We ventured out for a bit after that. We purchased an 8-day metro pass for Eric and I to split (Ani rode free) and rode the Ringstrasse, which is basically a ring around the main part of Vienna. We had an audio tour (from Rick Steves, of course), so we listened to that while we rode. I was hoping it would give us an introduction to where things were but I felt like I spent most of the time dealing with my nausea. It was the strangest thing. All the smells on the streets made me nauseous and I couldn't hardly even walk in the grocery store because it made me feel really sick. I was also carrying around a small trash bag in case I had to throw up. I know that sounds crazy, but I didn't know what else to do. I put it in the back of the stroller and when we walked past something that smelled, I would take it out just in case. Luckily, I never actually threw up.
We stopped for lunch at Rosenberger Market, which is kind of a cafeteria style diner. Eric had bratwurst, sauerkraut, french fries, and beer. I ate some fruit and saved the rest for Anya. I knew I needed to eat something, and I thought fruit was probably the safest. While we were eating, I realized that I just couldn't keep up without getting a little more sleep. I absolutely hated that I felt like this on my first day in Vienna, but I was miserable. I told Eric that I needed to go back to the apartment for a couple hours to lay down so that maybe I would feel better later. Eric agreed so he got some cake from the buffet line and he and Anya went to a park to eat cake. I actually cried, I was so upset about having to go back, but I knew things weren't going to get any better if I didn't. After taking a few wrong turns, I finally found the apartment. Luckily, Eric took pictures of Anya eating cake in the park....
A couple hours later, Anya and Eric returned and I felt much better after having some sleep and eating just a little bit at lunch. We decided to go back out and do Rick Steves' City Walk, which took us past the opera house, St. Stephan's Cathedral, and Hofburg Palace. We actually went in St. Stephan's Cathedral because it was free. We wanted to go inside the opera house, but there were no tours going at that time and that is really the only way to get inside unless you go to a performance.
This next picture is from one side of the opera house.
We ran across a couple of street performers. We have seen a lot of those on our travels, but this one was really interesting. It was set up to look like the person was floating in mid-air.
For dinner, we decided to eat at a heuriger, which is kind of a "wine garden." We had to take a bus further out than most of the touristy things, but it was well worth it. We got to sit outside on a picnic table and the waiter came up and we ordered some of the house wine. A few minutes later, he came back with two huge glasses of wine. I normally drink dry red wine but the wine Vienna is known for is white wine, so I opted for that. Then, we went inside to choose our food. Basically, heurigers have a kind of "buffet" and you pay by the pound. We opted for slices of pork, dumplings, noodles, and a side dish with of eggplant and tomatoes. I am not normally a big meat person but it was pretty good. I was still a little hesitant to eat too much but I was thankfully feeling much better by then. This is a picture of the area we were in...
For dessert, we split a large piece of apple struedel with sugar and vanilla creme. Of course, this was Anya's favorite part. We were all exhausted (especially me), so we just decided to go back to the apartment after dinner.
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