The five hour train ride to Vienna was pleasant. It took me a while to find a car with few people in it and settle in for the ride. The car I chose had two other girls close in my age, they looked like travelers as well. I noticed the one was reading Europe Travel books in Spanish and English. As the train sped along, there were hints of fall among the trees. The pictures I took from the train weren't particularly wonderful, but I took them anyway. About an hour into the trainride, a German couple returned to our travelers car and sat down. After another hour or two, the male began asking us questions about where we were from and where we were going. Turns out, he studied in Pittsburg at one point. His wife or girlfriend didn't speak any English, so I didn't find out anything about her. As a result of these interjections, I began talking with the Hispanic girl, turns out her name is Paula and she's from Chile. Once we got off the train, I invited Paula to join Adrian and I, initially to give her a ride to the other train station for her connection to Zurich, but then to dinner. Paula had 3 hours to kill and I hadn't met any other travelers on my own yet. We ended up walking around a popular shopping street in Vienna for a few hours, most of the stores were closing, so all we could do was walk. Adrian explained the stars along the sidewalks, glorifying exceptional Austrian citizens, mainly olympic athletes, but a few others as well.
Once we left Paula at the station, Adrian and I returned to his home in the 18th district of Vienna. I had no previous knowledge of Adrian's homelife, and I expected an apartment. Turns out, houses aren't uncommon in Vienna. Adrian lives in his mother's house, the house he grew up in, a short drive from Vienna's center. The house is exceptionally spaced, high ceilings and well placed art. One of the downstairs rooms is a small, but cozy library. The backyard extends even further than I originally assumed from the glance I got the first night. I also didn't get to see the downstairs until the last day, the downstairs is inhabited by Adrian's mother. It's immense! 
Not only are the closet and bathroom sizeable, but the actual bedroom feels even larger, given the wall facing the backyard is entirely made of glass and filled with plants to blend the end of her room with the beginning of the yard. It also allows for excellent lighting during the day. That aside, Adrian had me sleep in his sister's room, which was formerly his parent's master bedroom. This closet extends into their attic and is large as well. Based on the decorations in the room, I surmised Adrian's sister and I would get along. Not only had she cut out almost all the same ads I had, she collected free postcards with promotional information, and collected an assortment of knick-knacks and toys, the same kind I can't really part with. The sort of strange collection that begins early on in childhood and takes a while to wear off as you cross the threshold of early adulthood. Adrian also has an old black dog by the name of Hubert. He was very sweet.
After resting for a while, Adrian and I went off to his cousin's partner's bar, Roger's. Roger is Portuguese and met Adrian's cousin in London about 12 years ago. They have two children and I'm still unclear as to why they decided not to get married. Either way, Roger was having a "party" or perhaps, promotional event? Eitherway, he had a live preformer and the bar was packed. Adrian introduced me and Roger continued to provide us with free drinks and snacks throughout the evening. I felt particularly guilty when Roger gave us free beers, because I cannot stand beer. I tried to stomach it, but could not. I guess I'm kind of a wuss when it comes to forcing myself to drink beer, I just can't do it. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, so I had to take pictures when we dropped in the next day. A bar's a bar, but you can sort of see the Portuguese theme running through the place. It was definitely a fun time, Roger clearly enjoys his job.
The next day (Saturday), Adrian let me sleep in before we set off to explore Vienna's city center. After about 45 minutes of searching for a parking spot, we set off for the largest church in Austria. While it is definitely large, the church in Prague castle is the clear winner for size. About halfway towards the back of the church, we noticed a group gathered for a tour of the catacombs beneath St. Stephens. Given it was only 2 Euros, I persuaded Adrian to go with me. Camera's were not allowed at this point, so I can really only describe what I saw. The group was escorted down the stairs and into the chamber room of the catacombs. The lights were dim and the room was slightly colder. The first room is through a small hallway, with hallways leading to the left and right of the entrance as well. The guide led us forward to a room where the chairs face the back wall. To the left at the end of this room was the coffins of all St. Stephen's Cardinals. The most recent deceased Cardinal has his picture hung beside his tomb with candles lit and flowers around the cage encasing his final resting space. 
The coffins are shelved 3 columns high and 5 rows long. The guide then led us through another corridor to the resting place of a royal family. I cannot remember their names I'm sorry to say. There was no real order to their arrangement, just placed throughout the room. A few were clearly holding children. The rows and columns leading into this room were full of small containers hosting the organs of this once influential family. Just outside that was a "Stone Museum" of sorts, displaying former pieces of the church that had fallen down from age or during WWII. The creepiest of these statues were the helldogs. By the end of this Stone Museum chamber, we had reached the entry foyer again. The guide then led us to the original catacombs built and used several centuries ago. This was darker and colder than the inital rooms. He led us to the first room towards the end of the crude hallway and directed us toward a "window." The window was a hole in the wall with bars, a light coming from inside the room the window connects to. 
Inside were a small collection of bodies that had long since decomposed to the bone. The tour guide then explained the way the catacombs were set up and how the bone houses and bone holes were filled to capacity during the Plague and how the catacombs were once closed due to the overwhelming stench of the dead. The bone hole was essentially set up like a manhole, only when you peer down it, you see a sea of bones. The bone houses were more organized, built up more like a square wall. Because I was so fascinated by this catacomb, Adrian took me to the Hapsburg Catacomb a few blocks away from St. Stephens. The coffins contained there are fairly elaborate, one in particular held two Hapsburgs (I forget which King and Queen) in a coffin larger than a Hummer H3.I had a traditional goulash and butter dumplings (I forget the German word, it's more flattering and kind of cute). It was rather large, so I couldn't finish it. Especially because it was very warm and Adrian and I opted to eat outside, the meal was too heavy for such a beautiful, summery afternoon.
After that, Adrian wanted to show me some famous gov't buildings, but when we got there, this rather large sporting promotional event was being held. The chancelor was even there to give out this important donation. Behind the balloons and tents in this picture is this balcony where important speeches are given, I believe Adrian mentioned something about that being the place WWII was announced to the Austrians? I'm really not sure. After we came to the end of this extravaganza, we reach another church and went inside to explore it as well. One of my favorite parts was the note near a donation table that specifies that they appreciate donations, especially if you take photographs. 
After the second church, Adrian and I passed numerous street fairs including specialty vendors. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything I liked that was within my price range. Had Adrian not been anxious to continue on, I might have bought something unusual to eat. By the time I was ready to stop site seeing and start shopping, Adrian informed me that by 5pm on Saturday's, all shops close until Monday morning. I must admit, though it was silly, I was rather furious. I had seen several stores that were worth checking out and I was extremely disappointed to have missed out on seeing them. We then resolved to see a movie at an English speaking theater, we decided on Hairspray. After seeing that, I was exhausted and we decided to head back to his place, grab dinner, then watch The Ring. Adrian fell asleep just after a heated argument to keep lights on during the movie. I won, given the last time I saw this movie was at Lee's house with Andrew, Alex, and one of Alex's friends. 
We watched it with the lights off and were frequently startled due to the carpeting silencing approaching adults footsteps. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well after that experience. It was a long time before I could walk past a television at night without thinking of The Ring and Samara coming out of the television to kill you.The next day, I left earlier than originally planned. When I got back to Prague, I had an excellent dinner with Allie, Jason, Josh, Daniel and Jesse. We all discussed our weekend trips, Vienna, Budapest, Moravia, and Prague. The vanilla ice cream at Corleone's is spectacular.
Wien LP.1
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