Vienna 2 A few notable things about Vienna: 1. It´s been honkin´ cold since we´ve been here...definitely the coldest we´ve been this whole month. Crazy brisk winds. 2. When the bus stops, get your butt on it! Throw ´bows if you have to. After the bus taking off before Lan actually stepped on it in Lithuania, we were used to rude drivers...HOWEVER, when homeboy shut the doors on Lan and Jackie right behind me, I bout flipped. They just banged on the door, and he let them on. Good for him he didn´t drive off. lol. You know I woulda given him an earful of English he didn´t wanna hear. 3. Everything shuts down about 6...all the shops. Capitalism has not made its way over here yet. Unless it´s a pub, tea or coffee house, or some souvenir shops, it´s closed about dark. Craziness. Where´s a homie supposed to find some fruit? 4. The people are very diverse here...all colors and sizes. It´s kinda nice, but it makes it hard to get a feel for what Austrian culture might look like. 5. Everybody´s about some Mozart here...they claim him. They even sell these amazing special chocolates named after him. The chocolate is combined with hazelnut cream and marzipan, which is like a super-condensed sugar (kinda tastes like amaretto flavoring, I really like it). 6. The Hapsburg dynasty is way more interesting than I ever thought it could be. We´ve now toured Schonbrunn Palace as well as the Hofburg, the summer and winter homes of the family, and they lived large to say the least. It´s just crazy the elaborate detail that went into everything from architecture to plates. Interesting people. There will be much more observations about Europeans in general to come once I´ve arrived at home and had time for consolidation of all my new experiences. We leave for Budapest by train tomorrow afternoon, then one night at good ole Hotel Ibis, then headed to TN! I can´t wait. Not that I haven´t enjoyed my time here, but I just miss home. Thank you all so much for reading, replying, texting, emailing, and commenting. Nat- I can´t wait to see pics of the Kleenex box. Will- thanks for the proofreading, I´m gonna blame the humongous hurry I´m always in to bang these posts out since I´m usually paying for the time. Lecia- my most faithful person-who-misses-me-and-lets-me-know-it, I have gotten your texts and have been so excited to receive them. I haven´t texted back because it costs me 0.50 per outgoing text. I love you, and I can´t wait to see you this weekend! Tell Dad I love him! Mom and Lee, I miss you guys, you have to see Prague someday, and can we have spaghetti Friday night when I get home? Everyone, Happy Halloween! Austrians just started celebrating it three years ago, so not much trick-or-treating going on. Oh well, trust me, it hasn´t stopped us from eating candy. lol.