One Week Down, Sixteen to Go!
- Cori
- Sep 13, 2017
- 3 min read
It's already been a week!! That is so hard to believe since I've already done so much while here for only 8 days.
This weekend I had time to explore a tiny fraction of the center city, and by that I mean a friend and I were out and about for five hours and only saw probably 5% of the circle. However that did include a long, relaxing stop for coffee at Cafe Landtmann, one of the most elegant Viennese coffee houses. However, I ended up getting Turkish coffee at an Austrian coffee house for a good reason (last picture)... I've researched Turkish coffee a while ago after seeing videos of it on Facebook, and decided it was a style of coffee that I have to drink before I die. When I spotted it on the menu, I had to give it a try. It isn't my usual go-to style of coffee making because the grounds are still in the drink when you consume it. I found it pretty hard to describe, so here is a video of how it is made (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj7Nnn7ycho). It came with a Turkish Delight so that was pretty cute as well. Overall, I thought it had a very distinct and strong flavor with an indescribable after-taste. Drinking the coffee grounds didn't bother me at all, but in the end I think the "experience" of drinking it was better than the coffee itself... Don't get me wrong, it was good but not something I would drink too often. I would most definitely have to try it again in Turkey to get the true experience. And there you have Cori devoting a paragraph to one of her true loves: coffee.
Unfortunately, the weather has been pretty gloomy here for a bit, either cloudy and dark or just raining. That has discouraged me from going out because of the inconvenience and it doesn't make for good pictures! However I did start booking a few trips for my time here including Oktoberfest!! Although partying nonstop for two days isn't really my style, I have to go since I am so close and actually have the opportunity to. It isn't something I can pass up, and I know I'm still going to have an awesome time! Along with that I booked a weekend to Budapest and a long weekend ski trip to Zell am See in the Swiss Alps. This is just the beginning...
Today I went to Bratislava, Slovakia to obtain my Austrian visa. Why I had to go to another country to get my visa, I will never know. However, if it wasn't for this, I would have missed out on the beautiful Slovak city I would most likely never have visited. It was a smaller town right on the border of Austria and Slovakia, and I think it doesn't get the credit it deserves. I went with a group of people all going to get their Visas and we had an unexpectedly amazing time! While waiting the five hours for our paperwork and visas to get processed, we explored the city and found some amazing sights and food/drinks. We briefly stopped by the President's house, which was quaint and unguarded, which surprised us all. Down the street was St. Michael's Tower, which was my personal favorite for the day. It is clock tower where we climbed up to the top (with a small fee of course) and got a beautiful view of the whole city. Then we made our way to the main square and found The Working Man: an adorable statue of a worker popping out of a manhole. Then we moved onto St. Elizabeth's Church, and this could be one of the most brightly colored churches I have ever seen. Baby blue. I loved it. Our last stop for the day was the Bratislava Castle and the garden in front. Another beautiful castle, but personally I think the garden was more impressive. And at the end of the day, our whole group got accepted and received our Visas! So it was quite a successful day exploring a city we otherwise wouldn't have gone to (and missed out on).
My time here has just begun, so let's see where this next week takes me!
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