Weekend in Vienna!

This past weekend was our first weekend travel trip! We went to Vienna, a short 3 hours away. The original plan was to take the train but there was a railway strike and we didn't know if it would end in time so we booked bus tickets just in case. We had no problem getting over to Vienna and stayed in this amazing hostel. There were 6 of us, which was perfect because our dorm hostel room turned into our own private room since we filled it! The hostel was super clean, the staff was really helpful, everything about the hostel was amazing. The first night in, we were pretty tired so we got dinner (wiener schnitzel- gotta try everything once... it was fried, breaded pork (better than it sounds) with french fries) at this cute like place near the hostel with a really friendly waitress, which was such a change from Budapest! We then hung out in the hostel bar and played twister, which was an absolute blast! After that, we called it a night, knowing the next day would be a long day.
On Saturday, we did most of our touristy things. We saw the Belvedere Palace (the gardens were impressive and would absolutely beautiful when in bloom), the Hofburg Palace, St. Stephen's Cathedral, and a great breakdancing street performance on this really fun pedestrian street. After that, we were exhausted so we went back to the hostel and did laundry. Now this sounds dumb but they had a dryer and we needed to shrink down some of our clothes since we have to line dry everything in Budapest! It was also Jacob's 21st birthday so we then went down to happy hour at the bar and were given free shots! Dinner was at a really good Italian place with great atmosphere- they had fresh basil and several other herbs just on the table for people to use as desired! We then had amazing desserts at this place with great ice cream sundaes right near St. Stephen's Cathedral.
Sunday, we woke up at the crack of dawn to go wait for free standing room seats for mass to hear the Vienna Boys Choir. We were there really early (first ones, in fact) and it was cold and we were tired but we got in and were actually able to sit down when it started. The choir sounded good and it was my first mass ever (in German, nonetheless) so it was something cool and different but I don't need to do it every week or anything. After that we were exhausted and craving brunch, which is very hard to find in Vienna! It took us about 3 hours and a trip back to the hostel and a ride on a scenic circle tram to find a place that we were satisfied with but we got these great crepes at this really cheap, cute restaurant. We were completely exhausted so we then went back to the hostel where there was this big area with lots of cushions and pillows to take a nap. Then, it was time to catch the bus and come back to Budapest.
It was so weird because coming back into Budapest, Hungarian sounded like a familiar language. It felt like we were coming back home. At the hostel, I missed my bed, and I associated my bed in my apartment in Budapest as my bed. It is crazy how quickly a place can come to feel like home.
Tomorrow, my friends and I plan to make a joint Picasa web album, which will be awesome. Then I will finally have pictures for people to see (Jacob and Nicky are way better about taking pictures than me.). Once we have this going, I will post a link!