Here it is! Day 7, Saturday, 5-19-07

Wie geht's? (How goes it?/What's up?)

The 7th day was awesome! Well, the first part anyway. I got up at 8am because Alcha, Charlotte, and I went to the ZOO today! SOOO AWESOME! The Vienna Zoo (Wien Tierpark) is the oldest zoo in the world. How cool is that? And it is the best zoo I've ever been in. Okay, so I haven't been in more than, oh, maybe 5 zoos in my entire life, but it was pretty sweet. I have lots of pics, a few of which are just below!

OMG, I have to tell you about our trip TO the Zoo. Okay, we had to take 3 trains to get there. I know that sounds like a lot, but it wasn't. We rode one for 1 stop, the second for 2 stops, and the third for 7 stops, I think. That's not very far in this city. I keep trying to compare this city to Chicago. No, no, no. I could spit from one side of a Vienna city block to the other. In Chicago, I would die trying to run a block. I love it here. :) Okay, back to the real reason I'm telling you this side story. So, we get off at a stop called Schoenbrunn, named for a castle, to walk to the Zoo, because that's what one of our buddies on the trip, Jeff, told us to do. (Shakey fist! We discover later that there is actually a stop on the map labeled specifically for the Zoo. Thank you Jeff. Because of your stupidity, you have added at least 1/2 mile to our walking distance for the day. Vielen dank (many thanks).) On this extra 1/2 mile walk, we were on a sidewalk next to a very busy one way road going the opposite direction we were walking. We were talking about the cool animals we were going to see, wondering if we were even heading in the right direction, when all of a sudden we hear a car honk its horn. Alcha said "Oh no." I didn't know what she meant because I'm used to people honking their horns all the time. I thought, um. it's no big deal. someone's probably being stupid somewhere. Oh, no. Some guy in a very small, yet extremely expensive gold convertible with a black top pulled over to the side by us and got out with a map and said "Budapesht?"

My stomach sank. All I could think was, Crap, I'm the closest to this guy's car and neither of the other two are going to talk to him; we can't just walk away. That's rude. Here's my attempt at a conversation - in GERMAN - WITH A STRANGER.

Budapesht? (i know that's not how you spell it, but that's how the guy said it)
"Ich weiss nicht. Es tut mir Leid." (me: I don't know. I'm sorry.)
Budapesht. guy points to map
"Ich weiss nicht. Sprechen Sie Englisch?" (me: I don't know. Do you speak English?) i look at Alcha, who looks a tad worried - flight mode out of fight or flight
Nein. Budapesht? points to map again
"Es tut mir Leid, aber wir sind nur Touristen. Wir wissen nicht wo das ist." (me: I'm sorry, but we're only tourists. We don't know where that is.)
Budapesht. guy's finger still on Budapest
"Ich weiss nicht." (me: I don't know.)
Ja. Okay. guy folds map
"Es tut mir sehr Leid." (me: I'm very sorry.)
guy gets back in car - - - we quickly start walking the same direction we were going

That was a little nerve-wracking. I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't tell if Alcha and Charlotte were upset that I told him we were tourists, but I didn't know what else to tell him because he kept asking. They sure weren't helping me. I figured if he knew we weren't from there, he'd go away and find someone else to talk to. What else was I supposed to do? Ach, meine gute (oh my goodness). Thankfully, a few minutes after that shenaningans was over, we found the entrance to the entrance to the Zoo. We had to walk through a garden first; it was B-E-A-UTIFUL.

The entrance fee to the zoo was only 5 Euro (student discount) :) and it was so worth it. It was worth every bit of it. Here's some of what was there:

-Their aquarium was awesome - even included a walk-thru tunnel where fish swim over you :)

-they had fountains at some places for kids to play in if it was hot
-they had more animals than the brookfield zoo and lincoln zoo combined :o
-they had birds i've never seen at a zoo before - couldn't tell you what they were, tho - the signs were all in german and i didn't bring my dictionary. can you tell what this sign is for? it says ,,Flusspferd"

-they had stuff you don't normally see in a Zoo, like Giant Pandas

-and they do not have shops every 20 effin feet! just one at the exit - i was a fan.

Vienna also has an Aquarium called ,,Haus des Meeres". We were so excited to go there, especially for the FEEDING at 15:00 (3pm). We hop on some more trains and arrive at 20 'til. The building is weird. It looks like a war fortress; ugly grey except for a strip of blue from the ground to 8' up, almost no windows and a look-out post on each corner at the top of the building.

-entrance fee - 10,30 Euro (student discount - 7,20: only on Monday, Friday = RIPOFF!)
-up to 5th floor for sharks: there's only ONE in the tank and it's laying on the bottom gasping to move oxygen over it's gills
-tanks dirty
-poor variety of fish
-some fish dead
-some fish sick, swore some had ick
-2 best things about place were: view from top (saw all of Vienna) and Tom (we named a Pufferfish who kept swimming the same exact route in it's tank - kinda looked like it was smiling too)

The aquarium was sooo NOT worth it. It was very disappointing.

Well kids, it's almost 2am here and I'm tired. I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon! Oh! Before I forget to tell you, it looks like I'll get to go to Salzburg and Munich afterall, thanks to the P's and the sister. I have such a great family. I'll never be able to thank you enough for everything you've done and are doing for me. I truly am blessed to have you three and I thank God every day that He made it so. Love, hugs, and kisses meine Familie!

Love,
the littlest one