Vienna, Austria

After our half day in Bratislava, we packed up and got on the road again. This time to Austria. We knew when we had crossed the border because all of a sudden there were these fields of windmills!!  They were awesome and really big on both sides of the road as we drove towards Vienna. 

These are some pictures we took on public transportation in Austria. It was a little more confusing than Prague just because Liz and Shan didn't know it as well, but they are such pros at public transit that we figured it out :)  

Apparently vampires can ride subways too because this guy looked just like on to me and Shannon!  So much that we made Liz and Chris pose so we could take a picture of him :)

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It was so fun to have so much face time with Liz!!  We figured out that we hadn't spent 10 days straight together in probable over 10 years!

 We visited Beethoven's city house in Vienna but it was a Monday and it was closed :(  It's still pretty amazing to think of the genius-ness that took place in that building. I love Beethoven. He's definitely my favorite dead guy. 

 We also loved that they had McDonalds!!  It's amazing how good an egg McMuffin tastes in another country - and I don't even like Egg McMuffins. Other things about McDonalds we loved was that their "coffee" was actually cappuccino that wasn't awful, and they served beer as a beverage option. Not that we drank one, because a BigMac and beer just don't go together. 

 There was a marathon going on on Sunday so after attending a Mozart Mass in a Jesuit church, we went out and cheered on the runners!

 We went into this church because it was beautiful and probably famous but because it was a Sunday, there were actually people praying and stuff in there and it just seemed weird to be a tourist in a place where people were attempting to meet with God. So, we left. 

This is a cake friends!! It was amazing. 

 I don't know what the top building is but I know the bottom one is their parliament house. We liked the driveway. 

 This sign made us laugh because it was for a men's running club. So, Shannon "posed" while Chris tried out the sport setting on our new camera :)

and then he made Liz run backwards with him on a trail. 

 and then we found a bowling alley!!  and since it was miserable and cold outside, and we could, we decided to bowl!  It was super fun and for the record, the Andersens won!!  So, while it didn't get us the trophy that the Bradleys won at the Wilson Family Annual Bowling Tournament at Christmas. it's just good to know we could beat them :)

Bratislava, Slovakia

Because the countries in Eastern Europe are so close together, we wanted to take advantage of that and visit more than one. So, we packed up in the car and started out on a road trip!  First stop, Bone Church, second stop, Bratislava!!  In case you don't know, Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia. There's really not a ton to do in Bratislava. We knew that when their national tourist websites said to take a ride on the River and enjoy their awesome coffee shops.... but we had a great time walking around.

Here we are on the Danube River. Every time we mentioned "bratislava" or "slovakia" for a month leading up to our trip Chris would burst out in song singing "The Blue Danube"  So, as we walked around Bratislava, we heard and arranged this song more times than you could imagine. Sometimes complete with harmonies and dancing :)

This big tower was on the bridge that crossed the Danube but we didn't go up in it. 

Our Hotel!

Since we didn't know much about Bratislava, we just made up our fun as we came across it. Like finding random statues (or bicycles) to pose with. 

The Andersens with Hans Christian Andersen

We did go up to the castle in Bratislava. It had lots of steps.....

A view of the castle from the ground before we started climbing. 

This gate dropped off to nothing. 

We didn't go into the castle because it cost more Euros than we wanted to pay. Especially since it wasn't really an old castle that was still original. and they were doing work on most of it. 

They did have lots of statues and a well that was perfect for spitting in. 

A view of Bratislava from the Castle. 

The American Embassy

Leftover decorations from their easter markets. 

This was a monk talking to someone on the streets. So, we took his picture :)

They had a fun little park area that had interesting things to do. You jumped on this board. I don't really know why, I guess just because you can. Shannon was much better at it than me!

This thing you stepped on and it made different musical tones. It was pretty fun. 

I thought this roof looked cool. 

This building still has a bomb shell stuck in it from World War 2. It's the black dot by the window.

Overall we had a great time just walking around and having fun. 

Other Prague Fun!

I'm really trying to wrap up our time in Prague (now that we're about a million posts in) so here are some random pics of other fun stuff we did/saw

A stop at Starbucks - because they're necessary!

 This elevator was so cool!  It's super old and runs constantly. It's in a random building downtown but luckily Liz and Shan knew about it. We had to act like we weren't playing on it because the security people will kick you out if you do. Anyway, the elevator is in perpetual motion and has compartments that you just step into at your floor as a platform comes around. You then ride it until you get to the floor you're going to and you step off, without it ever stopping!!  it was so fun and we laughed ALOT! all while trying not to so as to not get in trouble :)  which we didn't!!  Even after Shannon took pictures of us!

One of the nights in Prague, we went to see this water and music show. It was SUPER cold and the water didn't help any. but we endured :)  We thought it would have a live orchestra - because that's what the website said - but really, it was recorded music and the water and lights just went with it. We saw the show that was music of Hans Zimmer (think Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, etc.)  It was really cool to watch and at times the water even made a "screen" where they would show pieces of the movies set to music. So cool!!  We sure don't have this kind of stuff randomly set up in Mooresville :)

This was probably my favorite church that we went into our entire trip - maybe even better than the bone church!  It was beautiful to me mostly because it was so simple and yet so elegant all at the same time. It was in the same town as the Bone Church so we toured them the same day. That Saturday was definitely a good church day for us!

Look how tall those ceilings are!!

Some of the only ornate paintings in the entire place. 

OK, I'm not gonna lie, this guy was weird!! and there were 2 of them!  They are old Popes or Bishops or something in glass caskets. We didn't know if this was because it was close to the Bone Church or just because this was how these people decided to honor these particular guys, but either way it was strange. Since all their flesh had decayed and it was just bones left, the clothes were literally sown onto the bones so that you could see the bones mixed in with the clothes. Like it was part of the outfit! It was definitely strange :)

Look at these stained glass windows. I LOVED how simple they were. Different colors just lined the outside of the windows that lined the entire building. It was definitely the most unique stain glass I had ever seen.