Vienna, Wien, or ViVi: Whatever you call it, it's still the capital of Austria

Riesenrad in Prater

Me on a Ferris Wheel. Can you tell I'm a bit scared of heights?

The crip of Maria Theresa and her husband Franz Stephan: This is one of my favorite photos so far taken on this trip.

How many pictures of a clock can a person take. But with this one I would like you to notice the implication of time by the little cherub on one side of the clock and then a skeleton holding an hour glass on the opposite side. My folklore classes are coming in handy on this voyage across the seas.

Now this is my favorite photo. I got it by chance. But I love the faces of horses. Beautiful creatures.

So everywhere I have gone in Austria, I have loved. I would recommend this country to anyone traveling around. This trip was an experience for me. Traveling around with 11 people is never an easy experience, and having traveled so much by myself recently it was an endeavor in itself to attempt to go with the flow. And for those of you who know me back home, this is not one of my top qualities.
Though I wish I could have seen more, we actually went to many of the biggest tourist attractions. Nina's apartment was right behind Stephansdom and smack dab in the center of the city. The first night was a visit to the fun park Prater, where I won an American teddy bear and named him Prater in memory of the trip. The next day was 11 people attempting to be compatible traveling companions and failing miserably. The next day brought a division in the group where we all met together at the wonderful Schloss Schonnbrunn (mind you the o is supposed to have an umlat). I wish I would have had longer in this beautiful location, but as it was I only had time to get lost in a maze then finally find the center, and then go through a labyrinth.
The train ride home was long, and I have to say this trip seemed to take the most out of me. I have been tired ever since. But today I had a bit more pep in my step when I wandered into a small bookstore in Innsbruck. I loved it. Books broke-up by their author's nationality not type. I wandered the books, seeing which author's where Austrian, American, English, or Russian. And then of course I was taken away from this wondering by the children's book section. And I found the best purchase I have made since I have been in Innsbruck. It is a beautiful book, hard back, and awarded the 2005 most beautiful book in Austria (apparently the only children's book award they give--this is according to the bookseller at the shop), and it is a book of local Tirol fairy tales.
It is funny that my face and whole being becomes so excited about these stories. I felt as if I had found a treasure. Mind you the text is in German, but I am determined to learn this language. Even if that means I need to continue classes back home (which I think I will be doing at Westminster when I get back). SO, I walked the streets of Innsbruck today, enjoying listening to Harry Potter by audio and getting a nice meal, with a cute waiter who was nice enough to hit on me the whole way through the meal. I would recommend to anyone traveling to Austria to try the TopfenKnodel, it's like a compact cheese cake, but better because you're in Austria when you're eating it. Well, this has become a novel, and one of my listed "Things to do" today was to work on my own novel. So this is bye for now. It seems that Sunday takes me to Liechtenstein.