Sunday June 3rd

Sunday began a little later than normal as the group didn’t meet until 10:30. After a great night’s sleep, I was ready to check out more of Vienna. The group met in the hotel lobby and proceeded to take the subway a few stops over to Prater Park. Prater Park, known to Austrians as Wiener Prater, is very reminiscent of New York’s Central Park with tons of grass and lots of shade provided by the many Chestnut trees. Our walk through the park actually began at Wurstelprater, an amusement park that marks the entrance to Prater Park. This was actually a trick by our professors as we all thought we would be spending the day at the amusement park rather than walking around the actual park. However, we would eventually return to Wurstelprater.

Slightly larger than most swings

Even with our incessant demands to stop at Wurstelprater, our professor chose for us to keep on with our walk through Prater Park. Our professor planned for our group to take a leisurely walk through the park, but once we began traversing the massive area we realized it would be anything but a quiet Sunday afternoon. There must have been some sort of race that weaved its way through the park, with runners and people cheering them on at every turn. In addition to the runners, there was also a couple of bands setup along the way cranking out Austrian and American music. We eventually were able to keep walking and break away from the race and enjoy the quieter side of the park. While we all enjoyed the serenity and beauty of Prater Park during our walk, none of us could shake the memory of the amusement park from earlier in the day. 

Trying to hide the nervousness as we strapped-in

Beginning to gain height

After a few hours in Prater Park, our professor finally gave in to our wishes and let us loose to explore Wurstelprater. The first ride that caught our eye was a massive elevated swing. As the pictures show, we were buckled in like an ordinary swing but were then lifted almost 400 feet into the air and swung around. While I will be the first to admit I am not a huge fan of heights, the view from the top was well worth the slight anxiety I had as we ascended. We literally had a panorama view of all of Vienna as we were swung around the massive tower. Once I had two feet on the ground again, we all decided to walk around the park for a while and look for any rides that interested us. I put my East Tennessee roots to work and rode go-carts a few times, doing my best Dale Earnhardt impression as I traded paint with my fellow group members. Fully satisfying our inner-child after a full afternoon in the park, we headed back to the hotel to grab a quick dinner and relax for the night in preparation for our early-Monday morning train ride to Prague.