Muse: Les Vacances des Toussaints: VIENNA, PRAGUE, AND BERLIN

For fall break this semester, my four friends and I decided to head east and discover three cities that we had never seen before--Vienna, Prague, and Berlin. Our break could not have come at a better time as well, seeing as the strikes in Paris were in full swing this October. If there are few times deemed acceptable to leave Paris, this was one of them. The only problem was that the transportation strikes left us scrambling to find a way to the airport the night before our flight. The usual quick and easy RER train to Charles de Gaulle airport was a toss-up and (as my professor put it) "forget about the buses." Therefore at the brisk hour of five in the morning, my friends and I painfully took the most expensive cab ride over to the airport, paying extra to side-step the stress of the metros. But, despite all the hassle and the last minute planning, taking a taxi was definitely the right choice because the morning of our flight, the RER decided to not run at all. Vive la grève.

VIENNA

When we finally sat down on the cushy seats of our Air Berlin plane, I let out a long sigh. We made it to the airport. My luggage wasn't rejected because it was too heavy. Our flight was on time and more importantly, it had enough gas in it to make it to Vienna (that was also a toss up because the workers who drive the oil to the planes were also on strike). And an hour and 30 minutes later, we were in Vienna.

Unfortunately my first encounter with Vienna wasn't the sweetest. At some point while navigating our way through the metro, I had 160 euros stolen from my wallet. I would usually never carry that much money around with me, but we needed to pay in cash for our hostel. And though the usual reaction to getting robbed on your first day of vacation would be to break out in tears, I just couldn't stop thinking about how lucky I was that my whole wallet didn't get stolen. I'm not sure how the sneaky devil managed to pull out just my cash from my wallet (and leave me 10 euros actually...strange), but I don't care. If he had stolen my wallet, with my debit and credit cards inside, I would've been completely stranded with not a dollar to call my own. Fortunately this was the only bump in the road for me, and the rest of our time in Vienna (and everywhere else on break), was blissful and theft-free.

As the morning was rocky from the start, as soon as we had checked in and dropped our hefty luggage off, we made a beeline for the first restaurant we saw and immediately ordered some beers. Although the little French girl in me dearly missed wine on this trip, I gave it up to immerse myself more completely into the cultures we were discovering. And first thing's first about all three places we visited--beer is the poison of choice (sausage coming in as a close second).

After lunch, we took the metro to Stephansplatz and took in the views from the top of the Stephansdom Cathedral. Whenever I travel, I like to find a central monument from which I can take in the view of the whole city. It gives me a little perspective on the relative size and pace of the city, and also a peek at the city's architecture. Over the next few days, my friends and I visited all the major sights and attractions--we toured the grand Hapsburg Palace, marveled at the Klimt and Picasso paintings at the Leopold Museum, and feasted our eyes on the crown jewels at the Schatzkammer. Between coffee breaks at Klein's Cafe and cake breaks at Aida (famous for their Sacher Tourte and hot pink awnings), we continued on towards the Opera and Karlskirche (St. Charles Church). For a mere four euros, you can take the elevator up to the top of Karlskirche to see the intricate handiwork of the frescos up close.

Even though dark rain clouds hovered above us on our last day, it was by far our best day in Vienna. We headed towards the Belvedere Palace that morning and did our rounds past David's Napoleon and Klimt's The Kiss. In addition to the palace's obviously stunning art collection, it also boasts a Versailles-like garden in the back. My friends and I walked along the spirally path, taking in the view and the fresh scent of leaves, until the clouds broke and the rain flooded through. Strangely enough, the best part of our day started with the rain and how our lack of umbrellas forced us into the first restaurant we saw. It didn't matter that is was Greek or that we were basically the only people there, we sat down at a comfy booth and let the manager convince us to get the mixed grill platter. When the food came out, we were stunned. Pork, lamb, and chicken kebabs on a bed of lettuce with mashed potatoes. Five different delicious sauces that I couldn't place--and extra tzatziki. When we finally decided to stop force feeding ourselves bread just to finish the tzatziki, the manager brought over four huge wine glasses instead of the check. He said we just had to try this Greek wine. On the house. Two bottles later, tried we had. We ambled out of that random Greek restaurant happy as clowns, shouting to anyone who'd listen that it was only in Vienna that you could get accidentally drunk in the middle of the day.

In typical European fashion, we left one restaurant and headed to the next. This time towards Cafe Sacher to meet an old family friend and catch up over foamy cappuccinos and, of course, Sacher Tourte. The famous Viennese chocolate cake with just the faintest layer of apricot jam in the center is reason enough to visit the former capital of the Hapsburg Empire.

Stephansdom Church