Developing a bruise on my butt!

My travels in Austria are coming to an end, and this is causing me much sadness...but I still have another day, so I will not dwell yet. My second day in Vienna, I went to dinner at Mandy's with her two friends Vanja and Emily. It was up to me to bring the wine, so I bought something called Sturm, and I now think that I am in love. First, a 2 litre bottle only cost 4€ and it so yummy! The 4 of us polished off a bottle, and ended up quite tipsy, in under an hour...and if I'm being honest it was closer to half an hour. This yummy drink went fabulously with Mandy's homemade smashed potatoes, sauerkraut, and saussage. It was truely an Austrian meal. After dinner we had an inpromptue dance party in the appartment, then Mandy went out to meet her new boy'friend', so I headed back to the hostel for a fun-filled night of laundry. Thankfully I had charged up my calling card and was able to call Grandma and Heidi to chat.
The next day I met with Mandy again and we walked down to the Belvedier Palace, where they have a modern art exhitbit, with a lot of pictures of famous Austrians, and then an exhibit all about the history of Austria...really cool. After that we walked over to another exhibit called 'Superstars', which was all about pop-culture...it had pieces by Warhol, videos about Michael Jackson, photographs....really cool stuff...those are the kinds of shows I like...not so much the looking at painting after painting.
Once again, Mandy had a school thing, so I was on my own, so as I was walking back to my hostel, I passes a theatre that was playing 'Elizabethtown' in 10 minutes, so I decided to check it out. So glad I did! Loved it!
Yesterday I got up and went to see the second half of the Superstars exhibit (really good Mandy!) and then caught a train to Salzburg. I am staying in an HI hostels, but its HUGE! The view from the bar area is actually of the Hohensalyburg Fortress...which I am going to check out tomorrow! If you didn't know, 'The Sound of Music' was filmed here in Salzburg (the Van Trapp family actually lived just outside of the city) and so most every hostel shows the film once a day. I watched it last night with a couple of people staying here...so funny...worth the second (thousandth) viewing! Tomorrow I am actually going to take the tour, so stay tuned for pictures and stories from that!
Today I rented a bike from the hostel and rode around the city...oh, but I forgot to mention the crazy Swiss lady that shared my room last night! She was alseep when I arrived (at 6pm) and continued to sleep until around midnight when I decided to go to bed. Then she woke up, opened a bottle of champagne, and started talking on her cell phone. She didn't know that I spoke french, so I got a real earful! I guess she was trying to track someone down through information because she kept spelling a name...over and over again! Apparently it was someone named Vettoria. I assume that's the last name, but not so sure. Then she started to talk to someone about not being married and loving that she doesn't have the ties associated with marriage...all the affairs! So rediculous! And SO loud! Finally I feel asleep, but she woke me up this morning when she was trying to pack her stuff up...thank goodness!!!
Anyway, so I rented a bike for the day and it was great...however I ended up with a male bike, and being short, I had a hard time swinging my leg over the bar...add to that the fact that I was wearing a skirt...and fell over once...on a busy street...tones of Austrians stoped in their tracks and just stared, then jumped into action to make sure I was alright...all I could do was laugh... unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture of the whole thing to send back home, but I'm sure you all have the image in your mind (especially you Audra..who I know is giggling really hard now remembering all my other spills...the Patch to name one!).
So beyond the amusment I brought to some people on the street...I also saw some actual attractions, including the Cathedral, the Prince-Archbishops' Residence, St. Peter's Abbey, Mozart's birthplace, and Collegiate Church. It was all really beautiful, and each church so different from any other ones I have seen before...however I think that I am all churched and religioused out for a while.
I don't know what I am going to get up to tonight...but hopefully not another viewing of The Sound of Music...once was enough! I might try and round up a few people and go and check out a monestery that makes its own beer...apparently its really good!
That's about it for now...I am going to go back to watching Gilmore Girls in German...I have no idea what they are saying, but am laughing anyway because I remember the situations! So fun!
Sending love to everyone!