Day 18. Vienna

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As pre arranged I met up with the six boys I had met last night (sans the adorable, yet scary as fuck with a water gun Swiss soldier, who left Vienna early that morning). After a bit of decision making we then set off  for a day of touristing. We followed a suggested walking trail on the free map given to us by the hostel. And it was actually pretty good, though a took a little mental energy to whittle out exactly what building we were looking at.

So Vienna is chockers full of a lot of big, grand and gilded buildings. Opera houses, palaces, mansions, I don't know what else. 

We had fun posing in front of the Mozart statue. But more fun when we discovered some sprinklers in action and ran for then, diving under and getting wet. Apparently Vienna is going to have a water theme. Water fights last night, sprinklers today. But good god it was blissful relief. It was so stinking hot, even early in the morning. 

We had a lot of fun wandering along, chatting and making crass jokes. While I love all my closest girlfriends I really do prefer the company of guys. I dont know why exactly but I was having a pretty great day surrounded by my pack of men. 

We stopped at one point and sat on a bench in a gorgeous park - for some unkown reason selecting a bench right next to one occupied by a couples out for a romantic date - what followed was a discussion about orgies. Sorry nice couple, I hope we didn't ruin your romance.

Next we went to the SHMETTERLING HAUS!!! The SCHMETTERLING HAUS is... a butterfly house. Oh the gentle and soft German language.

We also stopped in a park for a few good minuets and stared transfixed at ducks. Odd, but we were all doing it. And the whole time commenting on how odd it was to be in Vienna, and staring at common wood ducks. 

I left the boys at the Freud museum (which they seemed to enjoy) and I left for Spanish riding school tour I had booked earlier. Unfortunately this time of the year the Spanish Riding School has its stallions away in the hills for breeding and there are no performances. Sad face. BUt I did get to have a tour of the grounds, the gigantic automatic walking machine, the tack room, the arena and of course the stables. Growing up I always had this idea that Lipizzaners were not the most attractive horses, they tend to have mealy mouths and pink skin around the eyes, which is never attractive. BUt that was blown completely out of the water. These horses (that were not even their prize stock) were some of the most magnificent creatures I have ever seen. Perfect confirmation, glorious necks and backs and pretty heads (majestic really, with beautiful roman noses) I was spellbound and dropped back from the tour and just basically stared at the horses. 

After the tour I met back up with the boys and we all walked back to the hostel, meandering and getting into a bit of a political discussion. After a last minute chill and talking one of the guys who was heading to Budapest to get a booking at one of the BPH hostels there. Much to both of our excitement  he got a booking at Retox. Wooooo! Latter I got a message from him that he had decided to extend his stay. Sound familiar?

I bid the guys farwel and loaded up my pack and headed off to catch my night train to Amsterdam.