Day 1
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| Dr. Schnabel |
I always procrastinate and still haven’t learned my lesson.
That’s why I hadn’t finished packing my bag for Vienna till about 3 hours
before a taxi arrived at my door at 04:30. I managed to squeeze in about 40 minutes
of sleep, mostly because I was terrified I would oversleep and miss the bus to
the airport. (Some people in this program have way too much energy at four in
the morning btw). We dropped our bags off at the hotel and began our day with a
tour of Vienna, courtesy of Dr. Schnabel. Dr. Schnabel is a physician who
lived in Vienna during the onslaught of the plague. He shared with us a few of
the medications doctors would prescribe to plague patients, including cloves, the
urine of a healthy person, and vinegar. We also visited some beautiful buildings
where doctors were trained during the reign of Emperor Joseph II. It would be
hard to concentrate in a classroom so elegantly decorated.
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| Gnocchi |
Lauren, Madeline,
Katie, and I headed to an Italian restaurant for lunch. The gnocchi I ordered was
sehr lecker, and I wish I could go back and eat it again. That evening we had a
tour of the catacombs beneath the
cathedral. The tombs were neat to see, and the few mummified corpses
were fascinating. Our tour guide pointed out the medieval clothing, wigs, and
shoes that had been preserved on the mummies. The rows of coffins and piles of
bones were unsettling and served as a reminder of our own mortality. Things
turned a bit livelier at dinner that night at the Goulashmuseum. Wonderful food
and engrossing conversations made for an interesting time.
We began our day with a guided tour of the Narrenturm, which
was used as an insane asylum back in the 18th century and now houses
the Federal Pathological-Anatomical museum. The waxes made by father and son
were incredibly detailed and shocking. I have never felt more thankful for
modern medicine. After the tour, we had the afternoon to ourselves. A few friends
and I went to the National Library and Gardens. The Library was beautiful, and we
were fortunate to have great weather for walking through the Gardens outside. We
had a late lunch at a traditional Viennese restaurant, and headed back to the
hotel to work on homework.
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| Austrian National Library |
Day 3
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| St. Anna's Church |
On Thursday, we visited the Josephinum. This was my favorite
museum we saw in Vienna. It was commissioned by Emperor Joseph II to use for
training military physicians in anatomy and obstetrics. The waxes could take
anywhere from a few months to several years to make depending on the size. The detail
and size on the full body waxes were incredible and a treat to see. We had a
group lunch at Unibräu. The käse spätzle and schnitzel I had was delicious. Next
on the itinerary was a History of Medicine lecture and tour of the Sigmund
Freud house. I enjoyed learning about Freud and seeing the room he used to see
patients. That evening, our program went to St. Anna Church to see a quartet
perform. The classical concert was amazing, and it was evident how much time
and effort the musicians put into their performance. Several of us ended the day
with massive tasty pizzas at a restaurant called Riva.
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| Dinner at Riva |
Day 4
Our last day in Vienna started with watching the morning
practice at the Spanish Horse Riding School. The Lipizzaner Stallions were incredibly
graceful and elegant as they exercised to classical music. When we leaving the
horse practice, we happened to stumble upon a big crowd. The President of
Serbia was arriving at the Austrian President’s palace for the first time since
the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which sparked the beginning of
the First World War.
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| Cannoli in Vienna |
It was neat to be able to see such a historical moment taking
place. Madeline, Lauren, Mitchell, Corey and I went to Schloss Schönbrunn. The
Austrian Imperial palace was beautiful, and reminded me of Versailles. We hiked
up a hill to an overlook of the Castle and Gardens. The view of Vienna was great
and made for some good pictures. We stopped for some cannolis on our way back
into town for the tour of the Museum of National History. The museum was really
fun, and had a lot of cool exhibits. Katie and I accidentally got separated
from our tour group. Luckily, we ran into Alwin and Lawrence who were also lost,
and explored the museum together. That night we almost missed our bus to
Budapest. We spent about 10 minutes running in circles in a mall trying to
figure out at which exit the bus was located. Thankfully, we found the bus with only
a few minutes to spare.
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| Schloss Schönbrun Gardens |
Day 5: Budapest
Our Airbnb was in a great location in Budapest. We were
right off of one of the huge bridges connecting Buda and Pest, and surrounded
by tons of cafes and restaurants. We shared our Airbnb with a Chinese family of
3. The cultural differences and language barrier made for an interesting and memorable
stay.
We began our first day in Budapest with a trip to the Szechenyi
baths. We ran into some more students from the AIB there. The hot pools were located
outside in the freezing weather. It actually started to snow while we were in
the pool. I had a blast running into the ice bath and cold shower after sitting
in the hot sauna and steam room. Corey, Mitchell, Katie and I stayed for
several hours, until our fingers looked like prunes. We rode the old underground
train back to our Airbnb, cleaned up, and hiked up to an overlook of the city at
night. Budapest is absolutely gorgeous with all the bridges and beautiful buildings
located right on the water. We met up with a few others for burgers that night,
and ended our night early to work on some homework.
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| Church near Buda Castle |
Day 6
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| Inside the Parliament Building |
We woke up early the next morning in hopes of catching the
sunrise at the palace. Unfortunately, the clouds blocked most of the sun, but
we had time to see almost all of Budapest since we started our day at 6 am. We
walked around the town surrounding Sándor palace, where the President
lives, and stopped for a big breakfast at the top of the hill. On our way back
down, we decided to visit the Hungarian National Art Gallery in Buda Castle.
The gallery had works from many time periods and styles. That afternoon, we
took a tour of Parliament. The outside grandeur continues on the inside of the building as
well. Parliament has gold painted ceilings and elaborate statues and paintings
on the walls. Since the government was
not in its busy season, we were able to see the room in which they hold
meetings and vote. We had mouthwatering kebab at a Greek restaurant for lunch.
We tried to make it to Vajdahunyad Castle for the sunset, but were a little too
late. We walked over to Heroes’ Square for some pictures, then headed to Margaret
Island to see the large fountain and walk around the gardens. We made one more
stop before dinner along the river directly opposite the Parliament building.
The building was illuminated and looked just as impressive at night.
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| Veal Goulash with dumplings |
Madeline
and Lauren joined Mitchell, Corey, Katie and me for dinner at a traditional
Hungarian restaurant. I had some delicious Veal goulash with dumplings. We had
a fantastic weekend exploring Budapest. I can’t believe our first long
excursion is over. I really need to figure out a way to slow down time before I
have to go back to the States.
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| Heroes' Square |
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| Budapest Parliament Building |
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| Overlook of Budapest |
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