Vienna

I've heard that lots of young folk are meeting their spouses on the Internet these days. I still don't trust the system- possibly because of a traumatic/utterly embarrassing experience with e-Harmony that I will not mention but also because you never know who is lurking behind those computer screens. However, I laid my worries aside when it came to finding a place to stay in Vienna. We just happened to be arriving in Vienna the very day that Germany played against Austria IN VIENNA in the EuroCup. This made for a boisterous train ride into the city full of drunkards covered in body paint singing patriotic songs. Simply incredible. But this also meant that all hostels were completely booked and so we resorted to the Internet. Using "couch-surfing" I scoured through hundreds of profiles of locals living in Vienna who were willing to open their home to strangers. "What kind of people would do this?" you might wonder. Apparently, lots of Europeans because there were lots of options. However, as I dug through the profiles being as picky as a girl searching for Mr. Right, I only found a few potentials who I thought a) they won't kill us in our sleep and steal our stuff b) they won't expect us to join them in a stereotypical pub crawl and c) they aren't so bizarre that our whole stay will be one giant awkward moment.

Mr. Right turned out to be Markus. I still cannot believe his kindness and hospitality. He treated us as old friends and showed us Vienna through the eyes of a local, making it an unforgettable experience.

We arrived in the city during the soccer game with no idea how to meet up with Markus who was at the game. So we found an Italian dive and ate dinner with possible members of the mob and watched the game. All the while, a nagging thought swam in the back of our minds: "what if Markus is a flake and we never hear from him? Or what if he's a murderer?" But we found an Internet cafe and a blessed e-mail from Markus and met him at his flat (after a few wrong turns and wrong stops) after midnight.

The next morning, my life was forever changed.

Dramatic pause.

Why? you ask....

because Markus introduced us to Nutella.

Life hasn't been the same since. Chocolate for breakfast? Why had I never heard of this before? Well-played Europe. Well-played.

Markus left for work and left us with his spare keys and suggestions for what we should see before we met up later in the day. I still am baffled by his trust. I don't know if I would leave two complete strangers in my house alone with the keys. (especially after I saw Trent's bearded face) Actually, I don't have many valuables to worry about except my cat so maybe I would, but it still seems pretty bizarre.

On Markus' suggestion, Trent and I took an audio tour of the Hapsburg's "hunting lodge" written in quotes because this was not what one would expect of a hunting lodge.

You better believe that stupid skunk came with us to Vienna. We went up behind this fountain to get a unique view of the house.

We decided to climb the grassy knoll to get a better view of this cool looking building. It turned into a mini-hike with at least 20 cut-backs but who doesn't love a nice, grassy knoll? Well, besides JFK...and possibly my brother judging by his facial expression. I loved it though.

"Gardens" in Europe are not like gardens in America. They are often so vast you can get lost inside. We returned the next morning to run through these "gardens" which turned into a 6 mile run full of beautiful, unique landscaping and lots of "where do we turn?"s.

When we were done with the Hapsburgs, we ventured downtown to explore. We found some gelato and some really, really old buildings.

I don't remember much about the buildings (probably because Trent was too cheap to pay even for an audio tour) but I do remember us getting terribly lost on our trip back to Markus' flat. I was so proud of this next picture because Trent had no idea I was taking it and I scrunched my face quite similar to his. He often wore this expression when looking at maps.

Our next experience was a typical one for locals but not so much for tourists. Markus had a basketball game so Trent laced up his shoes and joined the Austrians in America's best past time. It was awesome. Trent did America proud and swatted the shots of several men like he used to do to me in our backyard. (for the record, I DID beat him in one-on-one and it was best out of three games)

Next. Markus gave us a tour of downtown and introduced us to incredible Austrian food. I don't even remember what it was but it was sheer goodness.

We watched the soccer game and gorged ourselves until we felt like this:

And then we worked with Markus on ugly faces. We started with the basics: the double chin.

He was a willing participant and a fast learner. He quickly earned our respect.

Markus showed us more of downtown and we continued to make him make crazy faces. I'm guessing we might not have been the "typical American tourists" he was used to. Well, who knows- maybe other tourists carried stuffed skunks with them which they held up to his face in pictures...

...but I don't think it's very likely.

The next day was our morning garden run and then we explored the inside of the Stephanzdome. I didn't remember that name- I wrote it in my journal. I don't remember why it's famous except maybe Hitler tried to paint or draw it or something but was unsuccessful and got really crabby about it. Occasionally, I felt like smiling just to make Trent look weird.

On our self-tour we found some pretty sweet buildings and churches that you just don't find in America.

We also were entertained by some pretty bizarre statues.

We then met up with Markus who drove us to a beautiful lookout spot where we climbed these stairs:

and were able to look out over all of Vienna.

After our little hike, Markus brought us to another local spot for genuine Austrian cuisine. Again, I don't remember what it was, but it was amazing.

It really was delicious. I don't know why I made this face:

After dinner, we met up with Markus's friend, Phillip, and went downtown to watch the soccer game in the "fan zone." It reminded us of Prague with the incredible building as a backdrop for the giant tv screens and thousands of people packed in one square. However, we had actual friends this time instead of frightening bums who thought Trent was Jesus.

Vienna was pretty incredible. It certainly wasn't I expected since I was picturing more "hills alive with the sounds of music" but it was one of our favorite spots because we were able to experience the city as locals. Markus certainly was what made Vienna so memorable for us. Trent and I often felt dumb during our trip, but we felt especially dumb listening to Markus talk about the history of his country. He knew about every landmark we visited and taught us a ton about his country's rich history. He literally knew about ALL of the Hapsburg line of kings and queens and told us crazy stories about them that our history books leave out. I felt like an idiot considering I can't name all our presidents and I majored in history.

So thank you, Markus for your incredible generosity, for opening up your home to us, for teaching us so much, for entertaining us, for humoring us with crazy faces, and for making us feel so welcome in your beautiful city.