Flying through the EU was a delightful experience. Even flying domestically in the US, one needs to show identification of some sort, so being able to waltz through the Frankfurt airport and to the gate in less than ten minutes was pretty darn impressive and left me with plenty of time to happily explore the airport.
It was crazy to see one of my friends from my school in Maryland meeting me at the Vienna airport.
I absolutely adored Vienna. The buildings were so gorgeous, and walking around felt a little bit like walking through a fairytale cities. The architecture was just stunning.
My friend took me into the building behind Rathausplatz, which is open to the public–I nonetheless felt like an intruder. While he went to class, I went to Stadtpark and then to Belvedere Palace. He then got me into a tour of the Austrian parliament, which was a lot smaller than the California state building in Sacramento and eerily similar to the Maryland state building in Annapolis.

In the evening, we went to the opera, getting standing tickets for three euro. It was an experience to come in early, reserve our spots with scarves, and leave to get street sausages for dinner (almost as good as Kiwi sausages. almost.) Though I wouldn’t go back to that particular opera because I thought the plot was pretty dumb, it was an incredible experience and the singers were amazing.