I watched the sunrise...on my way home.

pretty blue tree

What an epic weekend!  It all started Friday evening.  There was a huge celebration throughout the entire city both Friday and Saturday night because it is the first weekend that the U-Bahn runs 24 hours.  Everyone could ride for free and there were no cover charges on any of the clubs.  Bars were having specials and there were bands playing everywhere.  The entire city came out to join the party.                                                                 We started our evening at the park for a free concert by the world famous Volk Oper.  They sang songs from some of my favorite musicals and operas.  Pieces of Carmina Burana were even played.  It was amazing!  The park was all covered in lights and everyone was just sitting at tables or standing on the lawn in front of the stage.  My favorite song was Nessun Dorma sang by the best tenor ever!  

 

After the concert, we all went to this bar called the Traveler's Bar.  It was so much fun and there were people there from all over.  They played the best music and we knew all the words.  The bar tender/owner was super nice and offered all of us jobs.  We met these girls from Vienna and these guys from Spain.  They were all really nice and so when they headed out they invited us along.  Overall the night was a total success!  

Saturday, I checked out Grinzingerstrasse which is where all the local wine is grown.  We went to a little Heuriger to try this seasons wine.  It is super cheap and super good.  The little town was so cute and pretty.  The streets were cobblestone and the houses were all bright colors with gingerbread trim.  We had dinner at a traditional tavern.  I had my first original Wiener Schnitzel and it was delicious!

Saturday night, the city was still celebrating the 24 hour U-Bahn.  We went to this club called the Loft that was having a really big hip hop party.  It was great with everyone dancing and having a good time.  We left the club at about 3:30.  Now I know this sounds late, but here clubs are open until 6 in the morning.  The so called night life doesn't begin until after midnight.  So leaving at 3:30 was considered leaving pretty early. 

Me, greeting the morning!

On the U-Bahn home, we got distracted talking to these people from Poland and missed our stop.  After backtracking, my friends and I split ways to get to our individual homes.  While standing at my building door, I realized I had left my keys in my other purse which was on my bedroom floor.  I didn't want to wake up my Host mother at 4 in the morning so I headed back to my friends place.  They hadn't gotten very far after misreading a map.  We ended up taking some wrong trains and having to transfer many times to get where we wanted to go.  At the high point of our frustration, we ran into a guy we met last weekend.  I think I've truly met only a handful of people since living here (school is not in session yet so most young people my age are not in the city right now).  And it was pure luck that we ran into this guy and he was able to tell us the right way to get home.  So finally, at 5:45 in the morning, we were on the right track.  We got to watch the sunrise as we walked up the street to the apartment.  The entire time we were all laughing at ourselves.  A teacher in our program was telling us when we first got here to get lost and explore.  We now think he needs to put a time limit on that.  So after a long night meeting new people and having tons of fun, I crawled into bed at 6:24 am.

The clock at the U-Bahn Station

I successfully made it home this morning after calling my Host mom to let me in.  After explaining my adventure, she laughed and told me that it's happened to all of her students in the past.  She told me that in the future, she doesn't mind being waken up in the middle of the night every now and then to let me in.  I just hope there won't be a similar situation in the future.  All in all, a good night and a wonderful adventure.