Today Kraków is doing its 20 minutes of 40 degree weather and brilliant sunshine alternating with 20 minutes of 20 degree weather and blowing snow. *sigh* I decided it was a good day to come right home after class and spend the afternoon doing work and reading. I'll run over to the Biedronka, our next-door mini grocery store, in a little bit to pick up some more water and maybe some chocolate. Yum!

So Vienna! We left Thursday a little after 5 pm when we were picked up by the bus service at Dom Piast. The drive was a little ridiculous and it took us 4-5 hours just to make it to the border between Poland and Slovakia due to bad weather in the mountains and having to pick 2 people up in really random, out-of-the-way mountain towns. Brad and Rachel were dropped off at our friend Viki's flat in northeastern Vienna around 1 am, and I didn't make it to Chris' house in southwestern Vienna until 2 am because the other passengers were dropped off in between.

Friday I got to go on a tour of the Natural History museum with everyone on Chris' program. The tours are supposed to be 15 people and they only had 10, so the program director (Brit) was happy to let me tag along. Of course, natural history museums have always been my favorite and this one didn't disappoint! We saw a LOT of minerals and other cool geological stuff, and went through the dinosaur and early mammal sections. It was totally cool. The tour guide was a retired gentleman who said he continued during the tours because he loved it so much - and proved it with his enthusiasm! The tour was in German, obviously, since everyone on it except for me spoke German. Chris says he had a lot of fun translating for me, although the tour guide would say some things for me in english every now and then and spoke slowly and accompanied almost everything with very elaborate gestures so I actually picked up a lot of it. He also made me do all of the demonstration things, like feeling the teeth and tusks on the fossil skulls and wondering what they were used for, or pushing the buttons on the evolution simulation machine.

Rachel and Brad met us at the museum midafternoon and the four of us (R, B, Chris, and I) spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the 1st district to get a feel for the city with periodic stops to warm up. We stopped at the Demel chocolate store and bought some chocolate bars and also at a cafe called Aida for some inexpensive and delicious pastry! We had some bruschetta at Caffe Bar in Stephansplatz and then met up with Gerald (Viki's boyfriend who Rachel, Brad, and I had met when he visited her in Kraków a few weeks ago) and his friend, Matthias. We spent a long time at a restaurant and then broke up after midnight.

Saturday was a sushi-filled day! Chris took me to a sushi restaurant a short ride on the U-bahn from his house for lunch. It was a deceptive place since it looked like one of the tiny street food places but actually had a small sitting area inside and delicious food. We both got bento boxes with an assortment of sushi and a meat dish - beef for me, crispy duck for Chris. Then we hopped across the street and spent a long time in the grounds of Schloss Schonbrunn, a huge yellow palace surrounded by an incredibly extensive park. It was the first consistently beautiful day I've seen in Europe, so it was wonderful to spend it outdoors! We grabbed dinner at a sushi stand in one of the U-bahn stations and then met up with a ton of people at a pub for Viki's 23rd birthday party. It was a typical birthday party: dancing, hanging out with friends, and meeting new ones.

On Sunday, Brit hosted a brunch at her flat for everyone on the program plus me and Eric, the boyfriend of another Swattie on the Vienna program, Lauren. Delicious food! Bread, cheeses, meats, butter and creamy spreads, nutella, fresh fruit! Yummy. After brunch, Chris and I wandered around the city some more with the other Chris on his program (Chris S. also from Swarthmore) and met up with Rachel and Brad for lunch and coffee at Central Cafe. Then it was time to go back to Chris' house and pack, then head to Viki's flat where the bus was going to pick us up and take us back to Kraków! We left Vienna around 8:15 pm on Sunday and arrived back at Dom Piast a little after 2 am. A much shorter trip due to better weather in the mountains and only having to drop off one additional passenger.

I had a lot of fun in Vienna, but it was definitely nice to return to Kraków, which really does feel like my home in Europe. It has a lot to do with having more familiarity with the language here as well as a routine and a small circle of friends. In addition to all that, though, Vienna was just too big and too beautiful and too classical, and seemed a little stodgy! Kraków seems a bit more dingy (in a homey way) and edgier with more attitude. Also more interesting. :) Well, I'm planning to visit Vienna again in the summer so I'll see what I think after gaining a bit more familiarity with it!

I think my life is going to be fairly uneventful for the next few weeks until I go to Venice for Easter break, so my next posts will probably be academic-y. You have been warned.