It's been awhile since my last post because we've gone for almost two full weeks! We had our second field trip, which ended in Venice and from there we started spring break. Here's what happened on field trip #2.
We left for our second field trip on the morning of Tuesday April 7th to head to Vienna. It was about a 2 hour bus ride so we arrived early afternoon. We walked to the square where we took a break for lunch. After lunch we headed to the National Treasury, which was really beautiful. It was filled with jewels, crowns, robes, and other royal belongings. It seems crazy to me that people actually lived and dressed that way. You can see it in movies but you always know they are costumes so when I see the real thing it blows my mind. After the treasury we had the rest of the night free. Unfortunately, one of my friends got really sick and we had to take her to the hospital. It was a very different experience than a hospital back in the States. Everything seemed a little disorganized and honestly a little scary. The "waiting room" had all types of people; some just waiting, some hooked up to IVs or some sitting in wheel chairs. Luckily everything went smoothly and some of the doctors actually spoke English. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. (Hopefully!)
The next day we met in the morning to go to what we thought was a horse show. It turned out to just be practice or training. It took place in this indoor arena where 4-5 horses and their riders prance around to music for about 30 minutes and then a new set of horses and riders take their place. Looking back on it, it was kind of funny because we kept waiting for something to happen or for the "show" to start each time a new group came out, but it never did. What I found really interesting about this was that the arena was pretty packed with people. I'm assuming most of these people actually knew it was only training taking place and yet they still came to watch. I think that really shows a difference in cultures. People actually paid and showed up to watch horses walk around. In America I feel like that would never happen. Either way it was an interesting experience. After the horse "show" were were free to explore and a group of us went to the Museum of Natural History. This was probably my favorite part of Vienna. It had so many different and cool exhibits from rocks and gems, astronomy, anthropology, and dinosaurs! They had the largest turtle in the world which was actually found in South Dakota and we also found a giant rock they had from Nebraska. I thought it was a really fun and cool museum. The rest of the night was spent shopping and hanging out. To get back to our hostel we had to walk down a long street filled with shops so we took our time getting back. We called it a pretty early night since we were leaving for Venice the next day.
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| Rock from Nebraska |
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| Giant turtle from South Dakota |
The next morning we headed back on the bus for the long drive to Venice. We passed through the beautiful Alps on our way, which was very cool to see. When we finally made it to Venice we had to take a train to actually get to the island. Once we arrived we dropped our stuff off at our hostel and headed to Piazza San Marco. The first thing I noticed is that Venice is absolutely gorgeous. It has tiny windy streets with little bridges everywhere. There are no cars so you have to take boats everywhere or walk. There can be hundreds of ways to get to the same place so you basically start walking in the general direction and will eventually end up where you want to go but it's very easy to get lost. Luckily this time we had Martin leading us so we all made it to the square. Once in the square we were free to explore on our own. It was so beautiful walking along the water and looking at little shops. For supper we ate some delicious pasta at a restaurant right on the water. After supper we had to try and make it back to the hostel. It took us a couple hours and some questionable streets but we finally made it back. The rest of the night was spent hanging out by the hostel and exploring around there. We were kind of close to the famous Rialto Bridge so we went there for a beautiful view at night.
The next day we had to get to San Marco's square on our own to meet as a group. It was really fun exploring the streets and trying to find our way. It's so strange because some of the streets that would be considered sketchy back home were just normal streets that people take everyday. There were lots of twist and turns and crossing tiny bridges here and there. We made our way there pretty early so we just sat by the water and soaked in the sun. The weather was absolutely beautiful compared to what it had been back in the Czech Republic. Once our whole group arrived we went in St. Mark's Basilica and then to the Doge's Palace. They were both very beautiful and cool to see. After that I went with a group on a gondola ride through the city. It was such an amazing experience! Everything was so pretty and our gondolier told us some interesting things about different buildings. The rest of the night was free and we spent it doing more wandering and shopping. Then we went back to the hostel to pack up our stuff and get ready to start spring break.
Overall I would definitely say it was a successful filed trip. Vienna had a very different vibe than any other city we had been to before. Venice was just so amazing and unlike anything I have ever seen. The fact that their main transportation was by boat is a hard concept to grasp. We even saw a boat ambulance. It honestly seemed like a city out of a fairy tail and I loved it!
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