“The Day of Exploring”

That’s how my roommate referred to yesterday.  Even though we took our time getting out of the apartment Saturday morning, we were  in full-gear by the afternoon—hitting up THE shopping district in Vienna, we had a lot of stores to step into and side-streets to walk down.  Our mission?  Finding Shannon a trench coat to keep the rain off of her, rain that is only too likely to come in the next month.  And while we were at it, we made a few detours because I came across the most adorable store which had music notes and/or piano keys on everything it sold (plates and bowls with the piano keys around the rim?  Yes, please!).  I didn’t go crazy in there, even though I wanted to; no, I was on a little mission myself, and that was to find some stationery.  After nearly 3 days of searching for “Briefpapier,” and not plain old “Briefpapier" but some with “Blumen” (flowers) or anything at all, and with no luck whatsoever (even in the Post Office!), I finally found some stationery, and it’s got my favorite kind of background, which is also the most suitable theme for one living in the birthplace of music.  Now, all I need is the time to start writing these letters…

 

Shortly after lunch, which consisted of sweet and sour chicken with some veggies in noodles, provided by a cute little Chinese restaurant that we hade the fortune of discovering in one of the side-streets of Herrengasse and of which I ate way too much, Shannon and I again turned our attention to her coat.  Once she settled for one that we found at one of the THREE Zaras located on the same block, we headed back home.  Exhausted, we popped in an episode of Heroes (I admit it, I am addicted), and even though both of us ached from the waist down, I knew that if we didn’t take part in the “Long Night of the Museums” we would regret it later.  So we went through the entire booklet that I had picked up earlier that day, when we had walked outside of the shopping district only to stumble upon the Spanish Horse Riding School, and Shannon and I picked out 5 museums that we most considered, one of which was right where our bus dropped us off.

 

Ready for another few hours of walking, the two of us searched out the museum I most wanted to go to, besides the Belvedere; this museum is called “Dialogue in the Dark” and I was told that when this exhibit came to Graz, it was really something.  Engulfed in complete darkness, everyone’s senses apparently become stronger and I was eager to experience this feeling—only when we got there, they were already sold out and there were still 4 hours left of the Night of the Museums.  So, we headed towards Belvedere but the bus was absolutely packed of people.  Which was when we decided we would just wander and enjoy the buildings from the outside instead.  Our own private tour of Vienna’s buildings was just fine, too.  :-)