Explore, Crash, and Explore some more! First Couple of Days

Vienna Let's Go!!

So the past 2 to 3 days we've been sight seeing around Vienna and it's been great. When we arrived in Vienna, it was about noon and I think I was running on about 30 hours of no sleep. We got to Wombat City Hostel and set our stuff down and went out to explore the local area. Needless to say, I was exhausted. However, that same night, Caroline, Matt, Jeffry and I went down into the hostel's lounge because it was jam night and we figured we'd go and listen. Turns out it was more of an open mic night and the people performing had just met that night. So Matt and Caroline went up and started singing and playing drums. At first, it was just them and the bass player and eventually the piano player and the singer went up and improved with them which was so cool! I got the opportunity to go up with them not long after and scatted and improved with them. As a music major, it was probably one of the best and coolest things I did and I'm glad i got the courage up to do it. Usually, I'm very chicken and hesitate on performing unless i have to even if its in front of people I'm comfortable with.

On day two, went on a walking tour around St. Stephen's Cathedral and learned about the history of  Bach and Mozart and what they did and where they lived in the in this city.The cathedral itself was massive and truly amazing. Something I thought was interesting was that the black coloration on the cathedral is because of the pollution in the area and when they clean one side, then the other and they start over again when they're finished which really proves just how large it is.  Later that afternoon we got to take a tour of the catacombs underneath the church. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures but there were two different rooms that were filled with skeletons becausethey were made to be mass graves. 

Something I was fascinated with was that art is incorporated in almost everything, everywhere we went. One thing I saw that was cool is the graffiti/murals that was on the walls of the city. The sheer creativity that these artists have is amazing to me. One of them looked almost like someone drew a portrait of two people in chalk and another was more cartoon like but had some

really cool contrasting colors. both had such so much detail and thought put into into it. One other absolutely awe inspiring  place was the  St. Peter's Church. Carl, Alex and Konner and myself  were wandering around Stephensplatz  after the walking tour and we just saw the church and thought, "let's just walk in and check it out. Little did we know that we would be walking into the middle of someone performing Bach. The sound of the organ was so rich and the way it resonated in the church almost made me tear up. Not only that, we would be walking into a church where every inch of it were paintings and carvings and it was absolutely phenomenal. Honestly, I could've sat in there all day and listen to the organ and look at all of the artwork  in it. Overall, the exploring and seeing everything this city has to offer so far has been an amazing experience and I am looking forward to the rest of what this trip has to offer.