Wed. June 17 and Thurs June 18

Yesterday was a terrible day with pouring rain all day long. It was aweful. Barbaras husband had a friend visiting so we had a barbeque and watched the soccer games. Poor Sarah cried all day and didnt sleep once. She then continued to cry all night. Poor Barbara.
Today Barbara, Sarah and I went out to the city center again near St. Stephens cathedral. I went to the top of the cathedral; all 343 narrow, winding steps. The view was amazing, and because of the tough climb there werent many people obstructing my view.
Then we walked through the city to where there are old roman ruins. They are just bricks in the ground, but they reflect how old the city is, and to me its really cool. Behind the ruins is where the crown jewles are kept. Walking through the building,called the Mickaelerplatz, which has a green dome, you open up into an open area, and then you pass again under arches and then to your left is the Austrian National Library and on your right is Volksgarten. In front of you are the Natural Sciences and the Technical Museums. Barbara and I walked through Voksgarten, which is very beautiful. Towards the back of the garden is a rose garden which is full of beautiful roses and a fountain.
Behind the garden is the Parliament Building, which has a very romanesque style and a statue representing justice in front of it.
We then walked past the Theater and City Hall, which has a very gothic style in contrast to the Parliament Building.
We stopped to meet up with Barbaras husband Martin at the university, but since he wasnt there yet we stopped in. Apparently it is normally very quite but today there seemed to have been a job fair or something. There was a panel of people talking in the entranceway of the university and in the courtyard there were booths inside the arcades and there was a group of students sitting on the grass protesting something.
Then we met Martin and walked to the "Bermuda Triangle" which is where there are a bunch of bars and restaurants. We sat outside at a restuarant called Bermuda Bar. I got to have schnitzle, which is deep fried pork basically and tasted really really good.
After we walked towards the Danube canal and along there. We passed a cool bar along the Danube canal that had sand and a beach theme. They also had a huge screen where the World Cup was playing, so we had coffee and watched the first half of the Greece vs. Nigeria game. Then we continued walking. Along the Danube, they allow the walls to be used for graffiti, but its really cool and looks really good, not dumb names.
We continued along the canal, which eventually became much more park-like. There were nice trees and you could choose to walk on the paved walkway closer to the road or a gravel path closer to the canal and more hidden among the trees.
We eventually walked to the Hundertwasser Village. Hundertwasser was an artist who decided to become an architect. He believed that straight lines and bland colors were not natural, and therefore came up with the much more lively and vibrant buildings. The outsides of the buildings have different colors and the lines on the buildings suggest that each level is at an angle. We got to go inside the building, even though theyre private, because Martin is a cop and here the cops have a key to get access to all the appartment buildings in Vienna. So we went to the top of the building to go in the garden. Inside, the ground is not flat, but also not at an angle; it has bumps and curves and there are tiles on the walls in a squiggly line in different colors and the walls are white but also not smooth. Outside there was a great view of the city as well as the other parts of the village. After, we were exhausted and came home.
I went swimming in their pool just above their building! It was really nice and there was a guy there who i could talk to so it wasnt as boring as i thought it would be but that meant i was too embarrassed to take pictures of the view. After, Barbaras mother came over. She gave me a swarovski candle holder for me to remember Vienna by!! She also helped Barbara with the baby, who was being very coliky tonight, as well as ironing and cleaning! She was very sweet, though Barbara is exhausted from not getting much sleep and walking around all day so she was very impatient with her mom- haha sounds a little like me and my mom sometimes!
I can still hear the baby crying and Martin has to get up for work at 6am and Barbara wants to show me around again tomorrow! I wish I could be more helpful--- having a baby is so hard, especially on no sleep!
Pictures of Vienna are up! Ive already taken 150! But the camera is finally telling me its getting low on battery (I dont have my converter, i think i left it at Mikaels house or something, so I havent charged it for 2 weeks now!)... Im gonna have to steal Barbaras camera soon and take pics on hers haha
here is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4801668&l=d3c515198a&id=544216318