Our day started with another trip on the UBahn to Vienna city center. Our mission today was to see the Spanish Riding School’s fancy Lipizzaner horses practicing their routines.

A trip wouldn’t be a trip without an issue of some sort – today was my day. When I tried to scan my ticket it kept buzzing terribly and the turnstile wouldn’t turn. After a bit of fumbling, the security guard let me into the venue and we made our way to the training area. It wasn’t just any training area though. This place had chandeliers, what looked to be sifted beach sand for the horses to prance around, and classical music playing in the background! It was insane.

After we watched practice, we headed outside to see the sights and were treated to the horses returning to their stables. It was pretty cool to see all the handlers taking the horses for their daily rest after the 30 minute training session.

After our horse practice, we went to Naschmarkt to see the fresh foods from around the world on display. All the vendors are rattling scoops of candy, handfuls of fruit, or even cold falafel to get you to buy their products. Sarah was looking for a tapestry for her dorm room, so we tried to bargain with the merchant while he kept slapping more tapestries in front of Sarah while saying, “Dis one would be perfect” as he simply took the next one from the pile. If nothing else, the bargaining session took us out of the blazing sun for a moment. Sadly, Sarah did not purchase a tapestry and our new friend was not happy.

Our next stop on the day’s journey was at the United Nations for a tour. We went inside and had our passports scanned so we could gain access to the inside of the complex. A sweet woman from Romania helped us out while telling us she just started watching the Netflix series House of Cards. “Is that really how it is?” We just chuckled and smiled.

We got to see a conference room in the International Atomic Energy Agency (no photos please) and then made our way to the U.N. side of things to see moon rocks and all the space exploration vehicles from around the world. There was a bust of Yuri Gagarin and the Nippon rover from Japan (that name may be wrong). Side note, candy machines at the United Nations have reasonably priced treats for exhausted and hungry young ladies.

Our day ended with a trip to the Danube River for some swimming. Picture everything you can’t do at a Rhode Island beach … it’s allowed here. There was a dock to jump off of, no rope to limit swimming, public drinking (the guys next to us were sharing a bottle of wine), and boaters who would gladly tow you across the the river if you held onto the side of their boat (there was a restaurant on the other side). We swam as the sun set and enjoyed the quiet time in the water.

Our bedtime snack consisted of some ice cream concoction that tasted like graham crackers and Honey Bunches of Oats rolled around a ball of ice cream that had apricot in the center. It was incredible.