So for those that don't know many of our trips are by bus. Yes you heard me right these amazing trips are "roadtrips". So for this trip we embarked from Santa Maria Novella train station around 9 PM. I unlike some others fell asleep after 1 movie and slept until we got there around 5:30 am. The two dramamine may or may not of helped. So after we checked into the hostel (Wombats) and had breakfast we left for our walking tour! Our walking tour was led by Carl- and he was awesome! He started the tour at St. Stephens Cathedral. He informed us that the beautiful tiled roof on the cathedral was actually tiled by 6 women, because the men refused to because they believed the roof was too steep at about an 85 degree angle- wimps. We then saw St. Peter's Church, walked through the main square, saw the Spanish Riding school and learned about the horses. Apparently they start out dark and the older ones that are used in shows are the white ones- I would of never known partially because horses freak me out so I never bother learning about them. We also saw where Mozart first performed at the age of 6..... Yeah i definitely wasn't playing elaborate masterpieces at that age. Then we saw a window display at Demel that was entirely made of chocolate! This store is famous for their Sacher Torte, but Carl claims his mother makes this cake much better :) The tour ended at the Vienna Opera house! What made this stop even better was that the hotdog stand I had been craving was right next to it. It's the Bitzinger Wurstelstand. It was absolutely amazing!!!! Everything I had expected and more! The frankfurter was stuffed in a toasted baguette with all kinds of sauces. Needless to say I have now had the best hotdog and hamburger in Europe, America has to step up their game ASAP.
After our tour we stuffed our faces with some Apple strudel and chocolate crepes- yes we never stop eating. Then we decided to explore inside the Cathedral. We ended up climbing the 343 steps and the view at the top was breathtaking! Definitely worth the climb.
We then headed back to the hostel to get ready for the Schnapps Tour. Personally I had no idea what Schnaps was or that it was Austrian. I sorta thought it was just flavored vodka but we got the whole lesson from the Schnapps expert and learned the history behind it which was actually fascinating and hilarious. The best was the pictures in the hallway, she jokingly pointed out Hugh Grants eyes in his picture- he enjoyed the absinthe a little too much... Then it was tasting time! They lined up shots after shots of all the flavors they make. I loved the gold tequila- shocker and it had real 24ct gold flakes in it. They had other flavors like the typical Absinthe, creamy flavored ones like chocolate banana and hazelnut, or just straight flavored vodka. I think everyone lost track of how many shots they had taken! Then later that night we wandered with a rather large group of 8..... which is always a struggle when finding a place to eat. We got turned down once and at the second they were so accommodating and moved around tables for us! We had some red wine and I had the Schnitzel with wild rice! It was delicious and a nice change from my pasta and pizza diet I have been on. Then we headed back to the hostel which had a super cool and trendy bar under it and enjoyed some more beers and headed to bed!