Today Margarita gave us an insider’s walking tour of Vienna, which was actually quite fun even though it was incredibly cold. We rode the cable cars out into the city. They’re really funny because they’re so narrow, but very nice– clean and with interiors finished entirely in wood. Our first stop was Otto Wagner’s Postmarke Bank. It brought back a lot of memories from Kalas’s class, but nothing much more profound than that. After the bank we headed to the main square to look in the Cathedral. It was fairly beautiful. The columns were carved out like so many waterfalls, and the stained glass was all nonfigural squares done in pastel colors. We couldn’t get into the central nave, but the light was coming in perfectly so that the ambulatory on the other side was bathed in colored light while ours was left dark. After the Cathedral we kept walking, and Margarita pointed out a lot of points of interest along the way. Eventually we stopped for lunch at the University’s cafeteria, and then again for coffee at a small cafe outside the Albertina. I got a really excellent double espresso. Next stop was the Museum Quarter. All the UT students ended up going to the Momuk to see the special exhibit on Media Art. There was a lot of really interesting stuff there including some of Yoko Ono’s videos and the Dan Graham video delay project. I really enjoyed it, but we were pretty exhausted, and Allie Ross and I ended up heading back to the hostel a bit before the guys did. We ended up going shopping. I picked up some gum and mascara at the Bipa (which also had the only European skittles we’ve seen! Its a magical place). We also found this really amazing Boutique store called No.5. I could have bought everything there, but refrained because it was expensive. By the time we got back to the hostel it was almost time to meet up with Catherine and Jeff for Schnitzel night. Schnitzel is basically batter-fried meat, and apparently Vienna is known for it. We had reservations at Ansen Gruber, a famous Viennese schnitzel restaurant. We got a bit lost getting there, but we weren’t too late. Allie Ross and I had salad and bohnsuppe (bean soup) which was pretty delicious. Apparently everyone also really enjoyed their schnitzel. After dinner most of us went to a hookah lounge with Tofan for his birthday. He really enjoyed it, and we finally made it back to the hostel around 1:00 and fell asleep.