Greetings fellow exchange addicts,
We started today with an early breakfast at the lovely and extremely fancy, "Renaissance Hotel". We met our Austrian tour guide, Cornelia, who was really enthusiastic, super interesting and had a great laugh. The tour began with a bus drive around the historically rich city of Vienna. We had sneaky peaks of awe inspiring architectural structures such as the Parliament, Augustiner Kirche and the Town Hall.
Next we got off the bus and stopped at the city gardens, where we commenced our walk into the heart of the city. Along the way we learnt a bit about the imperial history of Austria and saw some amazing sights like the mosaic of the Last Supper and the winter residence of the previous Austrian Emperors.
After our magnificent walk with Cornelia, the group had a lunch break in Stephans platz, where we were able to explore some more of city including the gothic church from the 1300's, the Stephansdom. After directing a Japanese tourist in what we thought was the right direction, we embarked on our treacherous journey to the famous house of Mozart. There we learnt a bit about Mozart's life as a composer in Vienna. In his house we saw and heard many of the things he surrounded himself with in everyday life for example his personal punch ladle.
When the audio tour concluded, Cornelia joined us again to show us the back streets of Vienna. We were able to experience a completely different style of church with it's colourful and decorative interior, with the purpose of attracting followers during a time of tension between Catholics and Protestants.
Our reliable driver, Mr. Thomas, came and picked us up and towed us back to the hotel so we could do ourselves up for the Opera. Everyone looked gobsmackingly stunning, including our leaders who surprised us with their 17th Century styled costumes. After countless glamorous photos and an exquisite dinner we entered the opera house to begin the concert. We were bedazzled by the orchestra, the dancers and the projection and range of the opera singers. After getting Ida (one of our trip monitors) away from the various paparazzi we returned to our trusty bus for the trip back to the hotel. Here some of us winded down with discussion over tea and cards then flopped into bed. All in all, today was a brilliant Viennese experience.
By Jean-Luc (Australia) and Gemma (Australia).
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| Karla and Nicole start of the tour in Vienna |
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| Replica of the last super! |
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| Parliament |
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| Our group at the Opera... |
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| Ida, Rapha and Marianna... Belo Staff |
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