Day 3: Naschmarket & Transportation

What a full day in Vienna! Yes, it may have been rainy and cold, but I didn't let it bring me down!

Naschmarket
After registering with the proper authorities, we took a bit of a walking tour with Maria, a representative from AAIE. She showed us a few points of interest and let us loose at the Naschmarket, a large conglomerate in town of shops selling anything and everything you could ever need! After wandering around, me and a couple of girls settled on Dr. Falafel, a well-established restaurant/shop that specialized in... well, falafel! They had lots of other options, but I opted for a very inexpensive (3.80) falafel sandwich. It was delicious and so filling! I was impressed by the very decent prices I was able to find around Naschmarket. Sure, a few sit-down restaurants were on the expensive side with meals up to 12.00, but for the most part I was very pleased with how reasonable the prices were! I can't wait to go back to Naschmarket on a Saturday morning when the whole thing turns into a giant flea market!

AIDA Prousek & Co. Chocolaterie & Grosskonditorei
We spent quite a while in the drizzling rain wandering around Naschmarket and finally decided to seek some warmth. Knowing that we had to be back at the Institute fairly soon, we decided to start walking in that direction and hope for a coffee shop along the way. We ended up stopping at an adorable (lots of pink!) cafe called AIDA's. This place, though not the most inexpensive coffee shop I've been to, still had fairly reasonable prices. The workers didn't seem too friendly, but there was an old Viennese man that took an interest in us! He had one eye that had recently had some difficulty opening, but told us that he made a joke to his wife that when he saw us it opened wider, and that maybe looking at "pretty young women" more often would be helpful in his condition. LOL!

Vienna So Far
I have made the observation that in public places, Viennese people are very quiet. In almost any location, we manage to be the loudest-- no matter how hard we try! It just happens. I have also noticed my total and complete inability to blend. What an interesting experience it is to be an outsider. Traveling abroad, especially where the citizens may already have some preconceived notions about you, can really put things into perspective. In America, I am very average. I don't stick out when I go in public, I don't have difficulty communicating with strangers, and I don't worry about others and their preconceived notions. I have learned very quickly that people on the subways and busses like to keep quietly to themselves, which is something that our large group of American college kids has difficulty doing! Another note... Vapiano's, an Italian restaurant in town, is DELICIOUS!

Transportation
-description of task
-end of green line towards... Heiligenstadt
-we got lost! not much out there... karl marx hof, 2km, nice man walked us to subway
-big loop, switching lines, feel more comfortable with transportation system!