Travels and Adventures- Austria!

I write this from the bitter cave of procrastination where I've been hiding for the past few months. I hope you still remember me, I know it's been a while. I can only guess my blog has the equivalent of internet spiderwebs and digital dust from lack of use. But its only fair to say I've been a bit busy in the fleeting months between the holidays and now.

The landscape has changed from the bleak never ending rain and wind to a spring paradise overnight.

I swear the Danish gods thought to themselves us Danish peasants had suffered enough and flipped the hidden switch that allowed all the flowers and blossoms to open up all at once. I have been basking in the sunlight and perfect days while my heart goes out to the never ending Winter nightmare in Wisconsin. From a recent skype call my mother has called it comparable to the never ending winter in the chronicles of Narnia only without a talking lion and the only lesson learned was to buy more long underwear in preparation for next year's hell.

I've been fortunate enough to do quite a bit of traveling in the last few weeks. I got to traverse the Austrian mountains by bus, drive down the Swedish seaside, and navigate the never ending underground Tube in London. All within a two week span of each other.

I left for Vienna in the first days of April with my class. As a second year student at Tårnby Gymnasium,  I was fortunate enough to partake in the traditional class trip to an exotic location in Europe for a week. I envisioned myself amongst the snowy mountains recreating the Sound of music while simultaneously eating Weiner Schintzel in a dirndl. We arrived on a bright Monday morning to our hostel in Vienna. It was conviently located next to the neighborhood strip club complete with wonderfully graphic posters of human anatomy. Our first day was spent basking in the glow of the city on the first sunny day we had experienced in months. Our teachers brought us to the center of the city at 3 and just said we must make it back for breakfast tomorrow morning at 8. The freedom was exhilarating and so me and my friends made it our first priority to find the cheapest restaurant serving wiener Schintzel. The city of Vienna has wonderful cultural air to it and was brimming with history and museums. The main duration of our visit was spent underground the city trying to navigate the expansive metro system. Even during the late hours of the night, it was always brimming with people. The metro car itself looked like a McDonald's time machine with extremely bright yellow and red everywhere with an industrial feel. 

contemplating my existence and what I will have for dinner

Perhaps the culmination of the trip was our journey to the ice caves. Early Wednesday morning, we rented a bus and set off for a 4 hour bus ride into the deep mountains of Austria. As hours passed and we traveled deeper into the mountains our excitement grew as we envisioned ourselves exploring the deep caves of the mountains and traversing the ice like explorers. All 25 of us were easily getting antsy until we entered the town which would be our final destination. We soaked the town and surrounding landscape in as the bus drove closer towards the entrance of the ice cave. Our excitement was easily brewing. It was my friend Olivia that spotted the sign. Outside the entrance was a modest little notice with the following written "Ice Caves closed today". So that was fun.

The trip back was spent in silence and the bitter reality of disappointment. But while I wasn't able to explore the caves, the bus ride itself was worth the trip with incredible views and the opportunity to see a more humbler side of Austria in the tiny villages that lay in the rare flat valleys of the mountains. It was one of the most beautiful bus rides I've been on and I know I'll be back one day with my dirndl and yodeling skills ready to conquer the Austrian countryside again.