Italia!

Due to train schedules I only had one day in Vienna. The train from Vienna to Milan evidently takes 13 hours and I decided it would be better to not waste a day, but rather travel in an overnight train.

But I should probably start when we reached Vienna. We walked around 6 miles through the town center and back. There are numerous shops and stores and tons of people. They have large sidewalks, but it still seemed like there wasn't enough room for all of the people. We had pizza and at gelato on the way back. The gelato was extraordinary. Later that night we walked around some more, but found ourselves in what we considered a bad part of the city and quickly made our way back to the hostel.

The next morning we got up early and walked around town. We excelled at getting lost in Vienna, but we finally found our way to the Schönbrunn Palace. We took the audio tour and were amazed. My high school world history class came back to me very quickly. The Hapsburg family ruled Austria and part of Italy for quite some time. Marie Antoinette was the daughter of one of the emperors and was married away. The Austrians believed marriage was much better than war with other countries. If there was conflict the Emperor would just send one of his daughters and all would be okay. The palace was beautiful and very well kept. The palace was also the place JFK and Krushchev first met. After the tour we walked into the backyard and... wow!
We climbed up the top the of the building you see in the distance and took pictures. It is beautiful from up there. We could see all over Vienna. Must have been nice to have this little backyard.
Then we went to the Labyrinth and kids park. Of course we had the most fun here...

First we did the labyrinth. It was way tougher than we thought. TR got to the middle the first and then took pictures of us trying to find our way. I should mention there is a raised platform in the middle where people could point and laugh at the people trying to find their way. I thought I was going to beat TR and Ajay and ran around the corner into a dead end. An entire family laughed at me. Good times...

I will put up a video soon of us in the maze. This will have to do for now...
There were all these crazy mirrors and old fashioned games. We had a great time.

Here are TR and Ajay being silly: I told them they look as good as they sound...


Here is the center of another Labyrinth with tons of mirrors. I have a delightful face for this picture.
After walking over 15 miles. I headed for the overnight train. TR and Ajay were nice enough to wave me goodbye at the tram station to the train station. Ajay even blew kisses. Very awkward, but really funny, especially if it wasn't me trapped in the tram with everyone wondering about the two guys blowing me kisses. Thanks TR and Ajay!

I took a 13 hour train to Milan and arrived here at 8:55 AM. I am in a centrally located hotel near where Anna is living here. We walked to the Duomo and through the galleria. I bought two ties from a nice shop there. I thought I should buy something in the fashion and shopping capital of the world.

Quick quiz: Who is this a statue of?
Yes Dad I did spin on the bull on the floor. I will explain later, but I'm supposed to meet up with Anna for lunch!

This post will be updated later today.