Thu 13-Sep-2001 Got up and Corey and I went out on our own. The first thing we did was go to Stepanhof. This time we actually went in. Very beautiful church, but what made the place was the catacombs. When you walk down into them, the caskets of all of the cardinals of Vienna are around you. Further into the catacombs, you see mass graves of black death victims. Eventually, there were so many deaths that the bones had to be packed into a wall. From the outside, the result looks like a wall of femurs with dn occasional skull poking through. Very cool. Next we walked down Kärtner Strasse to an internet cafe at Karlsplatz, where I got my news fix for the day, and when that was done, we took the walking tour recommended in Lonely Planet, which included sights like the Pestsäule (Plague Column) and the Staatoper (State Opera). We then went to Schönbrun - the imperial palace of the Hapsburgs. We also got tickets for classical music at the Orangehaus at Schönbrun. Between then and the time of the concert, we got dinner at Schnitzelhaus (Austrian fast food, and quite good! I want this place in America!), and we investigated times for trains to Salzburg and Innsbruck. The concert was actually quite good; but I probably couldn't ever really get into classical music. Then it was time for sleep.

Fri 14-Sep-2001 Got up first and did the usual stuff. Originally we were going to check out today but we decided to stay another night. The lady that ran the hostel informed us that the police were here last night and she needed everyone's passport information (as expected, the police are looking for people with Arabic names), and apparently she got in trouble for not having all of the information. When we actually got moving, first stop was the Freud museum. The museum is located at Sigmund Freud's apartment in Vienna. It contained much of the old furniture that he used and exhibitation. After eating lunch at a Chinese restaurant. we visited the Austrian treasury. We got to see artifacts dating back to the Holy Roman Empire. Apparently, many artifacts got accumulated in Vienna during the Napoleonic wars. One interesting item was the largest cut emerald it the world; weighing 2680 carats. Another artifact is the Ainkhürn - a 243cm long object saio to be a unicorn horn. This item is one of the "inalienable heirlooms of the house of Hapsburg". In reality, it is the horn of a narwhal. Also present is the crib of Napoleon's infant son and the regallia of several Holy Roman Emporers. It certainly was not the largest museum that I have seen, but it made up for it in quality. Then, it was off to an internet cafe for an hour to get our news fix, and a quick run to see the Danube river. At Vienna, the Danube splits. I got pictures of the New Danube (Neue Donau/Reichsbrucke) and the old Danube (Alte Donau). Afterwards we killed time and went back to the hostel.