save the townspeople. What a cool history. I wish Mounds View had a mythological dragon who sacrificed himself for us!

The rest of the day we just explored the town. After dinner we had a few beers with fellow travelers at our hostel. I absolutely love meeting other travelers and hearing about their experiences. I also love meeting people from other countries and learning about how different their lives are. These people are a huge part of why travel is so rewarding.

On our last full day we woke up and headed off to the free city tour. The history of the city was very interesting, but we ended up leaving early with Martin, a guy we met at our hostel. The three of us went out for a traditional Slovenian lunch. Martin and I ordered goulash and Evan ordered Weiner Schnitzel (not so traditional...). The goulash was good but it was so weird! It was basically just a beef soup that had cranberries in it, and was served with bread and a pear.

After lunch Evan and I headed to Lake Bled. It was so picturesque! Big beautiful trees surround it, there is a castle atop the hill, the island in the center has a gorgeous church on it, and there are ducks and swans swimming everywhere. The water was also a bright, clear color. We rented a boat and paddled out to the center, then just enjoyed the surroundings.