Vienna, but we aren't talking sausages here

For all you non-Alabams, HSV is Huntsville's airport abbreviation and the beginning of the Ragan's email address. (Jimmy, this shots for you.)

We left Salzburg and headed further east to Vienna. That morning we got to the train station and went to the "warm box" to sit with an entire family of Japanese people. We assumed they were from Japan, they were speaking in their native tongue after all. The nice gentelmen heard Ragan talking and said (in English), "where are you from?" Ragan said, "University of South Alabam..." Hello, is this 1989? Hey this is Ragan, I'm confused. The guy started to smile and Ragan corrected himself and said, "I have no idea why I said that, I'm from Alabama." And the whole family said, "WE'RE FROM AUBURN!!" The guys daughter had gone to the same college as Ragan so that's why he got the big smile on his face when Ragan said that. Oh it was so nice to "talk southern" for awhile!! They were only there for a week or so and I told them I was dying for some biscuits and white gravy!!

Even in the Vienna amusement park, they think the South will rise again!

This is a ride at the amusement park that Ragan thought would be really fun for us to do. Uh, I don't think they let pregnant women on these things for a reason. It went up 90 meters (almost 300 feet) and then swirled around really fast. The chains we hang porch swings in the States are larger than the ones they had holding up each chair. No thanks. 

Not knowing much about the city of Vienna, with the exception of music, we didn't quite know what to expect. Well...music is ALL that city is about. That and museums, with no pieces we were interested in seeing. To be honest we were kind of bored there and wished we'd spent more time in Salzburg and less in Vienna. Even though Salzburg is a 10th of the size, there are some great tours and things to do around the city that we were super interested in. Oh well, you learn a little everyday.

Vienna has beautiful architecture! This was a city that had little damage from WW II, which was good because there is no way they would have built back the way you see it today. Everything is on a grandiose scales! Like the days of Versaille kind of scale. Many of the classical composers that were considered the greatest spent most, if not all, of their lives in Vienna. So around every corner, literally, is someone dressed in the formal clothes and white wigs of the classical era selling tickets to their shows. We didn't end up going to any, they were all quite expensive and it just wasn't worth it to us. The city shuts down super early though. After 6pm, if you aren't going to the theatre, you are pretty much out of luck. 

One thing we did, that I never thought I would do while out on vacation, was visit the cities major cemetery. Really? Ragan read this about it, "it's half the size of Geneva and twice as lively." Intrigued, we headed out. It was correct on both counts. We were used to everything being on a grand scale, but I wasn't expecting them to take that to the grave, literally. All the great composers are buried there, with the exception of Mozart, but he is memorialized with the others. Below are some examples of what I mean.

This grave is actually very modest compared to the townspeople who are also buried there. I would assumethey were from affluentVienna familes.

This headstone would HAVE to be the winner for  "Most Creative Headstone." But wait, there's more...

This is the view from the front of the winner. We didn't know what to make of it.

Alright, that's all for Vienna. We got kind of bored there, no reason to do the same to you.