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Other entries in Wien

Puppets and kultur and lots of Canayjuns!

We really didn't see what the big deal about Vienna is. It's supposed to be one of the most romantic/beautiful cities in Europe, but we think that only applies to people with enough money to never have to walk anywhere. All the parts of the city we saw, except the palace grounds, were pretty dirty and crowded. The most notable thing about Vienna is that there's pee everywhere - at least once per block there's a place where either a person or the world's biggest dog has peed on the side of a building, and it's running across the sidewalk. And its cathedral was kinda funny-looking, but we might just have thought that because we're kinda sick of cathedrals. Or perhaps it was the green-and-yellow bits on the roof. Or the fact that they couldn't afford to finish the second tower so they just capped off half a tower.

Vienna does have a lot of culture, though, and it's pretty cheap. We saw a performance of Aladdin done with marionettes, which was pretty good (and definitely an experience -- we'd never seen so many tow-head, Aryan-looking kids in one room. Most of them yelled a lot.), and we got standing-room tickets to the opera. The opera itself was excellent (according, at least, to Cat and Will), and the experience was also instrumental in proving that money and an appreciation of the so-called fine arts don't make a person classy. The best-dressed people we saw there, the ones who seemed to wish they'd been able to shell out 80 euros for a good seat, were assholes. Cat was elbowed hard by a very elegant-looking woman of at least 70 in the rush for a good spot. Matt thought the opera was OK, but is very glad he went because he got to make fun of a lot of pompous jerks.

We also spent a morning watching the Lippizanner horses practice. Apparently these horses are world famous for something, but we found them pretty boring. The riders wore really funny outfits, and the horses themselves looked really unhappy. There was a jumping bar or something in the arena, but no one ever used it - they just rode in circles.

We did have a lot of fun in Vienna, though. We stayed at a really small, friendly hostel, and went out to local pubs a few nights with other people staying there - who were almost all Canadian. Most of the people who weren't Canadian were American, but we outnumbered them, so we had a good time laughing at them. We also went to the Royal Chapel to hear the Vienna Boys' Choir sing a mass, which was incredible, although we couldn't actually see anything except what they showed on a screen in front of us. The Imperial Treasury was also cool. It houses the largest emerald in the world, and a collection of holy reliquaries - they have nails and pieces of the true cross that were supposedly used in the crucifixion. Other highlights of Vienna were the apartment of Sigmund Freud, the Imperial Armoury, and the medical museum, which contained wax anatomy models from the 17th century.

Anyway, Vienna was pretty good all round but Cat and Matt at least liked Salzburg better. We don't know about Will. Will abandoned us in Vienna to go back to London and then home to Canada. We miss Will.

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