Austria

Our second stop on the trip was Austria! My personal favorite country out of the many we visited, Austria is home to 8 million people and 2 million cows!

We stayed in the capital city of Vienna for 6 days. Our group toured the University of Vienna, which hosted old marble busts of famous scientists and doctors, including Sigmund Freud. The class also visited the Naturhistorisches Museum and Kunsthistorisches Museum, which are home to world-class natural history and art collections!

We also adventured through an ancient catacomb and a medical museum full of wax depictions of various illnesses and conditions. On a lighter note, we made our own pralines at a chocolate museum! I have no idea where mine went.

On our excursions away from Vienna, we visited Melk Abbey, home to a Benedictine monastery and a beautiful view of the Danube. As we were in the area, we also stopped at a winery in Krems; here, we learned much about the processes and efforts needed to bring a bottle of wine from the vineyard to the table.

We also had a free day to ourselves in Vienna! I decided to go to a Mother's Day concert at the Musikverein Wien, which is an esteemed concert hall in downtown Vienna. Afterwards, I hopped over to the Vienna Zoo and took plenty of pictures of cute animals; I rounded out the day with a visit to Belvedere Palace and saw the Kiss in person!