Day 3: A Day in Vienna

Wow! What a jam-packed day! We started with a call time of 8:15 dressed, eaten, and on the bus. I had lox and bagels with yogurt, eggs, and sausage this morning so needless to say they dont skimp on selection around here. We were in business casual all day because of the places we were going and things we were doing.

We started our day off on the tour bus driving around. It is a double decker bus so I sat in the very front with the best view with Joel Sampson (Glee Club BME). 

We started at the Schönbrunn Castle which was built as a summer home for the Hafburg house who ruled Austria at the time.

As you can see, it is humongous! It has 1441 rooms and was built in the 17th Century. We officially were not allowed to take pictures, but we all managed to sneak a few in here and there. Here are a few from inside the house (we were only allowed to tour 26 of these rooms).

 Also, the courtyard in the back was outstanding! Reminded me a lot of Kylemore Abbey! We had about an hour to roam the courtyard and we only just scratched the surface.

We then hoped back on the bus, passed by Sigmound Frued's favorite coffee shop and ended up at St. Stephan's Cathedral. (Quick note: the stop lights here go red red/yellow green green flashes/yellow then red. Just thought it was interesting) Anywho, The Purduettes were pegged to sing during the normal week day mass. 

So, after exploring this magnificent gothic cathedral we sat down for catholic mass. Well, Austria's official language is....German! So the whole mass was in German! That was an experience in itself. It was pretty short being the week day mass, but the Purduettes sounded pretty good and they sang a bit after the mass as well.

After the show we had a couple hours to explore and eat in downtown Vienna. For lunch, I had a käsekainer, which is essentially a sausage with cheese inside of it. It was delicious! And they make their buns buy taking a small loaf of bread, and shoving it onto a rod, making a pocket for the sausage to slide into! What a great idea!! Anyways, after walking around we loaded the buses up and headed to a winery.

We drove about a mile outside the city of vienna to St. George Winery. 

There we ate an early dinner of roasted pig (Marx BBQ style) among other traditional Austrian things. We also had to have non-alcoholic wine since we had a show later one. :( However, after the show, there was a reception for us that they catered so we got to have some then! In the non-alcoholic wine, you add a spritzer, which is essentially carbonated water to add a fuller taste.

Anyways, after the tradition of getting fed so much we cant function, we took off to Neufeld Austria for our first show. We were the last group to go, and since we arrived early we had about 2 hours to kill  before getting dressed. Most guys did the usual and just hung around or played euchre. Rob and I took the opportunity to go walk around. We walked around the quaint town of Neufeld for a good while just seeing what there is to see. Much better than just playing cards in my opinion! 

Each group, the Bells, Purduettes, and us sang for 30 min each and then sang/played a few songs at the end. I was chosen to sing the run out for our section (when you're smiling) and think I did a good job (it is also the only solo ive ever sang for a show). We didn't have many people show up, however we sang the blue danube waltz (an informal national anthem of theirs) and got a fabulous response from them. As I mentioned before, we had a wine and h'ordervous reception after the show. It was great! Then hopped on the bus to head back for our last night in Vienna. I am getting ready to head out to the night life and see what that is all about. Also, I am having difficulty (the wifi isnt that great) uploading pictures so I will hold off for the moment and update these later if possible with pictures. Additonally, i dont really have time to proof read all of this so I apologize for grammar or spelling errors! O and lastly, feel free to comment or anything on here!