No, snow!

Poppa: That saying was written on a statue at the Dachau Memorial, so that history will not repeat itself.

Last night I did not get a pillow. So I used my comforter as a makeshift pillow/earplug/eye mask. It worked pretty well, actually.. It was raining when I woke up at 7. I had to lug all my shit back downstairs because they had me in a different room for the next two nights. So the girl says, "You can put it in the locker room." She gives me the key and I go downstairs into this shabby, creepy basement with, literally, a fence. You open it up and shove your things inside. How safe is that?! Anyone can just go to reception and get that freaking key! I was freaking out. Anyway, I had to leave in order to make it to mass on time. (How many times have I said THAT sentence?!) Haha, that's right, I had to sit through a mass in order to hear the Vienna Boys' Choir. I think that's the only time I'll ever pay to go to mass, too. (Although, they still came around for collection..hmmm.) Every ten minutes throughout the service, though, there would be this fantastic live orchestra and choir that would go on for a little while, and I thought that was the Boys' Choir. See, I was on the balcony and they were sitting above me, so there's no way of knowing WHO they were! But at the end of mass, they all came out on to the altar and sang one song. I took some audio. They were adorable and SOOO freaking good. Wow. I got da shibers, I must say.

Afterwards, I ran out of the chapel to catch the Spanish Riding School show. Luckily, it was only inches away, but apparently there are 12 entrances and only one was the correct one for me. You walk in and it looks like a palace where they accidently put dirt on the floor instead of marble or tile. It was fairly small, but SO ornate! There weren't many seats, so I was a standing room ticket. The show was fannnnnnntastic! The Lipizzaners are 4 years old when they come to the riding school (the oldest and most prestigious in the world) and they train for 6-10 years! So first, they brought out the amateurs; horses who'd only been there for a few years and were still grey because they don't turn white until they're older. So they're good, but you can tell they need to be repremanded, and at the end, when everyone clapped, a couple of them freaked out. Then, they brought out the fully-trained horses. Perfectly white and dressed in red and gold halters, they come out, all in the same exact way with their heads slightly tilted and their legs popping up in the air with each step. They were so majestic! Each rider was dressed identically-- with traditional Austrian riding clothes and a little hat-- and at the start of each performance they'd all slowly take off their hats at the same time and then put them all back on in unison. It was adorable.

Now, imagine these breathtaking stallions-- sometimes eight of them at a time-- doing these ballet-like sidestepping moves across the arena, so in unison that at times I thought there was a huge mirror in the middle of the ring, as the sounds of Mozart's symphonies filled the arena. They pranced-- that's really the only way to describe it; and at one point, the riders had them bucking and rearing, sometimes both, at one time! It was great. Oh, and...photos weren't allowed, but what do I do when someone tells me I can't take a photo? I take one. Or three.

After the show, I walked down to Belvedere Palace. It was still raining, so I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures outside. And boy did I want to; Vienna is gorgeous! The palace was actually a museum, which I didn't know. It was pretty neat, mostly paintings. After that museum I went to another one, again mostly paintings, but the building it was in was spectacular! There are three museums in this platz whose buildings form a U, and they're all beautiful. I think I took more pictures of the architecture and design than of the actual items in the museum. Originally I wanted to go to all three museums, but unlike Munich, the museums in Vienna are expensive! I paid 8 eur for each of the two I went to...imagine two more?! They're going to clean me out. It's too bad that that has to be the reason not to go.

By the time I got out of that museum, it was getting dark and the rain was falling harder, so I went to the train station to reserve my night train ticket to Venice and then went home. When I got off the metro, it was snowing very slushy snow. Ughh. So I walked up that stupid hill, feeling my socks squirt with each step and got to the hostel only to remember that I had to lug my shit back up, this time to the 5th floor! And no, I wasn't about to use that SHADY elevator!

Now imagine this: I'm sopping wet, exhausted, and lugging two large and one small piece of luggage up, technically, 6 flights of stairs. I finally get to the room, let myself in, look around, and start freaking out: "Holy mother...I'm gonna...agh...holy shittin'...agh..." and this girl pops out from her loft. HAHAH. I was like, "OH! Hi, sorry, I...uh...were you sleeping?"

=)
Tomorrow, Freud and Mozart Museums. What amazing people this city has yielded..