Where are all the vegetables?

On our last day in Vienna, three things became very clear to us:

1. We're going to write our own "how to travel for free" guide.
2. Trying on hideous clothes is a sufficient substitute for an art museum.
3. It's nearly impossible to find a meal with vegetables in Vienna. Potatoes don't count.

We started our morning at the Spanish Riding School. We mentioned before that we saw the building where this occurs, but this time our goal was to actually see a show. Similar to our Opera chase, we didn't plan on staying the whole time (much like the tourists who choose to pay 10 euros and leave part way through). Learning how and who to ask the right question to is definitely an essential life skill! We could have easily forgone this experience, but it ended up being a great choice to make the effort to see these horses. The animals were incredibly well trained. They danced around the arena literally to the rhythm of a true Viennese Waltz.

Spanish Riding School Performance

Next, we took the metro to the summer estate of the Habsburg's called the Schönbrunn Palace. (Sidenote: I was amazed when first taking the metro in Vienna. Tickets work on the honor system. You buy your ticket before entry at standing computer kiosks, but the gates to the trams are always open. It's a massive fine if you get caught without a ticket... Not part of the travel for free recommendation). Of course, the palace was beautiful. We actually really enjoyed the audioguide tour and connected many historical pieces (example: Mary Antoinette is the daughter of Maria Theresa, the celebrated queen of the Habsburg Empire. At the beginning of this week, both of us misread "Maria" as Mother Theresa. We've come a long way!)

Hall of Mirrors at Schonbrunn Palace 

We had lunch at a little lunch shop off of the Graben that only served open-faced finger sandwiches. They offered an eighth of a liter of beer for 1 euro. Both were adorable! Our favorite was the egg salad; there was definitely no low-fat mayo in it.

Finger sandwiches and mini beers!

After lunch, we were committed to discover more culture at one of the many art museums in Vienna, but we happened to get side tracked by a very European shopping mall. Not only were the clothes a "treat" for sore eyes, but we both agreed that this was a particularly superb "gallery" to people watch, and there's no sarcasm in the latter ;-)

After just the finger sandwiches for lunch, we knew that we should have been hungry, but neither of us were up for anything that looked like a plate of meat, fried dumplings, or fried meat in a dumpling. It took us an hour and a half to find food. We had stopped and sat down at three different restaurants to find many different explanations for the lack of a salad on the menu. Despite having a full salad page that looked delicious, one waiter explained to us that salads are only offered in the summer because they are seasonal. Apparently, July is the only month you can find something green in this town! We were then drawn into a restaurant that advertised 6 euro pizzas, which turned out to be a "mistake" according to this waiter. Thankfully, the location did have something that looked more salad-like than anything else we had seen!

After a great 4 days in Vienna, we went to bed looking forward to the first train ride of our journey and Round 3 in Prague.

Aufwiedersehen,
AlysaandMelissa