May 31: Spires, Spirals, & Crypts

Today was our last completely free day in Vienna, I can’t really believe its coming to an end. We all chose what all we wanted to finish up today last night at dinner. Anna and I met bright and early at the Aida in Stephansplatz for an early morning cappuccino. By the time we had finished our drinks, everyone else had arrived. To start, we went to the back of Stephanzdome to walk up the spire that rises above the city. As we started to ascend the spiral staircase in the spire, the bells above us started to ring out for the mass that was beginning below us. It was a special mass for the holiday of Corpus Christie. Getting to listen to the bells as we emerged at the top of the spire and look down on the city was awe inspiring. We stayed up there for a while, taking in the sights and watching the mass outside. 

Going down the spire took what seemed like forever, the constant spinning make us dizzy and the lack of sunlight made us unsure how far down we had gone. But we popped out eventually, and the group decided it was time to eat lunch. We spent a solid half hour searching for goulash, but our search came up empty so we just went back to Aida for some of their cheaper goulash. Their goulash was pretty good though, so it all worked out. 

After lunch we went back to Stephenzdome to go into basement. It is here that the crypts are located. We got a guided tour to take us down into the winding crypts. The first stop was the crypt of local clergymen, a crypt which is still in use today, recently a clergy member was buried there. Then we went into a room that held the remains of the local royalty. It’s weird, the churches argued who should get to josie their corpses, they they just divided up the bodies. Steohanzdome got the internal organs of the bodies. So we were just surrounded by copper pots full of im the internal organs of royalty. 

Then we went further down, into the crypts. It was here that we actually got to see the bones stacked up on each other along the walls. It’s so eerie, seeing all the bones of the long deceased. But I think this method of burying the dead is so much more pragmatic than the way we waste land with cemeteries. 

Our crypts tour ended with us popping out on the other side of Stephanzdome. After we were done we all went back to our hosts families to prepare for the night ahead of us. We were planning on going to the symphony but there was going to be heavy security and lots of regulations, so we decided to ditch it and go have our own picnic by the Danube river.

We all met at the subway station closes to the island that bisects the river and then we walked to the water. The part I loved most about this was seeing actual Viennese go about heir leisure time, it didn’t seem like a touristy part at all. Especially when we passed the older woman with no top on. We picked a spot right by the river that was far away from her and we got settled. Some of the girls got ready to go for a swim. While the rest of us broke out our wine and sandwiches. Some of us swam and some of us and it was such a nice, relaxing bonding experience. We saw swans, kids playing in the park, and boats passing by us on the Danube river. Vienna’s beauty will never be lost on me, as long as I remember. 

As night came, we packed up our belongings and trash and went our separate ways on the rail station. The six of us that live in the sticks got some McDonald’s on the way back, just because we could, before we went home. 

When we got home, us four boys passed out as soon as we hit our beds.