Ringing in the New Year in Austria !

A scene from the Opera
Just hanging out with Pinocio (no idea if its spelled right)
Dana infront of St. Stephan's Church
In the Opera house
Fireworks at New Years Eve

Happy New Year to everyone! Ours started out in a cloud of smoke and lights flashing everywhere. We ended up getting off the metro in Vienna, Austria 3 minutes before midnight, and found pepole setting off fireworks and firecrackers EVERYWHERE!! We just stopped and watched for a good ten minutes. A group of people beside us even gave us some champagne to toast to the new year! The fireworks did not stop until two am. Actually to be more accurate, they continued on for about three more days, just a little more sparatic. The crazy thing is that everyone is lighting off fireworks in the streets (its illegal but they get to do it once a year, so everyone takes full advantage of it) We did another help exchange in Vienna, with a host who was not even home! One of his renters Keith was there to give us instruction on what took us a total of 3 hours to clean up a demolitioned room. The rest of the time was ours with a free place to stay for the week. We actually became pretty lazy with staying up late, sleeping in late, and just taking a few short walks around the area.
When we did head out we checked out the Opera house and actually went to see Die Fleidermouse (the bat), for 4 euro each. They were standing room only tickets we bought 2 hours before the show, but they were dead center facing the stage in the back, so they were fabulous! This is actually the first ever opera we saw back in Winnipeg with Grandma and Grandpa Rempel, so this made us think of them! There was a little Austrian woman who put up a good fight to get a front row spot, she came with elbows flying and several women got an elbow in the back as she went by! We ended up standing for 5 hours including waiting in line, but it was worth it. Oh yah, the Opera house is very elegant and fancy. Many people were dressed up, and drinking champagne during the intermission. Needless to say we were completely under dressed. So as I reflect on this week in our trip, I realize we did not do too many things in Vienna, but we enjoyed the slower pace it provided. Thursday morning we packed up and caught a train to Berlin, Germany. 10 hours on a train, here we come!