Austria

Vienna is well known for its beautiful buildings, churches and castles. As a part of my exchange in 2012, we went to Austria for 3 days at the end of the trip. This gave us the opportunity to experience another country that speaks German and it allowed us to see the subtle differences between Austrian German and colloquial German.

We had a tour of the city, which gave us an overview of the city and allowed us to experience as much of this beautiful city as we could.

We stopped off and had a look at Schӧnbrunn Palace, the Tiergarten, St Stephens Cathedral and Vienna State Opera house!

Each place had its individual history and stories as well as being beautiful in its own way. Each place we visited gave us an opportunity to admire its uniqueness and learn more about its history.

I highly recommend going to Stephansplatz as this is a massive shopping strip, which includes beautiful cathedrals and buildings. This is also a walking street, which is good so that you can take in the beautiful surroundings as well as being able to get to other shops with ease. There are also many fantastic restaurants with amazing atmospheres. I would take a full day to this as there is a lot to do along this main strip!

On our last day, we went on a boat cruise which is called the Danube Valley Day Trip. This is a boat trip along the Danube and is a great thing to do. It gives you a chance to experience a different aspect of this wonderful city. 

Jess