My Vienna Day Post...Finally....

So this blog post is a little delayed since I decided to finish the Vienna trip by leaving my iPhone on the bus. I am so thankful it was left there rather than the plane or lost on the street so I was finally able to get it back six days later before my Amsterdam trip!

So when we had the opportunity to spend the afternoon the way we wanted in Vienna my main priority was the "Wiener Riesenrad" or Ferris Wheel!! I have always loved Ferris Wheels as far back as I can remember. It is also something I have always done with my children. Anytime we are at a fair or amusement park as mom I don't ride a lot or rides but the one thing I always, always do is ride the Ferris Wheel with them. So given the opportunity to see and ride such a historic Ferris Wheel was one I was not about to pass up. Most of the other students had other things they wanted to go do and it was not great interest to them over other things so I did something I usually would not do...I went alone.


Wiener Riesenrad was built in 1897 standing 64.75m and after the destruction of the Grande Roue de Paris in 1920 became the world's tallest for the next 65 years. Going to see the Ferris Wheel they have a small, one-room museum of the history of the Ferris Wheel.

The museum was set up with displays through the years from before the Ferris wheel.

Including one showing what was remaining after a fire near the end of World War II burned the park in 1944. The Ferris Wheel along with St. Stephen's Cathedral were among the first things reconstruction began on after the war.

A view right before beginning my ride of the other cars. The original had 30 operational cars but only half were re-built after World War II.

The inside of the Ferris Wheel car.

  
 Views from the ride of Vienna... 

The view from above the city was just as breathtaking as the city itself.

I was so glad I went to see and ride the Ferris Wheel. It was something I would have regretted if I had not done so because who knows when or if I would have the opportunity to again. As I said earlier I don't usually do things alone. Abroad or at home. It's much easier to have someone with you. I did get a bit lost at first making my way to the Ferris Wheel and learned that I do still know how to read a map!! Haha! I think we've all become too GPS reliant and being abroad without always having data service has really helped me learn to not be so reliant on my phone.

I spent part of the rest of my day wondering around and just taking the city in and finally decided to get some dinner. I really wanted to go to Cafe Korb but didn't know for sure that anyone else would want to join me and even though it made me a bit nervous. I went and had dinner alone at Cafe Korb.

Yet another first for me. I do not dine alone in restaurants. Never. Ever. Ever. Until now. Guess what? I had a nice quiet dinner, which was excellent, in a great atmosphere and the world didn't end!!

Until several years ago I had horrible problems social anxiety and something I became reliant on was always someone familiar with me in crowds of strange people. There was a time that I would only go outside of the house with someone I knew well and even then outings sometimes ended early because of my panic attacks when we were around a lot of people. I've come a long ways since those days but still have never gone and done anything entertainment wise or gone dining without another person until Vienna. This truly was MY Vienna day for me.