The next morning Kathleen took me on a highlights of Vienna tour, since she had already spent a day exploring the city. We begin our tour with Danube Island, which we walked across on our way to Prater, the fair park in the city. It contains the oldest Ferris wheel, called Riesenrad, and a bunch of other rides and game booths. Under the shining sun we walked around the park gawking and laughing at all the interesting sights. After our trip to the fair we took the metro to Stephansdom in the first district. I walked out of the metro to see the huge cathedral shooting up into the sky. The crowds were thick, as it was one of the main tourist areas, but through it all there were booths set up selling various nick knacks. Hungry, we both got a traditional hot dogs before going into the cathedral. Although it was a pretty sight you could only walk around a section of the church without having to pay.
Looking out over the river Danube
The really old ferris wheel
Kathleen found this statue that rotated so she took a ride
Inside Stephansdom
The outside of Stephansdom
The more impressive church in Vienna in my opinion was St. Peter's. Not nearly as big as Stephansdom, but it was 3 times more ornate. We sat admiring the architectural beauty and paintings before walking around Vienna some more. We walked by an unimpressive Mozart's house and then into another church. As we walked in, the floor was open leading to the catacombs. Of course curiosity got the best of me and I went below to explore. Instantly chillier and creepier I walked through the chambers seeing coffins in the walls, but while I was walking I heard voices and quickly ascended the stairs into the real world. Putting the crypt out of my mind I gazed at the magnificence of another Viennese church. Having seen so many church interiors we decided to go into some souvenir shops. But first a trdlnik. Kathleen found our favorite Prague delicacy in the heart of Vienna, so of course we had to eat it. The familiar taste of sweet dough and cinnamon sugar was heavenly as we walked through Vienna. Feet tuckered out, we hopped on a city tram that took us around the ring of the old city, where we saw a lot more of the city's buildings. After having to do a few tram switches we ended up in a park for the evening. Sitting there, we admired the city we explored today on our last foreign adventure, before we got up and returned to the hotel.
A video showing the interior of St. Peter's Church
Austria's crest I think
St. Peter's Church
The catacombs
Some other pretty church
From Vienna with love
In the park we sat in
I found a fountain
The next day involved waking up early to go to the airport. We had train tickets, but we found no place to validate them, so when the workers on the train asked us for our tickets panic set in. Fortunately for us there was no need to validate and we were allowed to stay on the train. At the airport Kathleen and I were separated because we were on different flights home. Somehow I got turned around in the terminal and ended up going through security twice. My first flight was fine, and after a short layover in Munich I was Dublin bound, or so I thought. We began our descent into Dublin, but would not break through the second cloud layer for a long time due to strong winds. When the pilot got clearance to descend we broke through the cloud layer shaking. We tried to land but as we dived towards the runway we pulled back up into the sky. After circling once more we tried to land again. This time the wind seemed stronger and we made it feet from the ground before pulling up again. The winds were so bad we were rerouted to Shannon airport. Anxious and nervous I had to stay calm, but once we landed in Shannon we had to stay on the plane for an hour until they decided on what to do. They ended up calling coach buses to shuttle us back to Dublin because the winds were just too dangerous. However, with the bus ride 2 1/2 hours long, I was in jeopardy of not getting a bus back to Maynooth that night. I bargained with the bus driver to drop me off along the bus route and at 11:36 pm I managed to grab the last bus to Maynooth. Instead of getting back to my apartment at 6 pm like originally planned, I got back after midnight, but glad to be safe in my bed.
First try to land in Dublin
Hey Shannon
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