The fat lady sang

Well, the fat lady did not actually sing, but I did end my day in Vienna at the opera.

Katie left at 4 am to catch her flight and I had my first day on my own. I spent the morning at the Schonbrunn Palace. It is a huge palace, just massive. I did not spend a lot of time inside, I walked the outside gardens. There is a huge hill out back that I climbed up. The view was so beautiful. You could see the whole of Vienna spread out along the horizon. The weather was perfect too, I have been really lucky in that area. I have not had a bad day yet.

After Schonbrunn I went to the Belvedere Palace, which is now an art museum. I got to see a lot of Monet, Manet, Renoir and others, but my main reason for going was to see work by Gustav Klimt, especially his painting, The Kiss. I have always loved it, but to see the real painting was so great. It is much bigger than I expected and the whole thing has brilliant colors. I just loved it a definite highlight. It was good too, to do that, because this was the first art museum I have been to on this trip, so it was good to get at least one in.

I went the the famous Hotel Sacher and had coffee and the original Sacher Torte (a chocolate cake thing). After relxing there for awhile I made my way down to the Danube River and took a day cruise up the river. Again, beautiful weather. I just kind of relxed and took in the whole city. I managed to do a lot today, but I did not feel rushed at all.

I made my way back to the city center to the Staatsoper Opera house where I had a reserved ticket to the Onegin ballet. It was amazing. I have seen ballet before, but this was something else entirely, it was like the dancers bodies were perfectly in tune with the orchestras music. Just wonderful.

So, slight change from my original plans. Tomorrow instead of spending more time in Vienna I am taking a train to Slovenia. It is a country that borders Austria and I can not wait to see it. I am staying the night there in the Most Hostel and then going to Croatia the next day. I thought I would mix it up a little. I have the chance to see 2 more countries while I am here, so I can not pass that up.

I will write more soon!